Finally had a break in the mostly cloudy weather we’ve had for the last few days in Munich and you can actually see the Alps from our hotel room window.

There’s no better way to spend a day like today just as the other Muncheners do, enjoying being outside shopping, strolling through the parks, Biergarten, riding bicycles or sitting in the shade of a blooming horse chestnut tree. Some München natives call the city Millionendorf or the village (“dorf” = village) of a million people. It’s a very livable city with lots of greenspace, good public transportation, museums, sports teams (FC Bayern) and theatres and Biergartens. Did I mention they have a lot of those (200 according to this article)?

We didn’t venture over to the Englischer Garten , which would have been busy with people cycling, picnicking, sunbathing and, there are those Biergartens. Our favorite in the Englischer Garten is the Chinesischen Turm.

We went back to the Marienplatz area as we had a couple of items of shopping to do. As expected, the Marienplatz near the Rathaus was very busy.

The famous glockenspiel will play later this afternoon and again tonight

We walked down to the right of the Rathaus to browse Alois Dallmayr. Dalmayer is a purveyor of high end prepared foods, coffees, teas, pasteries and also has dining rooms., catering. If you’re a foodie, this is a must visit. [video]

Not far away is the Hofbräuhaus. Having been a number of times, we have no desire to visit. It’s a tourist magnet (there were groups waiting for the doors to open), loud and crowded. If you’ve never visited, ok, but there are more enjoyable biergartens.

We went in search of a Steif store, but didn’t find what we were looking for there, but passed the Residenz and the Treasury (where the royal jewels are housed).

We walked on down to Maximilianstraße, home to a number of high end retailers, like Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Bucherer (jeweler). While waiting at a stop light, we saw this unique tour.

Not far from Maximilianstraße we visited Odeonplatz and the Court Garden, which was part of the Residence (royal palace).

Odeonsplatz is a large plaza famous for its monuments and churches Like the Theatine church.

But another piece of Odeonsplatz’ history might not be so well known to you. It was the scene of the Beerhall Putsch in 1923 when Adolf Hitler tried to seize control of Munich. He failed there, but ultimately the Nazis party came to rule Germany by 1933.

The Court Garden is fairly large and there is another Biergarten underneath the shade of the park. There were lots of people strolling thru the gardens, riding bicycles.

There is a government building for the state of Bavaria, with monuments to those who died in WWI and WWII

There is still evidence of bombing damage on the columns.

We took the UBahn and bus back to the hotel. We had planned on visiting the hotel’s pool and Sky Bar; wish we’d done so earlier. Even though it’s not on the top floor, the pool had a nice view of the skyline from here.

I previously mentioned that we were staying in a different area; it’s known as the Schwabing District. We haven’t really explored the area beyond the immediate area of our hotel.

Bis bald (bye for now), München !