We get off the tube and emerge from its depths. We are looking for the Residenz and as there are still a couple of hours before it's due to open we decide to go for a wander. We end up at a permanent market and it's like we have died and gone to heaven. Beautiful fruit and vegetables, Hughes wheels of every kind of cheese, cured meats, high quality fresh meats, it's some of the best looking food that I have ever seen. It's incredible! There are also stalls with arts and crafts, wonderful things to decorate your home - I want to buy everything and take it home. We don't think that any of it would get through customs. As we continue down the road we notice that you can't go anywhere without seeing shops full of goat skin shorts and dirdles. It's so good. The more expensive shops have some beautiful sets and I really, really want one, but at five hundred euros... That's a lot of accomodation money to blow on a dress. I do eventually get a less expensive one, it's cool but I will always love the others - they are works of art.
It doesn't take long before we locate the Residenz, almost by mistake. The problem is that we have no idea how to get in. We walk, and walk, and walk. No obvious entry. We end up in the park at the back for a while before almost giving up on the idea. Fortunately we don't, and we try to navigate the far side where we do eventually locate the entrance. The place is HUGE. We pay our admission fee, collect our audio tour handsets, and begin our trip through history.
Now the Residenz was home to Germany's ruling family from 1385 until 1918 and is the largest city palace in Germany. There's just one small thing that I didn't know, it's almost entirely rebuilt. It suffered badly in WW2 and the mammoth building with 23,000 square meters of roofing was reduced to just 50. It's a mind blowingly massive waste of history, but we have seen a lot of that during our trip. Due to the major reconstruction, a lot of it has been rebuilt in more simple styles which is disappointing as one can only imagine what once stood in its place. There is however one hall in particular that is original - the Antiquarium, which almost takes your breath away with its opulence. Goodness knows how I will cope at Versailles. We spend a couple of hours weaving through room after room - there are 130 odd plus 10 courtyards, before excusing ourselves back out into the world.
We end up at Hofbrauhaus which is one of Germany's most famous beer halls. It's a heaving, beautiful beast. There's no chance of a seat inside, so we sit in the courtyard which is only just off full anyway. It's a bizarre, but really neat experience to sit in such a historic place with our steins of beer and lunch as people have done since 1589. When the live band start up, playing traditional music, it's just epic.
We are in the middle of a love affair with Munich.
Eventually that afternoon we end up back at Oktoberfest, because how can you not. We have the most massive dinner - it comes out on a platter that's bigger than a baking tray. 2 Pork Knuckles, 2 Balls of Potato, 2 Balls of Something Else (like a meatloaf type of thing maybe), and a Mountain of Saurkraut. Each of the balls is the size of a cricket ball. Holy shit that is a lot of food. The Aussies at the table next to us crack up at our huge dinner and we end up chatting and drinking with them until it's time for the beer garden to close. We drag our bloated bodies back to the S-Bahn and make our way home. I am pleased that my dirdle is the equivalent of fat pants. Would hate to wear a belt right now. I share my gummy bears with a police officer while waiting for the train.
At the apartment we get to meet the second of our hosts! Adriana and Sebastian both arrive home shortly after us and we sit in the lounge chatting for a long time. Adriana even takes a Polaroid of us! They are such cool people, I am sorry to have to leave Munich so soon, but they have other guests arriving tomorrow and accomodation in Munich is too expensive for us during Oktoberfest. We head off to bed still unsure of what will become of us tomorrow.
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