Munich; Wednesday, 05 October, 2005

With more breakfast than was probably wise inside me I headed off to the Hauptbahnhof and the train out to the northern suburb of Freising. Originally an independent and important city of its own right the area has now been swallowed up by the ever expanding Munich. On the top of a small hill, overlooking the rest of the area is the cathedral. At the time of visiting the body of the cathedral was closed for renovation, but the main attraction is the stunning crypt which shows how they used to hold cathedrals up with a forest of different shaped pillars, many carved.

After spending some time wandering around the cathedral area, taking in the views of the area I headed back to the station and caught the train back to Munich. From there I headed off to Augsburg, about 60KM to the North West of Munich. I paid the excess and travelled in considerable comfort on the sleek and shiny ICE train that connects the two cities (the train itself has barely started. Between Munich and Augsburg the train takes a little over 30 minutes, over the following 7 hours or so it travels North West towards Stuttgart, Hidelburg and Frankfurt before turning Eastwards and travelling through Hildesheim and Brunswick before finally reaching Berlin (and strangely all the stops sounded familiar!) in the mid-evening).

Augsburg can trace it's history back to before Roman times, but it is them that have shaped the city with many remains of them still visible. To get a good view of the city I climbed the 269 steps of the Perlachturm which looks out over the whole of the city. From here you can see spire upon spire. The city is dotted with churches and cathedrals.

After all that climbing I stopped for lunch before heading off to the Dom Mariä Heimsuchung towards the north of the town. The cathedral is spectacular in size, yet is light and airy with lots of windows. Outside of the cathedral is a display of some of the Roman remains of the city.

I caught the tram one stop further north to the house where Leopold Mozart (Wolfgang's dad) was born. The house is now a museum dedicated to the musician, but when I visited was closed for the year! I caught the tram back to the centre of the town and walked the short distance to the Römisch museum which houses yet more of the Roman artefacts discovered in the city.

After spending some time looking at, in some cases, very, very large artefacts, I headed further away from the centre to the Basilika of St Ulrich and Afra which is the most visually stunning and prominent of the city's churches. Inside the church it is quite dark and simple, but the crypt contains the remains of the two saints who have given their name to the church.

With most of the main sights done, my feet hurting, and a train back to Munich due in less than 20 minutes, I caught the bus back to the centre of town and the tram back to the Hauptbahnhof.

After stopping by at the hotel to drop off my bag and use the internet to check in for my flight, I headed back out to spend a couple of hours wandering around Munich taking in many of the sights I had not previously seen, and in the process taking more photos that I think I have ever done before.

Stops included the Glyptothek and Propyläen at Königsplatz which resemble ancient Greek or Roman temples. From there I went out to the University and to the Siegestor. Originally built to honour the Bavarian army during the Napoleonic wars it was damaged during W.W.II and, when repaired, rededicated with the new words "Dem Sieg geweiht, vom Kriege zerstört, zum Frieden mahnend (Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, calling for peace).

From there I wandered into the area around Odeonplatz and the Residence taking lots more photos before heading round to the Marienplatz to take some final photos before heading back to the hotel and and god nights sleep.