Hotel Monaco and Munich » München

Short stay in Munich

admin — Mon, 25 May 2009 08:10:04 +0000

We have only two days to stay in Munich and so many things to do. We arrived early by train yesterday. Hotel Monaco is very convenient to the train station.. and our room was ready! That allowed us to unpack quickly and head back on the train to visit the Dachau monument.
Today, we have had a wonderful breakfast in the sunny room and we are planning to pick up bikes (again, from the train station) and head for the large parks around the outer edges of Munich. It looks like it should be a beautiful day for that.
This is one of the largest rooms we have had in our two week stay in Germany. We love having free internet access for the laptop we dragged across the Atlantic. The room is clean. And the staff has been very friendly and helpful.
No more time for typing… we must get going…
Thanks,
Martha Collins

Stay in Munich

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:37:27 +0000

I have had a great time on my trip to Munich. I highly recommend the Hotel Monaco in the city center. It is incredibly convenient to everything….the train station, shopping and historical sites. Plus the staff are very helpful and the breakfast is well worth the money. I went to Salzburg on my first full day.
Easy two hour train ride. I took the Hop On Hop Off bus which gave me alot of flexibility to see many sites in a brief time. I hiked the hill to the Fortress. But you can choose to take the elevator. I was in need of exercise after all this great food! Today I rented a bicycle and enjoyed circling the English Garden. Very flat and tons of trails. Easy to go in circles….but can’t really get lost. I also enjoyed the open air market and a little shopping. That could be overload! My first night I ate at the famous Hofbräuhaus. But tonight I enjoyed the Hofbraeuhouse just down the street from the Hotel Monaco and highly recommend it (same street and head toward the City Center). Tomorrow I head back to Frankfurt. Hope you have a good time here, too.

Marcia
USA

Glockenspiel at the Marienplatz

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:29:10 +0000

Every day at 11 and 12 o’clock (between March and October also at 17 o’clock) the “Glockenspiel” takes place. During this time the Marienplatz is so crowed that you hardly get from one side to the other. The Marienplatz is only just about 10 walking minutes from the Hotel Monaco. The jutty in which you can find the attraction is attached to the tower of the main hall. From there the “Schäffler” are looking down on the crowds and are wondering why there are still so interesting after having danced for already 100 years. But something still fascinates people about this historic attraction.
On the lower part the “Schäffler” are dancing the “Schäfflerdance”, which was developed during the time of the Black Death in the 14th century. On the upper part you can see the reconstruction of the wedding of the duke Wilhelm V with Renata from Lothringen 1568, which took place on the Marienplatz. There they are still celebrating their “happily ever after”. J Actually, those who think it’s playing the same melody the whole year is deadly wrong. There is a programme. At the moment it’s playing “Jetzt gang i an’s Brünnele” (Now, I’m going to the fountain), “Wohlauf Kameraden auf’s Pferd, auf’s Pferd” (Let’s go for a ride my friends), “Schäfflerdance 2nd part” and “The last rose”.
After almost 100 years of attracting people, the 43 bells were completely cleaned and reconstructed in 2007. So you are lucky to be in Munich now, because the ringing is more beautiful than ever. What I found out as well, when I wrote this Blog, was that the Glockenspiel is completely moved with solar energy, which I think is great.
Best wishes.
Yours Franziska from the Hotel Monaco, Munich

Munich and Alter Peter

admin — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:34:24 +0000

While forcing myself up the 306 stairs leading to the top of the „Old Peter“, I kept asking myself “Why the hell are you doing this?”.
I mean, I’m not unathletic, but 306 stairs…that’s quite a lot.

The “Old peter”, or more formal: the parish church Saint Peter, is the oldest mentioned church in town and and it probably fixed the beginning of Munich. It is really close to the Marienplatz and the Viktualienmarkt and when you are up the top you can even sometimes see the Alps. The Hotel Monaco is just a 10 minutes walk away and the nice staff will love to give you information how to get there.

When you are starting to go up you always have to pay attention if someone is coming down and blocking the lower part, because the corridor is so narrow. It is impossible to squeeze two people through it. On the way up you pass the bells of the church. They are really worth looking at.
But the best thing is the view. As I said before you can see the Alps from there and they appear so close that you think they are just a 20 minutes drive away. But that happens just during “Föhn”, which is a special type of wind. The viewing platform is 56 m over the ground the tower has a total height of 91 m.
Every visitor to Munich has to climb up there because you get a really good overview of the city centre so that you won’t need a map again. It is also nice to relax up there and to take in a huge amount of Bavarian sunlight.

Yours Franziska