Moving on ...: Western Europe

MUNICH (GERMANY)
Weather Forecast (7-17°C)
The autumn colours outside our hotel (Mercure) were spectacular.

Unfortunately, our morning was marred by a mishap at the bicycle lane outside the hotel.

En route to BMW Welt

Michelle was enjoying the autumn colors near the bicycle lane when a cyclist shot past and slammed into her outstretched hand. Now this was most inopportune because about a month before the trip, she had had a bad fall and injured the same hand. Her pink quartz bracelet snapped and was strewn across the lane. It took us the better part of several seconds to have the detail of the incident sorted out after which we left the hotel for the two hours drive to the BMW Welt which is the exhibition facility of BMW AG.

I once drove a MINI Clubman so it is easy to understand why this (Picture: Right) was my favorite.

In case you hadn't noticed, the car door opens in front at the bonnet. The engine is probably at the back of the car.

King Maximilian Joseph.
King of Bavaria (1806 to 1825)

Monument of Maximilian Joseph in front of the National Theater.

The monument (picture: left) was created in the middle of the square as a memorial for King Maximilian Joseph. (First King of Bavaria) It was carried out to this spot ten years after the king's death for he was objectionable to the idea of being *immortalized in a sitting position.

* Now if I were to hazard a guess, I might suggest that the good king preferred to be immortalized as a rider mounted on a horse with two hooves raised. According to The Equestrian Statues Code , if the horse has all four hooves on the ground then the rider died of natural causes. One hoof raised means death came as a result of injuries in battle. Both hooves raised means the rider died directly in battle. Just saying ...

Erected in 1638 to celebrate the end of Swedish occupation during the Thirty Years' War.

MARIENPLATZ
(Mary's Square)

A large open square (previously a market) named after the Marian Column (picture: left) in its center with the Old and New Town Hall. The tower at the New Town Hall contains the Rathaus-Glockenspiel.(Mechanical Musical Clock)

At each corner of the column's pedestal is a statue of a *putto. The four putti are each depicted fighting a different beast, symbolizing the city's overcoming of adversities: war represented by the lion, pestilence by the cockatrice, hunger or famine by the dragon and heresy by the serpent.

*putto ...figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged.

Marian Column

Moving pieces of the Mechanical Clock

Having witnessed the moving pieces and musical tune of the Rathaus-Glockenspiel here was a huge treat for me. In a previous trip to Graz (Austria), we had missed the Glockenspiel there by just half an hour.

Court Brewery

Lunch

Ratskeller Restaurant

Roast pork & potato salad

Dessert

INNSBRUCK (AUSTRIA)
After lunch was a two hours drive to Swarovski Crystal World at Innsbruck. (The capital of Tyrol, a state in Austria.)

Inside The Giant (picture: right) was a subterranean Chambers of Wonder presenting a faceted display of crystalline colours and shapes.

Surrounding hills

Parking

Crystal Dome

Blue Hall

Into Lattice Sun

At the Swarovski Crystal World, our coach wouldn't start. The driver looked worried as he communicated with his Hungarian boss over the cellphone. Some half an hour or more passed and Ms Yvonne (the Tour Manager) was distraught. Finally, close to an hour later, the problem was resolved and we were on our way.

Old town center (Altstadt)

It was dark when we finally embarked on the walking tour through the old town center.

The Hofburg is a former Habsburg summer palace in Innsbruck, Austria. It was considered one of the three most significant cultural buildings in the country, along with Hofburg Palace and Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.

Of the three, the most spectacular was Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.

Empress Maria Theresa (Austria) was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She had sixteen children, one of them the infamous Marie Antoinette of France.

Following the end of the Seven Years' War, Maria Theresa selected Innsbruck as the site of the wedding of her son and future emperor Leopold II and Maria Luisa of Spain.

Landestheater

During the course of the wedding, the bridegroom suffered from diarrhea and the fireworks planned for the night were extinguished. (not necessarily from the diarrhea, if you catch my drift) Misfortune came in threes, they say. Francis I (husband of Marie Theresa) died suddenly after returning from the theater.

For Maria Theresa, the Hofburg took on greater importance "as a memorial site and representational building" to honor her husband. Per the empress's instructions, the anteroom where Francis died was converted into the Hofburg Chapel.

Summer palace for the House of Habsburg.

Helblinghaus is a building located in the Old Town (Altstadt) section of Innsbruck, Austria, across from the Golden Roof. The original structure was built in the fifteenth century, but evolved significantly with new architectural styles in subsequent centuries.

The Golden Roof is Innsbruck's most famous symbol. Completed in 1500, the roof was decorated with 2,657 fire-gilded copper tiles for Emperor Maximilian I to mark his wedding to Bianca Maria Sforza.

It was designed to serve as a royal box where the Emperor and his imperial entourage could sit in state and enjoy festivals, tournaments, and other events that took place in the square below.