Do you like Munich?

I have the feeling that many non-Bavarian Germans don't tend to have a lot of positive things to say about Germany's deep south.. but then when you press them on the issue, it often turns out that they haven't had a lot of interaction with the whole situation.

Here's the thing.

Last time I went (2009, with my girlfriends), we had some train issues, ended up in Zurich for a night instead of Munich, and then only had a total of 3 hours before sunset once we arrived.

It was freezing cold, the sort of cold that has the local looking at historical minima to see if this day is a winner. But we decided that, being in Munich, we must look at Munich-y things. So we went to the English Garden, froze our butts off, and within about 40 minutes had abandoned the mission and were back in our hostel room trying to cook rice in a microwave.

This time, it wasn't that cold. But it was the first properly winter weekend in the year. I hadn't switched to my winter gear, and I hadn't addapted, and though my butt remains intact, my feet were looking pretty touch-and-go for a while there,

The moral of the story being, that if I ever want to give the deep south a proper shot, I think I should go in Summer the next time 'round.

Anyway, this time, Andy and I popped down on the train to meet up with my sister and mother, who happened to be gracing the continent with their presence.

Being that 'nearly christmas' time in Germany, there were Christmas markets to frequent..


But of course, we also managed, somehow, to slip into a church....

.. Which included paying a whole 2 euros to go down into a crypt about the size of my Flur/entrance, that apparently is worth it because it holds the final resting place of mad King Ludwig.

While my sister and mother were quite fascinated (you can read more about why they were fascinated- and can in fact read Ariel's whole account of the weekend here), Andy and I weren't so into the still metal boxes.


I did quite like the delightful tackiness of this 'for Ludwig, the wonderful king' plaque they dumped on top of Ludwig's casket, which looked a lot like the 'world's best dad' trophy you bought at the 1 euro shop one year when you forgot about fathers' day until the very last minute:


So we went back outside, which turned out to be even more of a Boar.

(see what I did there?)


Ariel was too mature to do 'prancy' feet like me and Mr Boar, but we got her posing anyway.






Of course, it wasn't long before the crowd was calling out for some Gluehwein.

^Check out that look of outrage on mother's face as Ariel tries to take her drink.



Ah Christmas, that time of year when loved ones come together from across the globe to get slightly tipsy on cheap/free alcohol.

We hit up the Victuals market, which managed to have a nice array of fruits, cheeses and flowers (despite the time of year), but also a fair array of grumpy grinches who tried to shout at me when I took photos of their stalls.

Bah Humbugs.




We headed in a fairly direct way to the English Garden, walking along the river on the way.






Where lo and behold, we saw some men doing acrobatics!



(I think about 10 seconds after this photo he fell in a wince-worthy 'onto his groin' sort of manner).





When we arrived at the Garden, Lo! Another Christmas Market!











In the evening, we made our way back to the central markets, and the Glockenspeil, awaiting the live choir that Andy and I had chanced upon the night before.



By this point, it was not only cold, but also windy.




Morning two. More walking, this time in the direction of an art museim.







Oh No! Sampson Andy has lost his strength since cutting his hair!








I managed to get mum to pose with some leaves (contrasting nicely with her coat don't you think?)- but when it came to 'highly active posing' in front of the ping-pong tables, both she and Ariel were too mature/sessile.




We stopped for some coffee and cake, and then- after much debate, headed into the modern art museum.

Inside, we found some old friends- these awesome chairs (Do you remember them from Denmark?).

Which is how we found out that Denmark is empirically more fun than Deutschland, because in Denmark the guards don't shout at you 'Don't move around so much. Just sit. EINFACH SITZEN'.

Which, to be honest, kinda ruins the whole point of the chairs.





We ambled off to look at the other things in the room, waiting until the guard had moved away from the chairs....

... and then we POUNCED

TAKE THAT FUN POLICE!





Ariel was pretty unimpressed by the modernness of the modern art.. I think you can see it in her face here:

... but to be honest, while there were a few of the more 'crazy' things that we have begun to know and love from our Tour of the Modern Art Museums of Europe...



... the place also contained a great deal of much older stuff. Ok, so more like 'Australia old' as opposed to 'Europe old'.

But things that fall into the category of 'the evolution of modern design' as opposed to the category of 'oh look, that guy decided do put a neon light next to a toothbrush and I think it's supposed to be art'.





Anyway, that was it for Munich. Sorry city, I'm sure you're much lovelier in the summer, but you still managed to amuse, so thanks for having us anyway!