Day 16, Munich to Vancouver

After a final breakfast,

(definitely the best meal of any day of this trip)

......followed by a taxi to the airport with Peter (another of the many things in life that work better when there are two people), and on to the long, long trip home.  As is almost always the case when you leave yourself plenty of time, everything went smoothly - whisked into the first class security line (not because I'm flying first class, lord knows, but just because the line was empty), no trouble about getting my suitcase on the plane, and a handsome young thing to help me put it in the overhead.

and then 10 hours of intense discomfort, but nothing worse than that, and so, home.

As some of you who knew my schedule have figured out, I have been home for two days, and have been playing catch-up with these last posts.  I'm back at work, most of the jet lag is over and done with, and I am working mightily to satisfy my craving for ethnic food (if I never see another bratwurst, potato dumpling, or even Weiner schnitzel again, it will be too soon!

Final summing up?  I'm very glad to have done the trip.  Whatever you might think of him (and I think he was a dreadful little man, mean and petty as well as being  an anti-Semite), Wagner was a genius, both in his music and in his design of the Festspielhaus.  He was a game-changer in the opera world, and I really don't expect to hear that level of sound again.

I still think that the productions were dreadful:  if you don't believe me, read http://bachtrack.com/review-sigfried-bayreuth-august-2014,  Nonetheless, I am not at all sorry we came.  (In fact, we are already scheming about how to get back when the new production of the Ring is out in 2018!)

Otherwise, I don't need to come back to Southern Germany any time soon.  No, I didn't dream of Nazi salutes and jackboots, and yes, the language and culture are very familiar to me - I grew up with them, and am actually quite fond of them.  But there are so many other things on my agenda.  Next possible trip: Viet Nam and Cambodia, if I can make it work financially.

Meanwhile, back to reality.....

Day 15 - Munich, the last day

Well, it has finally arrived, the last full day of our trip.  Peter and I decide to have an "alone" day, which we do from time to time when we travel, basically going our own way until dinner.  (It keeps us sane, and, more importantly, still traveling together....)

It is (another) rainy day, so I decide to take a taxi to the museum area, and, hopefully, walk back.  I start with the New Art Gallery (as previously noted, words like "new" are relative in Europe.  This is a collection of 3000 works, started by Ludwig I in 1853.  (It was demolished by Allied bombs in 1944 - the art works having presciently been removed prior - and rebuilt after the war.)

While waiting in what the Irish would call mist, I saw these sculptures....

.....and then inside for the paintings  (By the way, as it is Sunday, entry fee is only 1 Euro instead of the usual 12.   Another sidebar: we have found very few things with senior discounts in Germany.)

Of course, in addition to the classics we are familiar with, there were a lot of German painters who I was not as familiar with.  Peter is not a big fan of audio guides.  I am, and took advantage of his absence to get one.  Some are better than others - this one was particularly informative...

...for example, the above painting ensured that the painter became the court painter for Ludwig I....

The history of the next one by Overbeck was interesting too - apparently he and another artist friend were to paint their ideas about future wives, and this was Overbeck's contribution....

(I think it is quite lovely...)

The audio-guide for this next one provided one of those "ahha" moments.  It talked about the fact that, in the days prior to photographs and trains, this picture of Switzerland would have been an incredible revelation for viewers.  It is not that the thought is so profound - its that I never thought about it before...

The above picture of Goethe resonated particularly with me.  Goethe was one of my father's favourites.  He had a complete collection of Goethe's works (as well as those of Schiller and Heine), which were almost taken away at the border when a border guard said "Jews don't need Goethe".  However, my father must have been persuasive - I have the books to this day.

....and, above, Ludwig himself in his coronation robes...

I really liked the above, as it shows Ludwig I, having temporarily given up the reigns of power, enjoying himself with some artist friends in Italy.  (He is the one in back with his arm outstretched fetching the waiter over for a bottle of wine....)

These Daumiers also were a reminder of my father, who was a big fan....

and, at that point, you will be happy to know, I ran out of battery power...

Nonetheless, I soldiered on, stopping for soup at the cafe. and back at the museum store for an umbrella (by this time, even the Irish couldn't call it a mist - it was a monsoon.  I couldn't make it to the next museum, a block away, without an umbrella).

I did make it to the "Pinakothek der Modern", the modern art museum, which, although it had an impressionist exhibit as well, was better in its German collection (more Blue Rider Group, more New Objectivity.  Of the last group, including Otto Dix, Adler, Kokoschka, Beckman, Oskar Schlemmer - many were Jewish and their art work considered degenerate by the Nazis.  Many escaped to th West, some had unknown death dates - we all know what that means, don't we?  A special exhibit of Kirchner's work indicated that he had been hounded by the Nazis and committed suicide.  The past is never very far away here.

I ended the day in the design section of the museum, a somewhat cheerier note, and went home (still pouring, so a taxi it was) to rest for our big dinner.

Our hotel had a restaurant with one Michelin star, and as this was our last dinner, Max's it was.  Simon Lareses is the chef (for those of you who care about these things).  So, having charged by camera while resting, I present.... Dinner....

Wine, for those of you who are interested, was Chablis 1st Cru, Vailons 2012)

Conclusion?  Fine food is wasted on me.  I loved the setting, and the attention to detail, but the only part of the meal that I liked was the wine and the cheese which they were unable to ruin with strange taste combinations and odd sauces.  They even managed to ruin a chocolate dessert, although I wouldn't have thought you would be able to do that.  Peter loved it, though.  My thoughts:  not worth the money, for me.  A good rib eye steak with creamed spinach would have been more to my liking!  I may know which fork to use, I might be able to make conversation with the best of them, but I guess I am just a peasant at heart!!

Well, enough for now.  Next post, and last for this vacation, I will share some general thoughts, and tell you about the trip home. 

Day 14 - Munich

Another day, this one looking to be better in terms of weather.  We will have a few unexplored "must sees" (even without much of an agenda, there are always a few "must sees"!)  On our way...

...and find, of all things,  a living, breathing monument to Michael Jackson....

.....right across the street from our hotel, too.  (We are told that the Germans were - and are - quite taken with him.

Then on to a shrine of a completely different sort, the Cathedral (St. Peter's. known as "Old Peter's", which we have passed numerous times but never went in...

(I always light at least one candle every trip, not that his simple, Presbyterian heart believed in candles.  Just to remind him that I am thinking about him, and love him.....

Quite the church!!

Next stop, the Residence,  where the Dukes, the Electors, and, finally, the Kings of Bavaria, lived.  It was the seat of government of the Wittelsbachs, the ruling dynasty of Bavaria, and the various rulers furnished and extended the rooms to suit their own personal tastes.  It was also where the rulers kept their art collections, hence The Residence Museum.....

...the Antiquarium....

.....and The Treasury....

(quite the bling!!!!  And they thought that the 20th century invented conspicuous consumption!)

And even a place for Nora to be photographed with "Mad" King Ludwig II, and say a personal thank you for supporting Wagner!!!

....and, near to the residence, the court theater, called the Cuvillies Theater.....

It is a lovely little theater, still in use to this day.

And now, time for some refreshment, or at least a sit down.  We felt that we had to be able to say that we had eaten in the Rathskeller, at least once, so, in spite of the threatening rain, we sat down in the courtyard....

...and then back to the hotel, to check out, and move to our next hotel, The Mandarin Munich.  (don't ask why we are changing hotels!)  Anyway, the Mandarin is very lux indeed.

This is the view from our "turret" room....

Isn't it great?

Yet another great bathroom.....

.....not to mention bed.....

By this time, of course, a museum or other cultural event was out of the question, so we went out to explore a new, slightly different, neighborhood.

First, the Isar (like the river running through the town) Tower...

(did any of my sharp-eyed readers notice something odd about the clock?  (No one we talked to could give us a reason, or, indeed, had even noticed it - okay, here's a puzzle for you, Bill...)

Then back to the lobby of the Mandarin for a complementary drink (good thing, too, the price of a drink is more than what I usually pay for dinner....)

It is a lovely lobby, though....

And, although you might think we could never eat again, we are off to the Spaten House for a lovely German dinner (see, I told you we'd get back to the German food)...

....and then off to a post-prandial walk, and back to bed....