On Wednesday, we visited the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst (Egyptian Art Museum). They have a diverse selection of pieces from the early, middle and late kingdoms, including several mummy sarcophagi and a papyrus copy of the Book of the Dead. Some of the stone tablets with hieroglyphics were out in the open, not behind glass, so we were actually able to touch them! It was very cool actually touching something that old. It was also neat to see the mummy sarcophagi, and to see the inside of one, with all the decoration inside (you can see it in one of the photos in the collection.)
(Click on the photo below to view all the photos we took during our trip to the museum.)
Here are some photos from Christmas this year. Here is a photo of our Christmas tree. We decided to just buy a small tree for the three years we'll be in Germany. We have a large tree with lights pre-installed, but of course we can't use it here in Munich with the different power supply. So we decided to just go with a small tree.
Here are some photos of Dragonheart in his Christmas sweater (C crocheted it).
For a while, Dragonheart was more interested in watching the birds outside than in opening presents and playing with ribbon and toys.
Dragonheart enjoyed helping us unwrap our presents.
Here are a couple of photos of Dragonheart with his presents. One of them is a rustle tunnel that makes noise when he walks through it. The other is a ball track.
Here's a short video of Dragonheart playing with his new ball track: (If you can't see the video, click here.)
You can view more Christmas photos by clicking on the small photos below. The first set of photos features Dragonheart, the second set features K and C. by Caylynn
We've made our first German Christmas purchase. We bought a wooden Christmas pyramid. We purchased a very small, and simple one. They can also be very elaborate, and very large.
So what is a Christmas pyramid? As explained by About.com:
The German Christmas pyramid (Weihnachtspyramide) was first developed in the Erzgebirge (Erz Mountains) in the German state of Saxony (Sachsen) as a low-cost substitute for a real Christmas tree in the late 1700s. A traditional pyramid is made of wood and may have two to five levels (Etagen). The heat from burning candles turns a windmill-like rotor at the top of the pyramid, making the pyramid revolve and ring its chimes.
C. took these photos last week on one of her runs. She brought the camera with her, would run for a bit, stop to take a few photos, run some more, take some more photos, and repeated that for 4.5 miles.
Anyhow, these are some shots of the running paths we take from our place down to the Englischer Garten and the Isar River. You can see some of the beautiful fall colours in Munich. The trees don't get the beautiful reds that you often see in Canada, but there are plenty of yellows, golds, and oranges.
Today we visited the Nymphenburg Palace. There is also a huge park, and several other buildings on the grounds. As with Neuschwanstein Palace, we were not allowed to take photos inside, so you'll have to visit these sites for some interior photos:
The Nymphenburg Palace was built from 17th-19th century as a summer residence for the Bavarian Electors and Kings. Although it is now right in the city of Munich, back then, it was a country estate, outside of the city.
Again, you can click on the picture below, to see our photo album of Nymphenburg Palcace:
We were only allowed to take pictures of the outside of Neuschwanstein, so you'll have to visit these sites to see photos of the interior (which is just gorgeous!) Again, we used the word "wow" a lot!
We went to Neuschwanstein with an English tour company, that we can highly recommend: Radius Tours. We hope to do some of their other tours during our time here in Munich.
The climb up to the Palace was quite the workout! The trail was quite steep in places. There were buses available (for a small charge) but most of our tour group decided to hike up. After visiting the castle, we took an alternate route down, through one of the gorges surrounding the castle. Just beautiful scenery.
We also hiked up to the Marienbrücke, a bridge over one of the gorges, from which you have a stunning view of the castle.
Before hiking up the mountain to Neuschwanstein, we were able to take a look at the outside of Hohenschwangau Castle where Ludwig II spent a great deal of his childhood. We didn't have time to go inside this palace, however.
You can click on the picture below to see our photos of Neuschwanstein:
The Residence served as the seat of government and residence of the Bavarian dukes, electors and kings from 1508 to 1918.
The Treasury houses a collection of jewelry, royal regalia, and many other priceless objects, that were collected by the various rulers of Bavaria. The statue of Saint George, killing the dragon, that you can see here, was just incredible.
You can see some samples of the priceless works of art in the Treasury here.
