Nymphenburg and the Beer Garden

June 28^th

Today’s schedule was going to be a little less busy since Irene and Brian only had half a day to spend in Munich before they had to return to Heidelberg.  We all ate breakfast together and then headed out to the Nymphenburg Palace and Park.

Me in the Nymphenburg Gardens

Conveniently Nymphenburg was not too far away so we were able to walk there but it was warm out so we had to stop to get ice cream along the way.  We took our time walking through the park, took a few pictures and Alex shared with us some of the history of the palace and royal family that used to reside in it.  Actually the royal family still does live there, in one of the wings of the palace of which is off limits for tours.  Then we continued on out of the park to a nearby beer garden where we were going to meet with Ines and Georg for some lunch.

Irene, Brian & Ines at Augustiner Beer Garden

We found a nice place to sit and enjoy something to eat and drink until Ines and Georg arrived.  Since it was a Sunday and the weather was perfect, the beer garden was packed.  The atmosphere was very welcoming with a band playing, families gathering for lunch and the smell of delicious food.  At beer gardens in Munich, unlike beer gardens in other parts of Germany, guests are allowed to bring their own food to eat as long as they purchase the beer there.  Seeing many of the men wearing their lederhosen at the beer garden made me smile.  We enjoyed our lunch together and then we had to part ways; Irene and Brian had to return to Heidelberg and I was going to go back to the palace for a bit.

The Nymphenburg palace is very large and very beautiful.  I purchased a ticket to have access to all of the exhibits, starting with the main palace itself.  The entrance hall was stunning and the remainder of the halls and rooms were also a lot of fun to try and imagine people actually living there.  One of my favorite rooms was called the Gallery of Beauties.  King Ludwig I was an avid girl-watcher and had paintings made of some 36 women whom he deemed to be the prettiest women in all of Bavaria.  Then I also strolled through the exhibit that displayed the carriages and the works of the ceramics factory.  After that I wandered around the garden and took a look inside the hunting lodge and a chapel. 

Nymphenburg Entrance Hall

In the late afternoon I returned to Alex’s parents house and socialized with them in their garden while enjoying the nice weather.  We made our way back inside, ate some dinner and then Alex and I left for the city center to meet up with some of his high school friends who were visiting in Munich.  We hung out by the river until the sun had long set.  Alex and I returned to his house pretty late.

Tomorrow I will go to Dachau Concentration Camp.