Nymphenburg

Nymphenburg is just a little summer home in a little town called Munchen aka Munich. I mean, the royals could hardly use it as a primary residence because with only 490 acres and over 12,000 square feet in the main building it was much too small to be an all-year kind of a palace. Everything about Nymphenburg was gorgeous. The grounds alone were worth the visit with swans waddling and gliding all over the place.

There were also ducks which, long time friends know, I have a little bit of an obsession with ducks. This adorable little guy was waddling around with his strange black and white striped feet.

Crazy, huh? Anyway, the palace itself was in the baroque style. The detail work and paintings were so beautiful. Even the feet on the outdoor lamps were carved and gilded.

These are pictures from the Great Hall. It was breathtaking.

Dominika's favorite part of the palace was King Ludwig I's Gallery of Beauties. I can agree with her that it is nice to know that not all women in the 19th century were unhappy and unattractive and in some ways the gallery is progressive. The women who sat for portraits were from all classes of society. On the other hand, the idea of a gallery of beautiful women for King Ludwig I to stare at is a little bit creepy. Regardless, the portraits are beautiful and it was fun to wonder about the lives of the various women depicted.

In addition to the main palace, there are mini-museums and other buildings to visit on the palace grounds. I enjoyed going to the carriage museum which houses a number of ornate carriages and sleds. I don't think I realized how often sleighs were used for transport. I guess it makes sense since there were no snowplows... and no roads sometimes... and those carriages didn't have all-weather tires. I desperately wanted to sit in some of those carriages and practice my princess wave, but dang it ALL of them said "nicht sitzen". Boo.

Aww, a carriage for the wee little princes and princesses.

See, you want to sit in this one too, don't you?

The figures on the sleighs were awesome and a little over-the-top. I loved the glass lanterns on the sleighs. It made me think of riding through the snow on a winter's night with big furs and warm bricks. It sounds terribly romantic but was probably also terribly uncomfortable.

Of course, some of the sculptures were also kind of hilarious. In particular I was tickled by the lions suffering from strabismus...

...and the cherubs wrestling the swan.

Take that, demon fowl! We will lasso you with a garland of flowers. Apparently, even when cherubs are getting tough they use flowers.

The other place we visited on the palace grounds was a little 18th century hunting lodge called Amalienburg. Most of the lodge was not as ostentatious as the main palace but I loved every bit of it. I loved how the doors were painted and even curved to match the walls so that when it was closed it was almost impossible to tell it was there.

The oriental style tiles in the kitchen were charming and beautiful. This is a kitchen I wouldn't mind cooking in... except I would want appliances that didn't require me to build a fire first.

I was already hooked, but then the bedroom had a yellow curtained bed. Yellow! I want one of these installed in my house.

The largest room in the lodge was the hall of mirrors. The hall was decorated in the rococo style and the light reflecting around the room gave it a glow. Pictures don't do it justice.

This final picture isn't as amazing or beautiful, but I just loved the fading painted patterns on the walls. It reminded me just how old these buildings really are. They were built before my country was even organized.

We could have stayed at Nymphenburg all day, but we were eager to see what else Munich had to offer. This is the picture I took as we walked away. Goodbye Nymphenburg.