The Royal Treasury, the Residenz, Royal Palace and Krampus!

A rainy day today. Our last day in Munich. We decided to tour the Treasury and Residenz. For centuries, The Munich Residence was the political and cultural center for the first dukes, then electors  (1623) and then kings of Bavaria. (1806-1918) It was also a place where the rulers kept their art collections and treasure. The treasury has all of the crown jewels and other jeweled items, fancy china, guilded serving pieces, ivory and stone carvings. Hard to imagine anyone actually wearing these items or eating food off of them.










After the Treasury, we toured the Residenz. We first entered a courtyard area with a huge fountain that was covered in a shell mosaic. Beautifil. Not sure where all the shells came from, but it certainly was a long, labor-intensive job.


Next, was the Antiquarium. Large gathering were held here. It was an amazing room/hall.

We were able to tour various rooms and halls. So lavish and ornate. A sign of the times.









To our surprise, we were able to tour the Royal Palace which has re-opened a few months ago after a 12 year renovation. The ceilings were so intricate in design as well as the wood floors.











Our day ended by watching the Krampus Parade. The Krampus is the scary assistant of kind Saint Nicholas. Whereas the latter likes to turn a blind eye when children are naughty, the Krampus prefers to rattle his chain in a terrifying manner, to attain the required level of respect and to reprimand his disagreeable contemporaries. The Krampus Run dates back 500 years to a tradition from the Alpine regions. The costumes were scary and intricate. A few children were scared, but most had fun. I was grabbed and swatted with the twigs- all in fun. Many had large bells attached to then and they would shake and make lots of noise. So fun.












We said good-bye to Laurel, stopped and picked up some Greman fruit cake at the Schmidt baker and back to the hotel to pack. Tomorrow we head for Paris.



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