Trip in Europe (7) Munich

Sep 25 – 27 Munich, DE

 

Arrival at Munich from Frankfurt was already the early morning on Sep 25. After spending most of the day resting in the hotel, we decided to drop the original plan to Passau. Instead, dedicating the rest of the Sep 25 in Munich, which later turned out to be the only time we could afford to explore this big city. That night, we  wandered through the most popular old and new town center and  briefly joined the Oktoberfest, which is simply a big carnival if you’re not too much into consuming beers and hitting on girls.

 

The fact of Oktoberfest （慕尼黑啤酒节）there during our visit was kind of unfortunate.  First, the hotel room rates was outragous (one double room > 140 euro for our first night ), which wasn’t justified at all by the fact that we spent most of our time outside of Munich. But that’s how things went out of your control.  Second, the city became dirty, fidgety and less organized.  And noisy too at night, because our hotel was just couple of blocks away from the Oktoberfest. Some people may enjoy Oktoberfest a lot, but we obviously didn’t. Maybe too much drunk flooding in for the Oktoberfest altered the city’s original style, which I wondered as a lot of locals were immigrants. In general, Munich left us a less classy impression than the other German cities we visited before. 

Advertisement

Trip in Europe (6) Wurzburg

Sep 24  Wurzburg, DE

 

Before leaving for Munich on Sep 24, we took a half day excursion to Wurzburg, the first stop of the Romantic road in Bavaria. The rural and historical flavor along the Romantic road （罗曼蒂克大道）was said the most beautiful in the southern Germany. To fully experience the Bavarian spirit we may need to rent a car and drive along the Romantic road: Wurzberg – Rottingen – Harburg – Augsburg – Peiting – Fussen. There are plenty of small villages, old palaces and castles along the drive way. One week journey is only a conservative estimation.

 

However, one don’t have to go deep into Bavaria to sense the Bavarian style. In Wurzburg, the Baroque invasion on the sculpture, building facade, interior design and paintings was already obvious. It is in direct contrast to the Gothic architecture in the northern part of Germany, esp. the Koln Cathedral. 巴洛克艺术的浸盈令武茨堡给人圆润细腻饱满的感觉，不同于哥特式艺术的尖耸突兀。很可能巴伐利亚的罗曼蒂克大道正代表了巴洛克风格的精髓。

 

Got off the train, two-three stops by Tram arrived the old town center. It’s not a tourist season. The local church members were hosting a playground for kids in the center of the plaza.  It’s past lunch time again. People were scattered around the plaza, finishing up their lunch. There’re also some standing tables outside the coffee shop. Locals often lean against the tall table, enjoy a cup of afternoon tea or a piece of cigarette. Couple of blocks away lies the historical old bridge over the Main river, leading to the Wurzburg Residence. The sunset was just casting a luring shadow from the hilltop Residence building over the bridge. But we resisted the temptation to explore more.