In the last year (2017) my boyfriend Nate and I visited Munich, Nuremberg, Bamberg, Berlin and Prague. We both love Germany and the Czech Republic and tend to visit more than one place each year.
In February we flew into Nuremberg airport for our holiday in Munich. We thought we would take the opportunity to visit Albrecht Dürer Haus. We had passed the building before but as I had just written a paper on Dürer for my Masters. I was excited to see some original artworks…. I was very disappointed, there are no original artworks in the building just reproductions of originals. His self-portrait we were told was on display in a museum in Munich so at least we would see one of his artworks on the trip (seeing an original Dürer in Germany, his homeland, is harder than you think!). The Museum was set out how historians ‘thought’ it might have been when he lived there although they weren’t really sure, the only certain thing was that he had a toilet in his upstairs kitchen! It was cheap enough admission (6€) and had a free audio-tour but I was a little disappointed.
We travelled to Munich from Nuremberg on the train. It’s a relaxing journey travelling through the lovely Bavarian countryside. Once we arrived into Munich we did a bit of sightseeing and drinking. We had planned that Sunday would be our ‘cultural day’ as most of the Museums in the city are just 1€ entry on a Sunday. We also spent one day going to the Residenz which was great value for money (13€) as the ticket also allowed you to get into the Residenz Theatre and covered the cloakroom cost (a fraction of the price you would pay to go to a National Trust house in the UK!). This is an amazing palace type building and it took us over an hour to get around the whole house. Some of the rooms were breathtakingly beautiful.
Also whilst visiting Munich we visited the BMW World and Museum which was an amazing experience. On arriving from the U-Bahn at Olympiazentrum station we walked towards BMW Welt. This is a showroom complex with shops and restaurants (including high-end fine dining), its open from 730am-midnight Monday to Friday and 9am-midnight on Sundays. The BMW Weld exhibition is mainly new cars as it is essentially a showroom but there are some classic cars and other cool things to look at like a bubble car and one featured in a James Bond Movie. In order to get to the BMW Museum, you walk over a really cool bridge over the motorway towards a space-age looking building. Entrance to the museum is pretty reasonable considering what you get – just 10€, cheaper if you’re part of a group or a family.
The layout of the Museum takes you through chronologically from the early days of BMW through to modern day. The exhibition is also done by series and style of vehicle. There was a whole wall of motorbikes and an amazing display of series badges from over the decades. There was also a cool use of technology one of the rooms had engines in them and when you stood on the sound pad set into the floor it made the sound of that particular engine. Most of the exhibits had touchscreen information where you could pick your language but most information boards were bi-lingual.
I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy a car museum but it was really good fun! The location is about a 20 minute underground ride from Munich Hbf so easy to get to. We in February and the weather was icy cold but it is situated in the Olympic Park so would be great to explore the site more in the summer months.
Other Galleries that we visited in Munich were the Alte Pinakothek, the Neue Pinakothek and the Pinakothek der Moderne. All three galleries are just 1€ entry on a Sunday and are really close together, the perfect activity for a wet and windy Sunday in Munich. The Alte Pinakothek is a very sombre institution, classical in design with long corridors full of over 700 masterpieces from the 14th to the 18th centuries. We were hoping to see Dürer’s self-portrait but sadly the German corridor was closed for refurbishment. Other famous artists on show here include Titian, Raphael, Leonardo, El Greco, Rubens and Rembrandt. The Neue Pinakothek is much more modern in its exhibition curation. It is a labyrinth of small rooms each from a different period or school of painting. I really enjoyed this gallery it was interesting to see some of the lesser known paintings placed in the same rooms as Max Liebermann, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne. The final gallery of the trilogy was the Pinakothek der Modern, as the name suggests a modern art gallery. It’s a really confusing place as it is based around a central circular atrium. I think we missed several of the exhibits. Downstairs is an area used for temporary exhibitions. The permanent collection is housed upstairs it spans surrealism, expressionism, cubism, futurism, to pop-art and loads, loads more. Famous artists on show here include Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Georg Baselitz and my personal favourite Anselm Kiefer.
I would recommend visiting some of the galleries in Museums in Munich, it is a culture rich city with loads more to explore. To make the visit cheaper you can get a City Tour Card, this offers discounts to loads of galleries and museums and you can get travel included. We didn’t use one during this visit but we have used the Nuremberg Card before. This is really great value, we used it for transport, the Zoo, the Documentation Centre of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds and Nuremberg Castle. All these I will write about in another blog.
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