Bye to Munich

We woke up to rain on Monday, but the clouds disappeared by late morning, so I was able to walk around and explore the city while Joel worked.
I climbed the 307 steps to the top of the clock tower to get a spectacular view of the city below. Marienplatz, below right. Another view of the city above right.

Below is a photo of King Ludwig's Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland and is the most photographed building in Germany. Because of the rain and fog, we could not get great photos of the outside. More to come on the inside later. The castle was never finished and Mad King Ludwig only lived there for a few days before he was dethroned - for spending outrageous sums of money on building his castles at the expense of the regency's treasury. He died mysteriously a short time later.

Monday evening we flew to Milan for the night. We had a wonderful dinner at a little trattoria that Joel's partner recommended. We walked back to the hotel and were disappointed at how dreary the streets looked without the Christmas lights. The streets were also empty because Italy was playing in the world cup at that time.
Joel worked Tuesday while I shopped a little and went to the Pinoteca La Brera, which is the biggest art museum in Milan. It is filled with 15th-16th century art, mostly Italian artists and mostly religious art (ie Jesus and Virgin Mary). The odd thing is that very modern abstract pieces were interspersed among all of the Madonna's and sons. I was back at the hotel by 3 to meet Joel and leave for Paris.

Ciao