A church, a museum, a palace.
Not necessarily in that order. Dan and I started our Christmas vacation together with a quick exploration on Germany's train system. We spent three days visiting Munich and Salzburg before returning to Kaiserslautern for our Christmas festivities. We had so little time, and there is so much to see, so we decided that minimally we should see a church, a museum, and a palace in each city. Honestly, that was satisfying for Salzburg, but Munich was too big for that.
We arrived in Munich a little later than we anticipated because our first train was cancelled. I grumbled a bit about missing Korea, but it only really set us back an hour. We started with a walk through the museum district to the Pinakothek Der Moderne where we saw works from Dali, Picasso, Warhol, Kandinsky, as well as some really crazy naked video exhibit by a contemporary artist. :) After the museum, we headed downtown to the Christmas market for some mulled wine and dinner. We had our first glimpse of the Neues Rathaus, or the New Town Hall. This baffled Dan because the building was totally gothic, and definitely way old. I guess it is still younger than the old Town Hall, and it was a beautifully dominating presence on the square.
The next morning we got up early to visit a couple churches before the Munich Residenz (or palace) was open. First we went to the Frauenkirche with its twin onion domes and status as largest church, and then we went to St. Peter's with it's gorgeously restored ceiling frescoes and title of oldest church. The Residenz was kept by the Wittelsbach dynasty who ruled the area for almost seven hundred years. With so much time to build and decorate, the palace is stunning. The ceilings and walls are covered with paintings, gold leaf, and gorgeous moulding, and the crown jewels are quite um large. Dan said no to all of them. :) It is interesting to see all of the huge set gems alongside the paste stones that replaced jewels that had to be sold.
After our run through Munich, I was left wanting to see some of the other museums and palaces there, but Salzburg awaited. Salzburg is not quite as intense as Munich. The most impressive thing about Salzburg is the scenery, and we spent most of our time walking around here. After settling into our hotel, we started out on foot to stroll through the Mirabell palace gardens, sight of several scenes from the sound of music. It was not quite as picturesque in the dead of winter, but it was still a fun place for a walk. We exited the garden near the Mozart house/museum. It is a restoration of the home where Mozart grew up, and it has instruments, family portraits, letters, hand written musical compositions, and the audio tour of this is accompanied by works from Mozart, his father, and even his sister! The next morning we went to explore the downtown a bit before heading up to the Hohensalzburg castle. The downtown is gorgeous! There are beautiful buildings everywhere, cute market streets, and we even walked through St. Peter's cemetary, situated right in the middle of the city. The walk would have been even more pleasant if we hadn't been freezing our tushes off. We rode in a cable car up the castle that sets on a hill overlooking the city. The place was originally designed as a fortress to deter enemies from attacking, so the inside is rather sparse, but you can tell from some of the ceiling paintings and artifacts that parts of it were more beautiful than utilitarian. The views from up here of the city were incredible, and we accordingly took obscene quantities of pictures. In many of these pics you can also see the Alps. :)
We came down from the castle to visit the Salzburg Cathedral, which is in the baroque style. It was one of the lighter, more airy churches we visited. Not as imposing, but to my eye, more beautiful. After the church, Dan took us to a little tavern for a large Austrian/German lunch. I had a schnitzel stuffed with bacon and mushrooms that was out of this world. With a belly full of lunch we got back on the train for Kaiserslautern and Christmas Eve in my own little house with presents under the tree. Our trip was a wonderful prelude to Christmas.
We arrived in Munich a little later than we anticipated because our first train was cancelled. I grumbled a bit about missing Korea, but it only really set us back an hour. We started with a walk through the museum district to the Pinakothek Der Moderne where we saw works from Dali, Picasso, Warhol, Kandinsky, as well as some really crazy naked video exhibit by a contemporary artist. :) After the museum, we headed downtown to the Christmas market for some mulled wine and dinner. We had our first glimpse of the Neues Rathaus, or the New Town Hall. This baffled Dan because the building was totally gothic, and definitely way old. I guess it is still younger than the old Town Hall, and it was a beautifully dominating presence on the square.
The next morning we got up early to visit a couple churches before the Munich Residenz (or palace) was open. First we went to the Frauenkirche with its twin onion domes and status as largest church, and then we went to St. Peter's with it's gorgeously restored ceiling frescoes and title of oldest church. The Residenz was kept by the Wittelsbach dynasty who ruled the area for almost seven hundred years. With so much time to build and decorate, the palace is stunning. The ceilings and walls are covered with paintings, gold leaf, and gorgeous moulding, and the crown jewels are quite um large. Dan said no to all of them. :) It is interesting to see all of the huge set gems alongside the paste stones that replaced jewels that had to be sold.
After our run through Munich, I was left wanting to see some of the other museums and palaces there, but Salzburg awaited. Salzburg is not quite as intense as Munich. The most impressive thing about Salzburg is the scenery, and we spent most of our time walking around here. After settling into our hotel, we started out on foot to stroll through the Mirabell palace gardens, sight of several scenes from the sound of music. It was not quite as picturesque in the dead of winter, but it was still a fun place for a walk. We exited the garden near the Mozart house/museum. It is a restoration of the home where Mozart grew up, and it has instruments, family portraits, letters, hand written musical compositions, and the audio tour of this is accompanied by works from Mozart, his father, and even his sister! The next morning we went to explore the downtown a bit before heading up to the Hohensalzburg castle. The downtown is gorgeous! There are beautiful buildings everywhere, cute market streets, and we even walked through St. Peter's cemetary, situated right in the middle of the city. The walk would have been even more pleasant if we hadn't been freezing our tushes off. We rode in a cable car up the castle that sets on a hill overlooking the city. The place was originally designed as a fortress to deter enemies from attacking, so the inside is rather sparse, but you can tell from some of the ceiling paintings and artifacts that parts of it were more beautiful than utilitarian. The views from up here of the city were incredible, and we accordingly took obscene quantities of pictures. In many of these pics you can also see the Alps. :)
 |
| Munich.Salzburg |
We came down from the castle to visit the Salzburg Cathedral, which is in the baroque style. It was one of the lighter, more airy churches we visited. Not as imposing, but to my eye, more beautiful. After the church, Dan took us to a little tavern for a large Austrian/German lunch. I had a schnitzel stuffed with bacon and mushrooms that was out of this world. With a belly full of lunch we got back on the train for Kaiserslautern and Christmas Eve in my own little house with presents under the tree. Our trip was a wonderful prelude to Christmas.
posted by Claire | 10:14 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home