Visiting the former East Germany, part 3 & finale

Day 3

We agreed the day before that I would cook that day. We initially considered cooking in J.’s and G.'s place and having R. and troops come over for lunch. However, we figured that it would be more convenient for the kids if we had everything done in R.'s and T.' place. So, we decided to proceed with the latter plan and invited J. and G. over to R.'s and T.'s place instead. However, when we met J. and G. for breakfast, we received some bad news - one of J.'s church members had passed away the night before. They told us that it was unlikely that they would be able to join us for lunch since they would be busy helping to notify the family and making necessary preparations for the funeral and such.

We left for R.'s and T.'s place after breakfast. Just as we were about to reach, Jessi popped a question, "Did you bring along the spices?" Almost immediately, smoke started coming out of my nostrils. I harnessed every ounce of patience in me and calmly responded, "Were they not in the bag of food that you asked me to take along?" "No, but I should have had put them in there last night," she responded. I almost hit the brakes, jumped out of the car and yelled on the top of my lungs. Fortunately, over the years, I've learned to take a more civilized approach to vent my anger - I just keep quiet.

Jessi came out with a great idea. T. was at a flea market not far away from J.'s and G.'s place and she could pick the spices up on her way back. Somehow, that idea simply sounded too good to be true. As it always happens in such dramatic times, the recipient's (T.'s) phone was not reachable. I tried so hard to smile the catastrophe away but the smoke just kept building up. It was about 15 km back to J.'s and G.'s place from where we were and I wasn't about to turn around and drive back there. So, we decided that we would drive to R.'s and T.'s place and try calling another mobile phone of hers (we didn’t have the number with us).

When we arrived, we rushed up to their apartment and tried calling her on the other number. The phone was unreachable as well. That was it for the great idea. We decided that we had to make do and make the most of the situation. Jessi and I drove to a nearby supermarket to buy some ingredients for the dishes I wanted to prepare and hoped that we would be able to find similar spices there as well. Honestly, I wasn't very hopeful about that. But lo and behold, when we got there, we did indeed find the spices and all the ingredients we needed. Now my smile was starting to look authentic and I began warming up to my wife again.

We started preparing lunch as soon as we got back from the supermarket. El. helped a lot too. I cooked some plain rice, fried some noodles and made Chop Suey. At about noon, we all had lunch together. I don't mean to be blowing my trumpet, but I think they all enjoyed the meal. We packed some food for J. and G. as well.

We spent the afternoon there. El. and Al. had their naps while we lazed around the living room. At around 4 pm, T. took El. to his friend's birthday party. The rest of us decided to take a stroll in the park of a nearby castle, Schloss Oranienbaum (first picture in this post). It was a little wet and we had to take shelter every now and then when it started to drizzle but we managed. In fact, I took the second picture in this post while we were stuck in the souvenir store. Equipped with my camera, I took quite a few shots as we were walking about. The park is big and well-maintained. The castle itself is pretty run down but restoration works is currently ongoing. I expect that in a few years the castle will be restored to its former glory. I don't really know anything about the castle other than the fact that it was previously the residence of a Dutch princess. I found a German website though with more information about the castle - click here.

After our walk, we went back to R.'s and T.' place. Shortly after that, T. and El. arrived as well. They both had a good time at the party. Paraphrasing El.'s description of the party, he said that there were equal number of boys and girls, and there were a few blond chicks that were nice to him. *sigh* They start young here in Germany. We had dinner together and then Jessi and I went back to J.'s and G.'s place. We still had time to chat with them both and see some photos of theirs when we got there. After that, we all went to bed.

Day 4 / Finale

We got up pretty early that day. J. and G. needed to leave their house by 8:15 am and we said our goodbyes before they left. After that, we loaded our car with our things and drove over to R.'s and T.'s place for breakfast. We had a good time with them in the morning but soon had to be on our way. We had a 5- to 6-hour journey ahead of us and we were both working the next day. As soon as we finished bidding them farewell, we hopped into our car and drove off. The trip back took us about 6 hours in total, including a stopover for lunch at one of the rest spots along the highway.

Overall, we had a splendid weekend in the east of Germany. It was a little exhausting at times but worth every bit of it.

Thanks to J., G., R., T., El. and Al..

joel@jjsolomon.com

Visiting the former East Germany, part 2

The next day, Jessi and I got up around our usual time - 7 am. We had a very comfortable room but unfortunately couldn't sleep as long as we would have wanted to. We are both pretty light and sensitive sleepers. However, looking at the bright side, we had an early start to the day.

After washing up, we had breakfast with Jessi's godmom, G., in the garden. It was already starting to get chilly then, signaling the approaching end of summer. Nonetheless, we were well-cladded enough to withstand the cool autumn wind. After breakfast, we went over to Jessi's brother's place again. R., Jessi's brother, was still at work when we got there and we spent our time chatting with his wife, T., and playing with their adorable kids, El.and Al.. We had a great time with them and I got some really good photos again. The kids are photogenic and they enjoy being photographed, which made my job a whole lot easier.

It wasn't too long before it was nap time for the kids and we decided to go back to G.'s place for lunch and our own nap time too. G.made us some world-famous meatballs for lunch! Could I have asked for more?

They really have a beautiful house with a huge garden. While everyone was busying themselves, I decided to use the time to photograph their garden as well. They have a little fish pond. When J., G.'s husband, noticed that I was photographing his garden, he jumped in to help me get the best shot of his fishes. They were a little shy that day, but I still managed to catch them in the act - see the first picture in this post.

Lunch was so good and as expected, we had our nap after that. When we got up, G., Jessi and I went over to the zoo to meet R., T. and the kids. The picture above was taken there. El. was so excited to get into the red truck and Jessi was more than generous to pay for the ride with my money. After driving the truck, El. decided that he should try a cabriolet next. Once again, his ever so generous aunt paid for the ride with his uncle's money.

We were in the zoo with them for just over an hour when R., T. and the kids needed to leave - it was almost bed time. The three of us however, stayed on a little longer in the zoo. The zoo is pretty small but well landscaped, very informational and simply pleasant. As if the zoo wasn't enough wildlife for one day, G. took us to see some beavers in the nearby forest after that. Well, she tried to anyway. The beavers didn't show up but we had a good and refreshing walk. Then, we went home for dinner.

That was day two.

joel@jjsolomon.com

Visiting the former East Germany

I took two days off from work last weekend, on the 3rd and 4th of September. My wife, Jessi, and I decided to visit her brother and his family, and her godparents in the former East Germany. So, we rented a car and went on our way. (Ok, we were actually a lot less spontaneous than it sounds and this weekend trip took us weeks of planning, but you get the picture.) We left Munich at about 10 am. The drive itself took us less than we expected. We managed almost 500km in less than 5 hours. Let me guess, 100 km per hour doesn’t really fit the description of Germany’s Autobahns (highways). There were indeed many stretches where we could easily do 130 – 140 km/h (although we were allowed to do much more) but there were also several stretches where road works were underway and we were restricted to 60 -100 km/h. Besides, we didn’t rent a BMW M6, but a more down-to-earth Skodo Fabia.

We drove directly to my brother-in-law’s place and were warmly greeted by him and his family. They have two beautiful kids – a boy (El.) and a girl (Al.). After taking a drink, I quickly grabbed my camera and started snapping away. Some of the shots I got were truly priceless, as you can see from the two pictures in this post.

After dinner, we made our way to Jessi’s godparents’ place. Thank God, we have a GPS. Our electronic friend faithfully and successfully guided us to their place. Our GPS has indeed been such a great help to us here in Germany. We use it every time we drive and for the most part, it has successfully guided us to our intended destination. There have been a few exceptions, especially when some roads were closed due to repair works or so, but it has always been a great help in any case.

Anyway, back to our trip. We got to Jessi’s godparents’ place just past 7 pm. We arrived a little later than expected and they were already on their way out when we got there. So, we quickly said, “Hi!” and got out of their way. We then unloaded our things from the car and rested a little bit. They got back home about an hour later and we spent the evening chit-chatting, feasting and laughing. It was really good to see them after all this time and we had a great time together. At about 11, we all went to bed.

Next day, next post.

joel@jjsolomon.com

Isar of Munich

I've been wanting to write about the Isar for some time now. The Isar flows through the city of Munich. At 295 km in length, it is the fourth largest river in Bavaria, after the Danube, Inn and Main, and Germany's third most important tributary of the Danube. I bet you're wondering where I got all that. For more information on the Isar, follow this link.

I live about 3 km away from the Isar and often go there when the weather permits. If fact, many people go there when the weather permits, which is why it's often crowded. I usually get there by bicycle although if I do take the train, it's only two stops away. There is a lake located along the Isar with a steady stream running beside it. To get there, I have to cycle through a beautiful field of corn (I think it's corn), which is shown in the picture above. The stream is popular among kayakers and the lake, among joggers. While I don't explicitly fall into either of these categories, I still like this spot. It's quiet, accessible and good for photography.

There are various spots along the Isar that people hang out at but the most popular has to be area around the zoo. This is probably because it is the most accessible spot, both by public or private transportation. The Flauchersteg, which is a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, is located in the area. It is an extremely popular location for grilling. There are proper trash cans for ashes and so, making it easy to clean up at the end. If you want to get a good spot, make sure you're there early (try the night before!).

Last summer, my department had a grill party at the Flauchersteg. It was pretty cool. Expect similar activities from other departments during weekdays.

As you walk along the Isar on a nice warm day, you will notice many beer crates in the water. You can see this in the picture on the left. Why? Well, the water in the river is pretty cold and it helps to chill the beer. Talk about going green. And no, they are not free for you to take.

Now you know that grilling is a popular activity along the Isar. Other popular activites include sunbathing, boating, jogging and cycling. People don't swim much in the Isar because the current can be very strong and it may get dangerous. There have been several incidences of people drowning or getting stranded while swimming in the Isar. Be careful if you decide walk the wire anyway.

The Isar cycling path or better known as Isarradweg is an extremely popular route among cyclists. I often use it to get to the English Garden from my place. Be careful though as some cyclist fail to realize that it's a two-way path - they seem to think that the direction they are headed is always the right direction. *sigh* Nonetheless, I would still recommend cycling along the Isarradweg if you have the chance. It's fun and there's much to see along the way.

That's it for this post on the Isar of Munich.

joel@jjsolomon.com

Summer just arrived in Munich

The weather in Munich has been pretty crappy up until a few days ago. It's been wet and cold - not the combination you'd like to have in summer (actually, not the combination you'd like - period). We've had some really good summer days in May but then it started getting cold again. Now, summer is here and hopefully, here to stay. The weather has been great so far this week and the forecast for the remainder is excellent. I usually check the weather forecast here.

We're having some visitors this weekend and will probably take them to the Tegernsee for some sightseeing, sunbathing and swimming.

Landshuter Hochzeit – Part 3 & Finale

In the last post, I ended by mentioning that we went up a hill towards a fort. Actually, it turns that it isn’t a fort but a castle. So, we walked up a hill towards the Trausnitz Castle, which overlooks the city of Landshut. The hill isn’t too steep and there is a well-constructed plight of stairs towards the castle. Nonetheless, the walk Visitors, young and old, made their way up the hill. It was pretty crowded but well organized. We were still able to stop in between to take a few shots without holding the others back too much. For more information on the castle, click here.

My colleague did mention about the castle before but not about the events that were going on up there. We were pleasantly surprised with what we saw. Everyone was making their way into the castle and so we followed them. In the courtyard, there was a large crowd surrounding a group of performing musicians. Some of the audiences were on the 1st and 2nd floors of the castle and had excellent views of the musicians. Unfortunately, tickets were needed to get onto those floors and we didn’t have them. So, we stayed in the courtyard, on the ground floor. I wasn’t really able to get a good view or to take a nice, clean shot but I think that I improvised pretty well.

We observed the show for about 15 minutes and then decided to leave and see the other events around the castle. As we were making our way out, there was a pretty large crowd making their way in. We were fortunate to be there earlier. At the entrance to the castle, there were four young ladies who were all dressed up in their medieval costumes and gladly posed for us as Joe Walsh of the Eagles sang, “Pretty Maids all in a Row”.

There was a bunch of jugglers right outside the castle. For the most part, they were juggling simple, harmless pins. However, at one point, one of them started juggling blades! They were careful enough but it was still a daring act.We then decided to make our way down the hill towards the Old City again. On our way down, we saw a makeshift stage and several actors performing on it. Their performance was very good and they really kept the audience, especially the children, captivated.

Once we got down from the hill, we made our way towards the other end of the city. At this point in time, we were starting to get a little tired and decided to stop by one of the nice cafés along the way. We found one to be especially interesting and made our way in. Only when we were inside did we learn that this café was once the royal caterer for Landshut. We didn’t have anything lavish (only a cup of Cappuccino and a cup of tea, which we can recommend though) so we can’t comment much. Nonetheless, we liked what we saw and experienced.

Once we were out of the café, it started to drizzle a bit. We were pretty prepared for that anyway since the weather forecast had predicted the same thing the day before. We continued on our way and I used the time to take some photos of Landshut and the Landshuter Hochzeit.When we reached the other end of the street, there was a little medieval stall. The owners were offering some roasted pork and beer for free (I presume) to the visitors - I can’t confirm that the dishes and cutlery were washed before each serving though. We didn’t have any and decided to move on. By this time, we were both pretty exhausted and soon decided to make our way back to Munich. We stopped by a Turkish restaurant to get ourselves some Kebab and caught the next bus towards the Landshut main train station. At the station, we only had to wait for about 15 minutes before the next train toward Munich arrived.

Overall, our visit to the Landshuter Hochzeit was an extremely pleasant one. We saw and took in a lot and the fact that the next one is in four years makes the whole experience even more precious.

Landshuter Hochzeit - Part Two

In my last post, I ended at the point where we were "caught" by three big, medieval, German men, my wife, Jessi, was forced to put on a helm and carry a spear to entertain them and I was made to capture the scene with my camera for their future entertainment. Ok... ok... that's not exatly how it turned out. The correct version is: the guys were really friendly and they were actually helping us capture the Landshuter Hochzeit in one shot - with Jessi wearing a helmet and carrying a spear. The 2nd version just doesn't sound that dramatic.

Shortly after that, a crew of colorfully-dressed peasants from the Middle Ages along with their weapons and musical instruments showed up. There must have been about 20 of them. They also had a wagon that was being pulled by a horse. The musicians were walking in front of the band whereas the "soldiers" were behind. At least one of them looked like he was part of the cast for Lord of the Rings. If you look closely at the picture on the left, you'll probably figure out which one I'm talking about.

Next, we made our way towards the "old city". The most prominent building you are bound to notice when you get to the main street is the Church of St. Martin (Martinskirche). This church is the highest church in Bavaria and the highest brick building in the world, with a height of 130.6 meters. For more details on the Church of St. Martin, click here.

Since we were there pretty early, there was not much of a crowd yet and we could easily stroll along the main street without imposing ourselves or being imposed by others. There were many cafes and bakeries along the way and at that time of the day, they were still allowed to have their tables and chairs outside, along the walkways. As the crowd built up and the festivities really started, the store owners were required to remove their furniture from the sidewalk.

There were platforms with benches set up all along the main street for visitors to better observe the festivities. Of course, you needed a ticket to get a seat there. Many families saw the Landshuter Hochzeit as an opportunity for a family outing and picnic. They brought along their picnic baskets filled with rolls, coffee and tea for breakfast, blankets to snuggle under when it gets cold, collapsible chairs to seat on and even champagne to celebrate. They looked like they were having a good time.

There is a society specifically for the Landshuter Hochzeit and I was told that only people whose origins can be traced to Landshut in the Middle Ages are allowed to join it. A person would basically have to prove that his or her family tree is connected to the original inhabitants of Landshut in the medieval times. Only members of this society are allowed to dress up in their medieval costumes and take part in the activities during this festival. Not only that, their costumes also reflect the status of their ancestral families. Most are dressed up as peasants but there are some who dress up as nobles, indicating that they were a family of nobles during the Middle Ages. This requirements keeps a sense of authenticity in the Landshuter Hochzeit that is unlike other medieval festivals.

Next, we made our way up the hill towards a former fort. But that's for the next post.

Landshuter Hochzeit

A colleague of mine told me about the Landshut Wedding or better known as Landshuter Hochzeit a few weeks ago. The Landshuter Hochzeit is a medieval festival that is celebrated once every four years in Landshut, which is a city in the state of Bavaria. It is one of the most famous and as far as I know, the largest medieval festival in Germany. As you can guess, there are other medieval festivals in Germany as well. During the Landshuter Hochzeit, the city and its folks turn back time to the middle ages. People dress up in medieval costumes, set up huts and stalls typical of those times, parade through the city playing music, perform juggling acts and so forth. They become a medieval community. You can read up more about this festival here.

This year, the Landshut Wedding was celebrated from the 27th of June till the 19th of July. I was very keen to visit the festival when I heard about it from my colleague just as my wife was when I relayed those very same details to her. It sounded like a rare opportunity that we ought not to miss. So, we decided that we would visit it the coming weekend. Initially, we had planned to visit the festival on Saturday. However, the weather forecast didn't look good and we eventually decided to shift our visit to Sunday - which was a smart thing to do since it was raining all day on Satuday.

We got up at 6 am on Sunday. We told ourselves the night before that we would only make the trip if the weather was good. So, when I got up, I immediately looked out of the window to check the weather. It was pretty sunny - that was the green light. We quickly took our shower, packed our things and were out of our apartment by 7. The train we planned to take to Landshut was leaving at 7:44 am. We got to the main train station in time, bought some breakfast and hopped onto the train. The train ride was only about 45 mins and we reached Landshut's main train station at about 8:30 am.

We looked around for a bus that would take us to the location of the festival. The first bus only came at about 9:10 and so, we had to wait for a while, which wasn't too bad since the weather was pretty nice. As soon as the bus arrived, we jumped on board and reached our destination in less than 10 minutes. We were warmly greeted by three medieval men in one of the stalls. You can see their "we found them" look in the picture here. One of them insisted on having my wife put on a helmet and carry a spear for me to photograph. After some hesitation she agreed to it. The shots turned out well. We then continued on our way towards the "old city", which is where the parades and the crowd are.

I'll stop now and continue in the next post. Stay tuned.

More from Nymphenburg Palace

I've finally finished working on the remaining pictures from my visit to Nymphenburg Palace a few weeks ago. You can check them out on my Picasaweb album by clicking here. Feel free to drop me your comments.

The objective of my visit to Nymphenburg Palace this time was primarily to take some nice photos of this beautiful place. I'm pretty content with the results I got. In my opinion, most of the shots turned out pretty well. I have published a post on my Shutteria blog about some of the High Dynamic Range (HDR) shots I took that day. You can check out that post via this link. In the near future, I hope to publish more posts about the technicalities of the other shots I took that day at Nymphenburg Palace as well.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Marienplatz, Kaufingerstrasse and Stachus

Like last Saturday, I got up very early yesterday morning and went out to do some photo shooting. This time my stop was Marienplatz, which is situated in the heart of Munich. Marienplatz is usually bustling with people. Kaufingerstrasse, which is one of the streets leading towards Marienplatz is filled with shops for just about anything, departmental stores, restaurants, cafes - you name it. People often go there to shop, window shop, hang out, eat out, watch a movie or simply just chill. It's a very popular spot. Besides these, Marienplatz is the location where some festivals and events such as the Christmas Market, St. Christopher's Street Day and political rallies are held.

I left my apartment at about 7 in morning hoping to beat the crowd to Marienplatz. However, when I got into the train I realized "I ain't gonna beat no crowd". The train was practically already full. So much so that I couldn't even get a place to sit. I was hoping that most of them would not be getting off at Marienplatz and that was true for the most part. It seemed that most of them were headed somewhere else. Anyway, the train ride took me about 12 minutes.

As soon as I got out of the station, my heart sank. There was a huge stage and some tents being set up for the St. Christopher Street Festival and they had sort of blocked that "great view of Marienplatz" I had been planning for before. (FYI: the St. Christopher Street Festival is a gay festival but that will be the subject of another post.) Anyway, I did the best that I could considering the restrictions at hand. I took out my camera , set up my tripod and started taking some pictures.

The most prominent monument you would see as soon as you get out of the train station has to be the New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus). I don't know any details about this building other than the fact that it really looks captivating. It's white and has a certain Gothic look and feel about it. It looks even more majestic at night when it's lit up.

Right next to the New Town Hall is the less impressive Old Town Hall. Unless you've been pre-informed, I'm pretty sure that you will mistake one for the other. The reason: the Old Town Hall looks newer than the new one. Don't ask my why.

It is also on this building that you have the world famous Carillon (Glockenspiel). At 11 am, 12 pm and 5 am, the clock chimes and figures on this Carillon dance around for a minute or so. There is usually a pretty big crowd trying to witness this. Try to get there a little earlier to secure the best spot.

For more information about the New Town Hall and the Carillon, click here.



As soon as I was done taking some shots in front of the New Town Hall, I made my way towards the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche). The Church of Our Lady is an extraordinary building. It is 100m high. In Munich, there is a rule that prohibits buildings from exceeding the height of this church. I actually see the benefits of having this rule. First, you can see this church from just about anywhere in Munich, making it a very prominent landmark. Secondly, population density is kept low. By restricting the height (and hence, density) of buildings, development is forced to expand geographically. This results in less traffic jams and better air quality. I doubt that the people thought about the latter when this church was erected and this rule established some 600 years ago but we're sure seeing that benefit now.

I continued along Kaufingerstrasse, moving away from Marienplatz and towards Karlsplatz. It was indeed a pleasant walk. It was still early and wasn't crowded yet. There are places to sit and relax along the way, beautiful plants and flowers, a nice fountain, fruit stalls, cafes, etc. During the day, when the stores and restaurants are open, this street can get really packed. Then, it is more stressful than fun as you struggle maneuvering yourself through the crowd.

It was already starting to get a little uncomfortable with people starring at me as I was lugging around my tripod and camera gear. One guy, who I think was visiting the St. Christopher Street Day came up to me and offered me blueberries. But I said, "no no..." and thought to myself, "He ain't gonna drug me that easily!" Anyway, the signs hinted that I should move on.

At the other end of Kaufinger-strasse is a gate known as Karlstor, which is shown in the picture on the right. Beyond this gate is a square called Stachus - shown in the picture below. The train station here is called Karlsplatz (Stachus). Big surprise, huh?

I often come here to visit Saturn, a big electronics store. In fact, we got our washing machine and refrigerator here. Their prices are really good on discounted items.

Anyway, Stachus was the end of the road for the day. It was about 9 am when I got there. I took some photos, got wet by the fountain, sat down and relaxed a bit and soon, it was time to move on. I made my way back to Marienplatz on foot and took some more photos along the way. I took the train home from Marienplatz.

I bought some rolls from the bakery on the way back for breakfast. We are starting to get fed up with the bread and to-be-baked rolls we buy from the supermarket. It was a good start for the day.

Nymphenburg Palace

I have been wanting to visit the Nymphenburg Palace to do some photography for some time now. Sure, I've visited the place several times before but not since I started picking up photography. As such, I don't have any great pictures of this beautiful palace and its surrounding. I decided to change that.

I got up at about 7 am yesterday, which is the usual time I get up on weekdays. I decided the night before that if I didn't get up too late, I'd go to the palace first thing in the morning to take some shots. There are many benefits to doing this. One, there aren't many tourists at this time of the day. You'll be able to take shots pretty comfortably and not worry too much about people getting in the way of that ideal shot. Two, you get soft lighting, which is great for photography. Three, the temperature is still cooling and comfortable. This makes a difference when you're lugging around your camera gear! Finally, you get to see how locals use the place and not just the visiting tourists. Many people jog and walk around the palace grounds, sit on one of the benches to do some reading, walk their dogs, take their kids to watch the swans or like me, take some photos.

The Nymphenburg Palace is a 30-minute bus ride away from my place. You can get there by either taking the bus 51 of tram 17. The stop is "Schloss Nymphenburg". This palace is a must-see when you're in Munich. It is in the city itself, easily accessible by public transport and simply beautiful. I've never been inside the palace but have heard that it's really beautiful in there. Having been inside quite a number of castles and palaces before, I think I can skip this one. Besides, I'm more interested in its architecture, palace grounds and surrounding area. There are some good online resources that give information about the background, history and layout of the palace. Here are a couple of such links to the Palace's official website and Wikipedia.

I spent about two hours there yesterday and took about 80 shots in total. Many of them turned out pretty well and I'm glad I made a trip. Here's a picture of the Palace's facade and the beautiful lake in front of it. The lake itself is actually full of swans, ducks and some other birds I don't know about (as you can guess, I'm not really into the whole flora and fauna thingy). The lawn is full of their droppings. Be careful where you thread. There is a small bridge along the walkway, right in the middle of the lake. This is where I took this shot.

The picture below was taken inside the palace grounds, facing the rear of the palace. There are many statues and sculptures along the walkways here. The statues are mainly of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses.


It can be a little windy and chilly around the palace because there's a lot of open space. So, come prepared. If you enjoy walking or jogging, this is definitely the place for you. There are proper paths all around the palace grounds and you can easily spend several hours just strolling through the area. It's also a great place for a family outing if you have young kids. There's lots of space for them to run about and play. There's even a Biergarten in there if you'd like to get something to eat or drink. Don't worry too much about it getting too hot out there. There are also lots of trees for shelter and the water is absolutely refreshing (though you're allowed to dip in).

I hope this has gotten you all excited about the Nymphenburg Palace.

Munich and I

For those of you who don't already know me, my name is Joel. I'm Malaysian and I moved to Munich just over a year ago. I work in the telecoms industry and was transferred to Munich for work.

Munich is indeed a beautiful city. There's something for everyone here. For those who enjoy nature, there are the Alps (which are not too far south), the River Isar (which runs through the city), lakes (there are six major lakes around Munich), forests, parks and so forth. For those who enjoy sports, there are many public pools, lakes to swim in, jungle tracks, cycling routes, hiking paths, jogging tracks, etc. Then there is of course, the rich history and fabulous architecture.

Munich is 851 years old this year. There are many historical buildings and monuments within and around Munich. The state of Bavaria is famous for its Castles, especially those built by King Ludwig II. Of all these castles, Neuschwanstein is the most famous. Neuschwanstein is known not only for its beauty but also the fact that it was used as the basis in designing the Disney Castle.

Munich is also regarded as one of the most expensive cities in Germany. This is definitely true in terms of property prices and rentals. Nonetheless, in comparison to other major European cities such as London, Paris, Vienna and such, real-estate in Munich is still reasonable. In other aspects such as food and shopping, I would definitely classify Munich as reasonable. I have been fortunate to rent a great apartment with an amazing view for a good price - I got it through my employer. Here's the view I was talking about.


I am by no means an expert on Munich and doubt that I will ever be one. I still get lost in conversations with locals about Munich (they talk about politicians, places and problems in Munich that I have never ever heard about). But I'm enjoying Munich and discovering a little more about it everyday.

Stay tuned.