Praktikum: Munich

Yesterday, I took a trip up to Munich. I just missed one of the trains going there, so I had to wait an hour in the Hauptbahnhof (train station). While I was there, I went into a book shop, and saw this:

So, the train finally arrived, and I got on. Luckily I got on as soon as it got there, because it filled up quickly. Some people had to stand. And this was before we took on more passengers at the stops along the way. Okay, time for some pictures.

This is a random building in Augsburg. It's also an ion cannon, for when the Star Destroyers attack.

The train station in Munich is huge.

A fountain.

A much more exciting fountain!

Der Polizei are here! No clue why, but there's a whole bunch of them.

Down the street a bit was a church called St. Michael's. Here's some pics.

Down the street a ways was the Church of Our Lady, one of Munich's landmarks.

Under the sanctuary, there was a chapel.

(It's a bit dark in the chapel.)

(Not sure if this guy is buried here or what. There were a couple other stones like this one.)

Here's a blurry version of what the church is shaped like. For some reason, I could not get a clear picture of it no matter how many times I tried.

Then I explored some more outside.

Here's one of those guys who pretends to be a statue. When you put money in the box, he makes bird noises.

Some more performers. I was standing there listening, and thinking to myself: This kind of sounds like Ennio Morricone. And sure enough, they were playing the theme to For a Few Dollars More.

Here's the New Townhall in Marienplatz, which is kind of like the town square of Munich. Apparently something happens with that clock tower at 11:00AM, 12:00PM, and 5:00PM. But it was already after 12 when I got to the square. We'll come back to this later.

This is Viktualienmarkt, where they have all kinds of gourmets and beer gardens.

This is a giant red ring. Not sure what it's purpose is, but it's fun to take pictures of other things inside of the ring. For example...

There's a building inside the ring! And with some patience, I was able to get...

A tour bus in the ring! Okay, enough of that.

"Oy! Who's knockin' on my door?"

An obelisk. And, surrounding it is a roundabout!

Roundabout!

Rounda-rounda-roundabout! You'll notice that the tram tracks have a roundabout inside the street's roundabout. Which means there's a roundabout around a roundabout. (Say that last sentence out loud for the full effect.)

This is a torch. So what's the symbology here? No clue.

A windmill!

There's a bunch of shops set up. I guess it's some sort of festival. A bunch of people are there.

Even this guy on a horse came!

This guy was not invited, though. And he looks pissed.

So he sent his lion to gate-crash.

Here's a temple to Diana. (Not sure what it's doing in Germany, though. I thought she was Welsh. What? Oh, never mind.)

Inside the temple, a man plays violin.

A faun. He's smiling for two reasons: he stole my grapes, and he's naked in public.

I went into the Munich Residenz, which was a palace for Bavarian rulers from the 1300s to the 1900s. Here are some pictures:

(This is a layout of the Residenz.)

Family tree of rulers.

When "Got your nose!" becomes literal.

Oh, whoops. This is a picture of the dishes in my room. Not sure how it got here...

Okay, I'm gonna be honest. The picture I took of this hallway came out really blurry, so this is one I took from Wikipedia. (Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/Antiquarium_residence_munich.jpg)

This is the Black Hall, or the Perspective Room. Why the Perspective Room? Check out the ceiling.

If you stand in the middle of the room and look straight up, the ceiling looks higher. But that darn chandelier makes photographing the effect difficult.