Munich, Germany

It is amazing how much can change in a short train ride in Europe - one could be in another country with a completely different culture, language, scenery and architecture in as little as a couple of hours. Following on our epic Europe trip, our first stop outside of Switzerland was Munich. The train ride was around 6 hours, with a couple of changeover stations, and although we started early from Lucerne, it was dusk by the time we arrived at our accommodation in Munich. Travelling in this manner with three young children and many luggage - it proved difficult to pack lightly for the largely variable weather of spring season for our itinerary spanning across a large distance in latitude and altitude - was certainly a test of our resilience, patience, strength, endurance, and in more than a few instances, speed! Despite the challenges hubby and I faced, I consider the effort entirely worth it, and all part of our experience. Travelling with children is certainly better than not travelling at all. At some point on our train journey from Switzerland to Germany, we noticed the scenery outside the window had changed markedly. We were no longer seeing the beautiful snow-capped mountains, the rolling hills and the green pastures that we had gotten used to in our six days in Switzerland; the German scenery was more of a stark beauty in comparison. We stayed in Munich for two days, as a transit stop before heading into Austria. We would return to Germany again 10 days later, to explore the northern parts of the country by car. 

Hubby began our walking tour at Siegestor, triumphal arch "dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace":

We walked down Ludwigstrasse, which is named after King Ludwig I of Bavaria. The public buildings on Ludwigstrasse maintain the architectural uniformity envisioned as a grand street "worthy the kingdom" as requested by the king:

A humungous door at one of the buildings we walked past:

View of the Theatine Church as we approached Odeonsplatz:

Feldherrnhalle, the site of the brief battle in 1923 that ended Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch, a failed coup d'état by the Nazi Party leader:

Looking up at the yellow-coloured towers of the Theatine Church:

One of the streets of Altstadt (Old Town):

Neues Rathaus (New Townhall):

The tower of Neues Rathaus, at the top of which is the fifth largest clockwork in Europe:

The Rathaus-Glockenspiel consists of 43 bells that chime and 32 life-sized figures to re-enact two stories from the 16th-century:

The golden Mariensaule standing in the centre of Marienplatz in front of the Neues Rathaus. The Marian column was erected in 1638 to celebrate the end of Swedish occupation:

Altes Rathaus, the Old Townhall, which was first documented in the 14th century:

View of the Altes Rathaus from the Viktualienmarkt, the Munich food market:

We walked past the Glyptothek:

The walk to Nymphenburg Palace was quite pleasant along the canal:

There were many gorgeous swans and ducks swimming on the lakes in front of the palace:

Nymphenburg Palace:

A sculpture in front of the palace: