Quite a day, today. We set out in a light rain, having decided it would be a good day for museums. Munich's great art museums are divided into three. The Alte and the Neue Pinakothek and the Pinakothek der Moderne. Our goal was to see all three but the Neue is closed on Tuesdays so we settled for the old masters and the modern greats. The paintings by Raphael were excellent. Since Rome Johnny has been reading up on Raphael. He was excited to point out what he knew about those paintings, which included how they resembled the style of Raphael's teacher - whose paintings were hanging in the adjoining space. It was a great connection moment. Nicky continues to prefer the works of da Vinci and has taken to making sketches in a little notebook.
The Pinakothek der Moderne had a really nice early modernist collection. We were able to see the development of Picasso's style with works that spanned about 50 years. Barb was especially excited to see some of the Bauhaus works. We were all amazed at Max Ernst's work.
We had a quick lunch at a medieval themed Christmas Market near Odeonsplatz and headed on to the Residenz to round out our day of museums. Along the way we stopped into admire one of our favorite churches in Munich, the Theatinerkirche. If we remember correctly, the builder of this church had 10 daughters but wanted a son. He was instructed to build a church if he truly wanted a son. He did and apparently got his son. Whatever the reality may be, we love the balance of simplicity and ornamentation.
The Residenz had been the residence of the Wittelsbachs - Bavaria's royal family for about 700 years progressing from a small fortification to one of the largest palaces in Europe. Like the other royal families, they based much of their design on Versailles and copied the French court in manner as well. Oddly enough it wasn't until Napoleon came through that a Wittelsbach could be proclaimed king. The treasury was spectacular. Our favorite piece was a jewel encrusted reliquary which supposedly contained a relic from St. George. The Residenz itself was elaborate and extensive. Unfortunately most of what we saw was the restoration done since WWII when most of the palace was destroyed. The artwork had mostly been hidden away during the war so that was still original. Much of the furnishings were pieces from the same period though never owned by Wittelsbachs which detracted from the experience.
We capped off the evening with a trip to Allianz Arena to watch Bayern München defeat Freiburg. It was enthralling. Though we thought we had left quite early the trains were already packed with Bayern München fans who were already deep into their celebration. It seemed that the arena's 70,000 fans were all on the same train, but it became clear when we arrived at the stadium stop that our train was just a drop in the bucket with more and more trains arriving even as the passengers from the previous train bottle necked at the end of the platform. We were truly awash in a sea of humanity that drifted steadily towards the arena. There would have been no way to stop if we had wanted to. Once inside the arena the noise was deafening as the fans cycled through a seemingly well-rehearsed rendition of songs, chants, and cheers. Munich scored two excellent goals and so we were able to partake in a whole new set of specially choreographed call and response. It was an epic event. It is hard to imagine that some people have season tickets and get to do this on a regular basis. For us, it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments and it was, as the kids say, epic.
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