Day 9 Munich

Our first stop of the day was a small but unique church, a gem of Rococo architecture built by the Asam brothers in the 18th century.
 

We walked over to the Marienplatz at 11:00 to watch the mechanical figures on the clock tower.

The interior of the Frauenkirche

Delicious lunch of beer and pretzels at the Hofbrauhaus.  Pretzels are described as "the size of a small child."

After lunch Debbie and Lisa toured the Residenz Palace while Bill and Tom went to the Deutsches Museum.  Lots of pictures from the "girl's" tour and no pictures from the "boy's" tour.

Residenz Palace

The Grottenhof made of seashells

The Antiquarium

The Bavarian Crown

Cuvilles Theater

We stayed at the Torbrau Hotel in Munich which we found out was 525 years old.

For our last dinner of the trip we went to the Hauxenbauer which is known for their "Pork and Veal Knuckle, Suckling Pig spit roasted over an open beechwood fire".  It was the best pork we had ever eaten.

Day 8 Regensburg

We were very happy to see that the rain had stopped and the sun was peeking through the clouds this morning.  We had a nice relaxing drive from Munich to Regensburg.  When we arrived in Regensburg, we parked right by the Alte Kapelle which was our first destination.  The Alte Kapelle is a Gothic Cloister from the 12th century with magnifcent frescoes by Cosmas Asam.

We then walked over to the Dom St. Peter built between 1250 and 1525.  The French Gothic architecture is something of a rarity this far south in Germany.

  We walked down to the Danube River and found the Steinerne Brucke, an outstanding example of medieval engineering.  This 1,000 foot long bridge was built over the Danube in 1135.

The Altes Rathaus

We walked around for a while and decided to eat at the Hacker-Pschorr Wirtshaus.  It was wonderful.  Our waiter, dressed in traditional Tyrolean garb, spoke very good English and informed us that this town was one of the stops on the Viking Riverboat Tours.  In the summer it is very CROWDED.  Again we were very glad we were here in the off season.

Our waiter inquired where we were going next.  When we said back to Munich he said if we had time we should get off the highway at Hausen and see the Weltenburg Abbey.  We decided to take his advice and exited the highway at the Hausen exit.  We then drove around for about 30 minutes trying to find the Abbey.  We were literally out in the middle of nowhere.  We looked at each other and commented, "This better be worth it."  Finally, at the end of a small country road, we found it.  Much to our delight, IT WAS WORTH IT.  The Abbey church of Sts. George and Martin was constructed between 1716 and 1718 and is regarded as the masterpiece of the brothers Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam.

Meandering our way back to the highway we came across these 2 buildings.  We have absolutely no idea what they are.

After returning to Munich, we had a relaxing drink at the bar and then decided to go to the Ratskeller in the Marianplatz for dinner.  The choir director at Debbie and Bill's church had recommended it.  We had another fantastic German dinner.  We haven't had a bad one yet.

 

 We walked back to the hotel and relaxed as we reminisced about how wonderful the trip has been.  One more day in Munich and then back home.  We admired the view from Debbie and Bill's room.