Madam Butterfly in Munich

How wonderful it is to be in an opera house where you can hear well from every seat. I saw Madam Butterfly from the very back row of the Parterre which is tucked in under the balconies but I heard and saw everything perfectly.

It was a production I really liked. Joseph Calleja sang Pinkerton and Christine Opolais sang CioCio San to a packed house ( not a seat free) and great applause. What a pleasure!

The opera house itself was a surprise. Such a severe reception area, then velvet covered handrails leading to an opulent theater. The handrails were like a transition between the two.

Dirndls and Lederhosen

Octoberfest officially started yesterday and the streets of Munich are full of Dirndls and Lederhosen.

Shop window

Inside the shop 

Outside the shop:
Dirndl wearer posed for me

Walking past the shop

Ugg boots

Australian Ugg boots seem to be popular in Germany. I have seen them in Hamburg (below) and Munich (below that)! The ones I saw in Hamburg yesterday cost Euro 220 so perhaps they are one of the few things that are cheaper in Australia than Europe.

Ugg boots in Hamburg shop

Ugg boots in Munich shop

Perhaps they are the current 'must have' fashion item?  Walkin' along in your Ugg boots usin' your EyePhone...

An Angel

The Angel in St Michael's church in Munich

Isn't she lovely?

Munich Inner city

"There must be more to Munich than this," I said to myself as I drank my espresso looking out the cafe window.

Munich Street

I had taken a shortcut to the city via an underground walkway and had popped up in a nondescript area that looked nothing like the brochures. My little YMCA map showed what appeared to be a long pedestrian street a couple of streets away, so I re-entered the tunnel and made for the opposite side, walked up the moving staircase and suddenly I was there, in the Munich of the brochures with old and ornate buildings.

Munich City Gate

Munich inner city

Munich inner city 2

The main shopping street in the center of Munich extends several city blocks. It is closed to traffic so it is peaceful and you can look at the historic buildings on either side at your leisure. There were few people about at nine but by 10 o'clock there were a lot of other tourists wandering about and taking photos. By lunch time people were sitting by flower stands resting their feet.

Sitting by the flowerpots

Munich inner city building

Dirndls and Lederhosen

Dirndls dirndls everywhere. .... Well after all, this is Munich and Octoberfest is around the corner. In every shop window there were dirndls and lederhosen - also lederhosen for women, which seem to be popular judging by what the people on the train were wearing.

Dirndl shop

Dirndls in every shop window

Child's dirndl

What you wear under your lederhosen

Churches in Munich

As you walk along Munich's pedestrian street from the station you come to a building site covered with scaffolding . You don't see the facade and only when you come from the other direction do you you realise the sheeting over the scaffolding has a photograph of the building printed on it and is quite impressive.

Sheeting with printed image of St Michael's Church

I could see the glimmer of gold in the gaps between the scaffolding so I walked in underneath and discovered a very impressive and ornate church. This is Munich's St Michael's church.

St Michaels Church in Munich

I had been making my way to Munich's Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) and once I had seen St Michael's I thought the Frauenkirche might be similar but bigger.

The Frauenkirche is just off the pedestrian street: it is a tall church and you see it peeping out above other buildings as you walk  towards it. One tower is currently being renovated (there seems to be lots of building work in Munich at the moment.)

Frauenkirche in the background

You turn into the small street towards the church and find that it is too tall to fit in a photograph.

Side street leads to Frauenkirche

A large carved wooden door leads into the church and inside there is a foot impression in the marble floor. If you put your foot there you can look down the church and not see a single side window. When the church was built the end window was obscured by a statue and it is said that the devil came to see the church as it was being built; he stood there and looked, didn't see a single window and thought that the church would be a failure with no light.

Inside the Frauenkirche

It is completely different to the Church of St Michael and much less ornamented. The overwhelming impression in the church is height. The arches soar high above and are equally as difficult to photograph inside as they are outside.

Munich Ostbahnhof

On the long hours of the flights from Sydney to Munich I thought, 'This is too far - I must be crazy.'  Once I got here it didn't seem too far at all. Our bodies are programmed to forget the bad bits which is probably just as well.

Munich was 14C and very wet.  I took the S-Bahn to Munich Ostbahnhof where the coffeeshops were just opening. There were very few patrons at 6am when I got there but lots of people pausing in their rush to work when I left at 8am to catch my train to Graz.

There are lots of bikes in Maribor and cars are banned from the city center.

In Munich (below) there are more bikes than cars in the early morning on their way to work..

Why can't Australia get its act together and promote bicyling?

Window shopping

I had time before my train to Graz to go for a walk in Munich. Window displays in Germany are always professional and interesting to look at. If this display of socks didn't make you want to buy some, what would?

Octoberfest is soon and the shops are full of Dirndls and other traditional south German clothing. In Munich it is not unusual to see women wearing Dirndls but even in Hamburg you can buy them in the shops in the lead up to October.