Munich Day 3

So after our wonderful day at the fest we decided to head into the downtown area of Munich and see what was there.  We took the train in again because it is just so much more convenient than trying to find parking, etc.

The top of their city hall.

We started out in the Marienplatz, St.Mary, Our Lady's Square, which is the central square in Munich.  It has been the city's main square since 1158.  Behind the boys is the New City Hall.  Above AJ's shoulder is the Statue Virgin Mary.

While we were waiting for the clock to chime, the boys were working on fancy hand and foot work!

This is the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, it was part of the second construction phase of the New Town Hall and it dates from 1908.  Every day at 11 a.m. it chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century.  It consists of 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures.

The top half of the Glockenapiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine. 

In honor of the happy couple there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria (white and blue) and Lothringen (in red and white).  The Bavarian knight wins every time, of course.

Here you can see the musicians playing for them.

This is then followed by the bottom half and second story: Schafflertanz (the cooper's dance).  According to myth, 1517 was a year of plague in Munich.  The coopers are said to have danced through the streets to "bring fresh vitality to fearful dispositions."  The coopers remained loyal to the duke, and their dance came to symbolize perseverance and loyalty to authority through difficult times.  

This is the Mariensaeule or Mary's Column in English.  On top of Mary's Column is this golden statue of the Virgin Mary, which is lit up at dusk so that it is clearly visible at the top. It is a Marian Column, which means it honors the Virgin Mary.  Erecting these columns was very popular, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, when a town or city wanted to show appreciation to the Virgin Mary for ending some strife for them.  This particular column with the Virgin Mary on the top was built in 1638 to mark the end of the Thirty Years' War and the Swedish occupation of Germany. The Virgin Mary is standing on a crescent moon, which represents the Queen of Heaven, a title often given to the Virgin Mary by Catholics, Anglican and Lutheran churches among others. This statue was created in 1590 so it is older than the column on which it stands. It was originally located in the Frauenkirche, or Cathedral of Our Dear Lady in Munich. It was moved to this column when it was completed.

On the bottom of the statue were four different statues showing each killing different animals.  Such fantastic artwork!

So in honor of yesterday, the boys wanted to still do the conga line, so of course I said yes!!  We got a few looks and a lot of smiles!!!

Kellie decided that it would be good to take the boys across stones, over water and see if they could do this without getting wet.  Luckily all five of them survived without getting wet and made it across!!!

Then we headed off to the famous Hofbrauhaus.  It is actually owned by the Bavarian state government and used to be a royal brewery in the Kingdom of Bavaria.  There are duplicates all over the world.

It was founded in 1589 by the Duke of Bavaria.  It is one of Munich's oldest beer hall and has the biggest tent at Oktoberfest.  Interesting fact, in 1612, Heimeran Pongraz’ successor, Elias Pichler was under pressure to brew a stronger beer hence the Maibock.  In fact, the Maibock beer became so famous that it once saved the city from annihilation. When King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden invaded Bavaria during the Thirty Years' War in 1632, he threatened to sack and burn the entire city of Munich. He agreed to leave the city in peace if the citizens surrendered some hostages, and 600,000 barrels of Hofbräuhaus beer

I had to get a picture of this hat - all over the world.  :-)

 

Since it was Oktoberfest, it was really busy and we couldn't find a table so we headed across the road to eat at Hard Rock Cafe.  This is the first one David and I have ever eaten in.  Of course the boys had to have their liter of beer!!!

 

Take a close look at this clock, do you see anything wrong with it?!?  It is backwards, the eleven is where the one should be.  On the other side the clock is correct, I am still not sure why, but I thought it was interesting.

Some of the great artwork on the buildings while we were heading to our next destination!

Check out this bike, a surfboard holder.  You may ask why he has a surfboard in Munich, in the middle of Germany with no ocean near by.  Let me tell you, there is a park that actually has surfing in the middle of Munich.  Crazy huh?

I just thought this clock was really cool and check out the statues on top!

Then we headed off to the Deutches Museum for the kids.  There were a lot of hands on things for them to do there and they were excited!!

 

They had a submarine there showing the inside, this was for all the lower enlisted people.

And this was for the officers and the captain's was even nicer!

The boys got a kick out of this, it was an old scuba diver outfit.

Here they were showing about water pressure and how much a penny weighs, when it gets down 40 meters, it is really hard to lift.

I am not sure I would like to be out on a lake or ocean in one of these.

AJ checking out how fast different boat shapes can go in water.

This is scary, these three boys driving a boat.

This was showing how oil works.

This is a circular boat that is used on the Tigris.  The basket is made up of reed hoops and held together by strips of palm leaves.   These smaller ones were used as ferries.

The boys at the museum.

They are in an airplane that is falling, look out!!!!!!!!!!

The boys learned about so many cool things there, magnetic, optics, mirrors, and so much more they were having a great time!!!

The boys were a little tired out so they took a break on the deck of a ship!

AJ playing a little piano.

The boys were inside a giant guitar!

AJ and Jack doing a play for us!

I need one of these at my house to get them tired out!  We had such a great time there and we weren't able to see the whole thing, they were actually locking doors behind us.

This statue is HUGE!!!  AJ is standing next to it.

Of course, have to have our ice cream on the trip!

We decided to head back to the Hofbrauhaus to have a beer before we left.

They even had a live band in there!

And what is beer without a pretzel!!!

We ended it with where we started, it was such a beautiful building and a fun day!!!

As we were heading down into the train station we saw this - a full flower outfit.  It was front and back, not sure why the person was wearing it, but it was definitely interesting!!!  So much fun!!!!