When we look for places to travel, Bob and I have to figure out what we want to do, where we can afford to go, and how much energy we want to expend. Generally we get the what do we want to do question down then I plan the trip and Bob says ok or no before booking anything. This year, I let Bob pick the location so Munich, for better or worse, was his idea. He decided on Munich because it has castles/palaces, lots of history, some very neat churches and beer.

Our first full day in Munich we decided to spend the day at Schloss Nymphenburg- the summer palace of the Bavarian monarchs. Getting there gave us some practice with the transit system, which we managed just fine. We did pick the hottest day of the year to tour the palace – an eighteenth century non air-conditioned palace. It was still worth it.

The main reception room is incredible. It is so light, so airy and so bright that it is hard to believe it is only natural light.

The other room that stands out is the room of beauties. One of the kings had portraits of beautiful women painted. He chose women from all walks of life, from the daughter of a farmer, a shopkeeper’s daughter to the daughter of a duke. He had a specific idea of what a beautiful woman looked like and he made sure to capture it.

Outside the palace, the grounds were amazing.

But more than just the grounds, tucked away, was a small chapel building that had one of the most unique rooms I have ever seen.

Shells. The entire chapel area is created by shells. Everything is done in shells and the pictures really don’t do it justice. It was totally unexpected, totally different and absolutely breathtaking. Well worth seeing.

For dinner, we went a more traditional route and headed to a beer garden. The Pauliner Nachenburger is a large, 3000 seat beer garden near the city center. It has both serviced and self serviced areas as well as playgrounds for children. We choose the served area and started out a little … unsettled as the few servers seemed to not want more tables. Eventually we got a server who insisted I try to say everything in German, and he corrected my pronunciation until I got it right. Part of me hated this, but part of me loved it. And really, if I can handle an encounter with Fritz, I can try anything.

The food wasn’t fancy, but it was really well done. Bob liked his beer and I had both a great German wine and a prosecco with elderflower. I tried to be adventurous with my food and drink this trip and it paid off.