Munich; Friday, 17 April, 2009

The weather forecast for Friday hadn’t been good, and as I got up it was proving to be correct with a pretty hefty downpour soaking the commuters standing at the tram stop visible from my room. I decided to try and do things that were indoors today, and so after breakfast headed out through the light drizzle to the Residence.

This is the former home of the Electors and then Kings of Bavaria, and one of the largest buildings in the city. When I had been here a few years earlier I had looked around the treasury, but didn’t have time to look around the rest of the palace. And you do need time.

Four hours after entering the Residence, I emerged blinking into the daylight having explored only a part of the massive building. I had a quick pit stop for something to eat, and then wandered through the Hofgarten at the rear of the Residence and found myself by the Englischer Garten.

I stopped for a short while to have a look at the guys surfing on the artificial wave, before continuing walking through the garden. As I approached the Chinese tower the rain started to pick up from a light drizzle to quite heavy again, so I quickly dived under the tower for a short while to let if ease off.

When the rain stopped it revealed a rapidly clearing sky, so I wandered back into town and popped up the Frauenkirche, to take in the views. My hunch that the rain had cleared the sky was right and I had stunning views out over the city to the Alps in the distance.

I descended back down from the viewing platform and got back to the Marienplatz just in time to join the Beer and Brewery tour for the evening.

Just before midnight, and with quite a bit of beer in me, I walked back the short distance to the hotel from the Hofbrauhaus.

Weather

Heavy Rain Damp/Fog/Mist
AM PM
Warm (10-20C, 50-68F)
16ºC/61ºF