So today the Hygge continued. Kumar Annan and I walked around the lake again and covered the same distance in similar timings. There was hardly anybody around at that time of the morning. We left at 6:30 and got back before 8. There are very few joggers, one or two cyclists and the very rare dog walker. I’m surprised that the locals don’t take advantage of what they have. Maybe it is a situation of familiarity breeding contempt and all that. I think if I lived here I would try and do this every morning and get my timings down.
Today the plan was to spend the day in Munchen (Munich). We’ve been to Munich a few times. The only thing left that I wanted to do is to go to the Alte Pinakothek. Albrecht Durer’s self portrait is one of the must see paintings in the world. It’s like going to Amsterdam and not going to the Van Gogh museum to see the ‘Sunflowers’ or the Rijk’s museum and seeing Rembrandt’s ‘Night Watch’ or Paris and not seeing the ‘Mona Lisa’. Although I must admit that I went to Florence twice and still did not visit the Uffizi (big mistake) or see Michaelangelo’s David.
I had the day planned out and took the unsuspecting trio straight to the museum before they had a chance to change their minds. At the museum we didn’t have time to get the audio guides. It didn’t matter. I will do that another time on my own, if I get the chance. Watching works of art is like eating your favourite ice cream (mine -an Italian gelato). I can sit and look at these masterpieces for ever if I get the chance. Today was not such a day. My trio doesn’t have a clue who Rembrandt is or who Da Vinci is or even who Ruben is. I must say that they were patient with me and let me walk around the two Ruben rooms for as long as I wanted. Just a quick word about Durer’s self portrait. As I said, if I had the chance I could sit and look at it for ever. The care taken to bring out the perfection in each strand of fur, fold of clothing, twist of hair locks and the life like eyes. He was only 28 when he painted it. The two Ruben rooms contained paintings, small and huge, each telling a story of it’s own.
There is only so long you can test the patience of men. The next stop was the Hofbrauhaus for a taste of the Oktoberfest that they were going to miss. I had a rough idea where it was and knew how to get there from Marien platz. So we walked from the museum to Marien platz and once we were there I guided them to their destination. The atmosphere in the tent is not quite like being at the festival. There was a band playing and the place was sort of heaving, but none of the customers joined in the sing songs apart from a couple of girls in our next table.
We rounded up the afternoon by walking past the Hofgarten and taking a tram to the main train station. At the Munich main train station I feel as if I have come home. Maybe I was a German in my past life.
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