Bob and Theresa: Eastern Europe! Munich

A few years ago, Theresa and I helped plan a parish pilgrimage to Eastern Europe for Saints Francis & Clare, our home parish. But only a couple of weeks before departure, I tore a tendon in my foot and had to have surgery!
When Pentecost Tours emailed and said they had a very similar pilgrimage with Fr Chris Coleman from Dayton, we jumped on the chance. We had spent the week prior to departure with my sister Barbara and her husband Dave at their house on Lake or the Ozarks, which meant the weekend was pretty much devoted to laundry and packing! But packed we got and our son David picked us up at 8AM for a short drive to the Cincinnati Airport!

We met the group in the departure lounge and began to make new friends. Most of these folks have traveled with Fr Chris before and really love him!

The residence was the palace to the Emperor of Bavaria! The statue is of the first king of Bavaria, Maximilian I Joseph

Immediately next to the residence is the state opera!

Opposite the residence is the Royal Stable (no longer used to house horses, however).

We saw this plaque with the Star of David. While my German is very poor, the dates imply it is a holocaust memorial.

Munich is replete with the most beautiful Bavarian buildings . . .

. . . and fountains!

This church, a little off to the side, caught our eye while in the center of Munich . . .

. . . largely due to the depiction of the "All seeing eye of God" in the building!

Fr Chris Coleman is our host on this trip and he held mass at The Church of the Holy Trinity in Munich

Holy Trinity is a beautiful church with a very beautiful "high altar"

We saw this boar while in Florence. If you rubbed his nose, it meant you'd return - little did we know, he moved to Munich!

We were given a short lunch break. When I spotted this brat stand, I realized it was where we bought roasted brats when we were here with the parish pilgrimage 7-8 years ago!

"Bridges" between buildings are common in Munich

Marian-platz is so named for the Blessed Virgin Mary and in the center of the plaza (platz) is a marvelous statue of Mary standing on the moon as depicted in Revelation Ch 11.

The municipal building has a two story system of dancing and jousting characters who play out their roles in accompaniment to the world's largest glockenspiel!

The Cathedral holds this brass relief of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, placed here when he was named Pope. He had been the Archbishop of Munich prior to being assigned to the Vatican Staff

We took a short walk to St Johann Nepomuk Kirche (church) Built by two brothers, it is one of the most marvelous Baroque churches we've seen. Outdone only in size by the churches in Rome

The ornately carved doors hint at the marvelous interior

Of course, if you see keys in a man's hand in a Catholic Church, you should be thinking St Peter!

The beauty is breathtaking!

Murals are numerous - this one depicting the washing of the feet by Jesus.

The ceiling mural is phenomenal!

Back on the street (maybe I should have had a more gentle transition?) we headed for the bus, via the Haufbrauhaus - the largest beer garden in the world with three floors devoted to the consumption of beer! This window shows the pig's knuckles being roasted - apparently the food of choice of many of the wine consuming Germans!