Munich's Other Schloss

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted about one of my favorite locations in Munich, which is Schloss Schleissheim – located in the Munich suburb of Unterschleissheim. It’s near the Deutsches Museum of Flight, and is by far one of the best castles around Munich. You shouldn’t expect a Neuschwanstein, but rather expect a laid back parkland that happens to surround three amazing castles and a long canal which is the center-piece of the Baroque gardens. What started out as a renaissance country house for the royal dukes in the 1600s, today is an amazing complement to Nymphenburg Palace – with less than 10% of the visitors and what seems to be more formal grounds. I’ve never been inside, but there is supposed to be very important examples of German baroque architecture in the Grand Gallery, the wide staircase, the Maximilian’s Chapel and the four state apartments. In the end, it’s nice to stop by on a weekday when you seem to be one of only 10 people on the extensive grounds, and notice some of the wonderful details of the Palace (as shown here).

Testing The Waters

Munich is expected to see snow the rest of the week, but on the weekend it was a bit of a tropical paradise, with temperatures rising up to nearly 50 degrees. Of course, all the skaters have gone home, but that doesn’t stop the curious from testing out the thickness (or thinness, depending on how you look at it) of the ice. This seemed like a consistent pattern out at Schoss Schleishiem, where kids would explore the ice and parents would hold on from solid ground. Long since past are the constant pleas from the Red Cross to stay off the frozen lakes. At this point, it’s all up to the individuals…and their parents of course.

Back on the Canals

It seems Munich has had snow for the past 10 days. It just keeps coming down. But during a break from the snow, and a splash of sun I caught these three skating along the canals at Schloss Oberschlesien. In the background, you see Lustheim Palace, one of the three palaces, this one set in a garden villa in Italian style. The building was constructed by Enrico Zuccalli in 1684 for his first wife, the Austrian princess Maria Antonia. The interior is dominated by a large banqueting hall in the middle of the building. Since 1968, the palace houses a grand collection of Meissen porcelain. Just next to the palace is the Renautus Chapel, which was built at the same time as the palace. Encircling the Palace is a canal crossed by six bridges. It was amusing to watch the skaters make laps around the palace. The only problem was that they had to step off the ice at every bridge, and walk across, as there is only a couple feet between the water and the bottom of the bridges.

Ice Palace

Welcome Back. Happy New Year! We returned to a very cold and very active Munich. As long as the sun was out, everyone was enjoying the outdoors. Hundreds of skaters came out to take advantage of the frozen canals in front of Schloss Schleissheim, just on the edge of Munich. It was as if it happened every weekend, with locals clearing off patches of ice to skate on. The palace made a great backdrop to the frozen weekend. And it seemed on every little pond, you could find a make shift hockey game or kids skating. The Schloss was built in the 1600s in French style. The Schloss is the length of 335 meters and encompasses enormous French gardens which line the canals. Although badly damaged during WWII, it was reconstructed in 1972 based upon ancient records. I hear, you could even skate on the canals leading up to Nymphenburg Palace, but we decided not to as they charged everyone and there seemed to be 10 times the number of people of Schleissheim. I’ll see you soon out on the frozen canals.

Tree Huggers

Continuing on this theme of love in Munich, I thought I would take a slightly different angle. The photo shows off what seems to be mother nature’s love for trees, found in the vast parks of Schloss Schleisheim. But it started me thinking, what is it that people love so much about Munich. Here are a few, right off the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität website. “Skip classes on a Thursday afternoon in May and have a beer at the Chinesischer Turm. Hike through autumn-painted hills around Starnberg Lake. Inhale the chill, sugar-roasted almond, bratwurst, mulled wine air at Marienplatz at Christmas. Explore and discover the city and its surroundings on your own.” For me, it’s always the same. Beer culture. English Gardens. Riding bikes safely all over town, the Viktualien Market, kid friendly, and the amazingly dependable transportation. If you want to check it out for yourself, take a look at the many webcams around town.

A Walk in the Park

If you thought Nymphenburg Palace and the Residence were the only “Schloss” around town, think again. There are quite a few palaces that are just on the outskirts of Munich and provide a hint of the wealth and power that ruled Bavaria for centuries. In the distance, you see Lustheim Palace, one of the three castles at Schleissheim Palace. Several of the palaces sit approx a kilometer apart, and we saw no more than a dozen other people there during the 2 hours we walked there. It was like we had the whole park to ourselves. Surrounding the palaces is the grand park, one of the rare preserved baroque gardens in Germany.