Munich has always been a plan never realized. For some reason, it never really figured as a venue in my German refresher courses, maybe because I’ve always felt that it would be more expensive to live there. Now that I am back in Europe after half a decade, I thought perhaps it is time for Bavaria. Why wait, right? And so I drafted an itinerary with Nuremberg and Munich serving as stops on my way down south to Austria. Boarding a train from Nuremberg, I finally arrived in cloudy and rainy Munich.
Along with Nuremberg where it even snowed before I left, this has been my coldest stopover in this long itinerary. Giving in to the temptation, I eventually bought an umbrella and it has proven to be a worthy investment. At least my sightseeing activities won’t be heavily reliant on the sun making an appearance now. I had three nights and two afternoons to spare in Munich. The first afternoon was spent checking out the old town. The second afternoon was a quick stroll at Maxvorstadt. Let’s do this in reverse.
Maxvorstadt is said to rival Berlin’s Museuminsel as far as museum options go, which meant that this was already a disadvantage for me because my work schedule only gives me time to roam around past 4 PM. Factor in lunch and some dash of laziness here and there, the Maxvorstadt stroll began at 5:30 PM, just enough time to see some attractions before the sun went down, but obviously not enough to spend time in a museum since they usually close between 5 and 6 PM.
I did see the exteriors of the Alte Pinakothek, the new Pinakothek, the Glyptothek as well as some buildings of LMU. I guess my takeaway from this is that Munich left a pretty good impression and is now on my priority list should I decide to go back for my German refresher courses, which is not a question of if but rather when. I saw a spaceship out there somewhere, by the way, which was on display in front of one of the museums. Strange.
And now, back to the first day. Munich’s old town, which was heavily bombed during the war, lies east of the main train station. It still has some of its medieval gates intact which now serve as subway stops and landmarks marking the entry to the old town. Sendlinger Tor is in the southwest where I exited. I entered via Karlsplatz to the northwest which served as a good entry point to see the old town. From there, you will end up seeing most of the churches one right after the other.
First in line is Renaissance-style St. Michael’s Church which is not so shabby inside. The church that will certainly catch your attention, though, is the Gothic-styled Frauenkirche with its twin domes dominating the old town’s skyline. This is one example of a church that is addictive to ogle outside but rather plain and boring inside. These two are less than five minutes walking distance from each other. After Frauenkirche, I ended up at Marienplatz, the main square that is hard to miss thanks to the town hall.
Standing in all its neo-Gothic glory, the town hall has a clocktower and they say that animatronic figurines actually come out to greet you when the clock strikes during summer. The square itself is a very busy U-Bahn/S-Bahn station so it is probably difficult to catch it without a plethora of people taking selfies and just passing by in a rush. Another church with a single dome and clock tower is visible nearby but I no longer explored. Needless to say, this area is a bevy of different styles of architecture and arguably the most photogenic attraction in Munich.
I passed by another church called Asamkirche on my way out towards Sendlinger Tor. This one is rather simple on the outside but oh so flamboyantly designed inside. Make sure you enter just to see all that art. It’s a really tiny church so this won’t take much of your time. Other attractions in the old town include a brewery which we can only imagine to be full of people and beer during Oktoberfest. Since I don’t drink beer, I totally ignored that place.
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