Martin M. Miles' photos

Approaching Freising Cathedral (Saint Mary and Corbinian Cathedral). Founded up on that hill by frankish missionary St. Korbinian (born in Arpajon, south of Paris) as early as 724. He was the first bishop of the Diocese Freising, established (after his death) by St. Bonifacius (born in Crediton, near Exeter), another missionary to the germanic tribes (see: Fulda). One of St. Korbinian´s symbols is a bear, carrying Korbinian´s luggage, but that is another story..

Next to Koenigsplatz is St. Bonifaz Abbey, founded (and funded!) by Ludwig I, whose tomb is inside this church. To ensure the economicly stability, Ludwig bought the former Andechs abbey (see there), with it´s farmlands, brewery etc. and bestowed it to St. Bonifaz. Now Andechs is a priorate of St. Bonifaz. The whole area here was bombed during WWII and the abbey was totally destroyed. The church we see today, is a reconstruction. Outside it still has the historistic "byzantine" style of the 19th. century, inside it is airy and modern.

Munich´s population reached 100.000 in 1852, 250.000 in the 880s, 500.000 in 1901. The tax-income grew accordingly - and the need of city planning. One of the new prestigious boulevards built in the 19th century leads to Koenigsplatz, - a copy of the Acropolis in Athens. Ludwig I was "hellenophil", his son Otto later became the first greek king. So in the middle of the place is a 1:1 copy of the Propylaia gateway. Now this is the center of Munich's gallery and museum quarter. As you see on that advertising pillar on the left grand austrian artist Maria Lassnig has an exhibtition.

"Sendlinger Strasse" - early evening. In the background the tower of the town-hall. The most remarkable building is the Asam-church on the left. Brothers Cosmas Damian Asam (1686-1739) and Egid Quirin Asam (1692-1750) were the undisputed bavarian masters of the late Baroque. Kind of popstars of Rococo. They lived in the house left of the church and when they had the chance to buy the adjacent plot (only 176m²), they did - and built their own private church. It is like a sample case of their abilities. Meanwhile it is of course open to the public, but closed early evenings.

A view from my hotel-room onto the eastern side of the central train-station. In front is the "Arnulf-Strasse", behind that the parking for taxis and police-vehicles. The hotel was easy to find, as it had "H O T E L" on the front. My room was next to the L.

The interior of the gothic chapel within the Blutenburg castle, built 1488, seems somehow untouched. It was never looted, never burnt down. The castle and it´s chapel were just "forgotten" for many years.

Blutenburg castle - just west of Munich. Place of a romantic and tragic love story. Here lived around 1432/35 Albrecht, only son of Duke Earnest of Bavaria, and his wife Agnes Bernauer, daughter of a humble craftsman. This was not an arranged marriage, they obviously fall in love to each other - and had married secretly. After some years Albrecht´s father considered the liaison unbefitting his son’s social standing. They clashed over the matter and finally - in the absence of his son - the father arranged to have Agnes condemned for witchcraft and drowned in the Donau River in 1435. Emperor Sigismund stepped in, to cool down the situation between father and son - and in the end, Albrecht bowed his head and married, just a year after Agnes´ death, Anna of Brunswick, the daughter in law, his family wanted to have.

When the church was completed, the devil came with his friends, the winds. He asked them, to stay outside, entered the church to finish the deal with Mr. von Halsbach. The deal was, that in return of the devil´s support, the architect had to build a windowless church. From this place, you cannot see any sidewindows. The devil fouriously stamped his foot and so left his footstep. Then he vanished. He forgot his friends outside, so still today, there are always winds going around the church.

The "Frauenkirche" is a huge church built from red bricks. The towers are 98m high, being the highest structures in Munich. Buildings exceeding this height are sofar prohibited by the local authorities. The church replaced a romanesque-one, when the architect Joerg von Halsbach started to build in 1468 - and completed it within only 20 years. It is gigantic and can hold about 20.000 people. The population of Munich may have been 12.000 (or even less) at that time the hurch was built. There were always rumors, that Mr. von Halsbach had a deal with the devil, who supported him.

A short walk from "Viktualenmarkt" we reached "Marienplatz", named after the pillar with the golden statue in the middle. Overtowering the place is the new town-hall, built in neogothic style in the second half of the 19th century. The central tower hosts one of the biggest carillons in Europe and at full hours all tourist gather here, to listen. In the back are the two big towers of the Frauenkirche ("Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady")

In the middle of Munich is a very small hill. On the foot of that is the "Viktualien-Markt", a popular market not only for for gourmets but also for "early drinkers", as the beer-garden there opens at 9am. On top of the hill you see Munich´s oldest parish church Saint Peter. Munich was for centuries just a village with small monastery. The name "Muenchen" derives from latin "apud Munichen" , what translates to "at the monks".

The St. Mary-statue on the pillar - in front of colourful houses. On the right you see chairs and tables. They belong to an ice cream parlour, whose owner had decided that day, that winter was gone and the guests could sit outside again. Weilheim is a center of contemporary music. Lots of (indipendent) bands were founded here. The best knon is "The Notwist". www.notwist.de/

The center of Weilheim, one of the major towns southwest of Munich, is the marketplace. The sky is still blue on an early winter-evening. In the center of the place, surrounded by trees is a St. Mary statue. As this is a pedestrian area - there are no cars. The churchtower still has a balcony around. That´s where the night-watchman did his job a couple of hundred years ago.

Peeping over the wall. Maybe here is the well known boarding school, existing since more than 250 years. In February 2010 ths boardings school entered the news, as one of the scandalous places, where minors were abused. The abbot and the prior have resigned meanwhile.

The fresco under the dome. Unfortunately I did not dare to lay down on to the ground in the center. And I did not know, if, in case I would do it, I would be able to get up again without help. Next time, I´ll try to do..

The buildings we see today were all built after the big fire of 1744. After the rebuilding lots of pilgrims walked up the valley to the abbey-church, to see the miraculous statue of St. Mary, that is still here. The Ettal abbey owns a couple of guesthouses and pubs, a brewery (since 1609), a cheese-factory and a destillery. Actually I do prefer the beer from Kloster Andechs. The herbal schnaps is green - and comes in a bootle looking like one of the smaller steeples of the church. Tres chic!

The small village of Ettal (pop. 800) has two main tourist-attractions. 1. "Schloss Linderhof", a fairy-tale castles bavarian King Ludwig II has built mid 19th century. 2. The Benedictine abbey "Kloster Ettal". - I just visited the abbey, that was founded 1330. Nothing out of the early time seems to have survived. All what is to see now is baroque - and it is really big. The dome of the church towers above the village.

I could hear the owner of that bike playing the organ in the little chapel. So I entered and listened for a while. The chapel was on the end of the village, off a residential street, named "Roemerstrasse". Here had been the roman road leading south from Augsburg (founded 15bC as "Augusta Vindelicorum" - and so being the second oldest town/city in Germany.)