Munich and some Royal Castles

On our first full day in Munich (after going to Dachau), we did some exploring of the historical part of the city.  Once again, I used one of Rick Steves' walking tours.  His Munich city tour was awesome and informative.  Most of the buildings were destroyed during WWII, but were rebuilt to be exact replicas.  We saw a variety of churches (Munich and Bavaria holds the most Christian relics outside of the Vatican, who knew!), beer houses, royal compounds, and some other cool stuff.

Marienplatz building in the heart of historic Munich.  It's the only building that wasn't destroyed during WWII. 

Glockenspiel on the clock tower of the Marienplatz.

Mary's column in the square built to celebrate the end of the Swedish occupation 

Outside St. Peter's Church.  They use old tombstones on the outside of the building.

Inside St. Peter's church

People enjoying some beers under the chestnut trees at Viktualienmarkt 

A Jewish synagogue built as a memorial after the war 

The Asam church, a "show" church for people who were designing churches back in the day. 

The elaborate Asam church (it's all fake and for show)

Outside of St. Michael's church (one of the many Catholic churches in Munich),
located right on one of the first pedestrian walkways in Europe. 

Cool barrel-vaulted inside of the church.

The Frauenkirche, the Cathedral of Munich with it's twin onion domes (many churches in Bavaria have an onion dome).  This is where Pope Benedict served as a cardinal before moving to the Vatican.

The famous Hofbrauhaus beer hall.  We came back here many times for the awesome beer and food.

Max-Joseph Platz and Residenz, the Munich royal compound of Wittelsbach family

Residenz Treasury 

The shiny cobbles on Viscardigasse mark where rebels would walk to avoid
having to do the Heil Hitler prior to WWII 

The Hofgarten, behind the Residenz Museum. 

Enjoying some liter brews with dad at the Hofbrauhaus, delicious! 

Hearty and delicious Bavarian food

The next day we did a day tour to two of Mad King Ludwig's castles, Linderhof and Neuschwanstein.  King Ludwig is the most notorious of all the Vittelsbach monarchs.  He was extremely reclusive and had grand notions of recreating the Renaissance past.  He died an untimely death, maybe suicide, maybe murder?  No one really knows for sure.  But his palaces are incredible, ornate, and over the top.  The first stop was Linderhof Palace, where he spent most of his time.  No photos were allowed inside the castle.

Grounds of Linderhof 

Outside of Linderhof Palace 

Pretty neat little castle!

After our tour of Linderhof, we stopped in Obberamergau, the village that hosts the Passion play every ten years.  This play started centuries ago as a way to ward off the plague.  It worked, and now the city continues to do the play.  It's world famous and people come from all over the world to see it performed.

The Passion theater 

The houses and buildings in Oberammergau are famous for their paintings

More house paintings

Our final stop on the tour was the famous Neuschwanstein Castle.  This was King Ludwig's dream home, and actually was never completed during his lifetime.  He didn't live here for a very long time, but it lives on as one of the most famous castles in the world.  Walt Disney used it as the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle.  Again, no photos were allowed in the castle, but we did get some pretty cool ones of the grounds.

View of the castle from a bridge.  Amazing!

Another view of the castle.  

Entrance to Neuschwanstein Palace 

Outside of the castle

A spectacular place to build a dream castle.

All in all, another great day in Bavaria.  We really enjoyed touring the castles and seeing the beautiful scenery.  We found a really cool place that evening to get our beers and food.  When we asked what kind of beer they had, the server mentioned two kinds and said that the wheat beer was crap!  Love that no-nonsense attitudes these Bavarian girls have.

Live entertainment at the restaurant 

Stroganoff and schnitzel for dinner.  Don't mind us overdoing it (every single night!).