Munich Residenz
Day 0
"Living in the lap of luxury isn't bad except that you never know when luxury is going to stand up."
~ Orson Welles
The Wittelsbach family ruled Bavaria under one title or another for over 700 years, and they lived in this Residenz for 400 of them. (Click here for more about the palace's history!) The palace was extensively damaged during World War II, but has been painstakingly restored to much of its former glory. It's hard not to feel a little guilty for being part of the country that caused this beauty to require restoration, but on the other hand, the restoration made everything bright and clean and beautiful. It wasn't a dusty old museum with crumbling walls and faded furnishings.
It felt like stepping back in time.
​
(Pro tip: Rick Steves's guidebook has a wonderful self-guided tour!)
The first stop was the Shell Grotto. It's hard to tell from the pictures but this entire surface is made of, or covered in, seashells. And apparently when the Wittelsbachs would throw parties, this fountain would flow with wine.
Next was the Hall of Antiquities, a gigantic hall where they displayed sculptures and treasures from ancient Greeks and Romans. The room itself was honestly more impressive to me than the treasures. To give you a sense of scale, the teeny guy in the middle is my 6-foot tall husband.
Then we headed upstairs to a huge suite of receiving rooms, parlors, sitting rooms, and bedrooms. This ballroom has a beautiful trompe-l'oeil ceiling - it looks like it's massive and soaring, but it's really a flat surface.
One of many of these grand rooms. They all started to look alike after a while, but they were all lovely and all served as examples of the impeccable restoration that the Residenz has undergone since WWII.
(I don't know what this piece is actually called, but I refer to it as "Baby Jesus Taking a Selfie.")
The red room is the miniatures cabinet; the walls are lined with tiny but incredibly detailed paintings. The room is roped off but I would have loved to get in and look at all the details!
One of the last rooms was this gallery of family portraits. Once again, husband in the middle left to provide scale as to just how huge it was.
And after all that culture, what better to do than drink more beer? Above is the first, but hardly the last, time we had this conversation:
Me: Smile for a selfie!
Jeff: No thanks.
Me: DO IT
Jeff: :-[
This is the Green Gallery, where the lion's share of the paintings are kept. It was a fascinating melange of religious pieces, noble portraiture, and "slice of life" paintings of the commoners.