Munich and Schloss Nymphenburg

During spring break 1988, I went with other students and parents and my German teacher to four German-speaking countries: Austria, West Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. The following is part of a series of travel journal excerpts.

The back balcony at Schloss Nymphenburg — overlooking the formal garden

3/30/1988

The wake-up call was late this morning (7:30) and yet, for a bit, I felt as if I should sleep longer. [Was that really my idea of “late” back then?!?] We had the usual breakfast of hard rolls (Brötchen) and I’m not the only one who’s tired of them, although they’re tasty. I was probably the last person to get tired of them.

At 9:00 this morning, we climbed aboard the bus and went to a nice place to stop and wander around. The Munich city hall — a fascinating old building — had moving figures in a set of balconies, and directly above them was an automaton rooster. At 11:00, the mechanical people moved in a circle, the rooster flapped its wings and crowed, and music chimed.

The Munich town hall in the Marienplatz. If you look closely, you can see bright colors in the higher tower balconies. Those were the automatons.

We window shopped a great deal, wandering about and admiring bunnies, chicks, fabrics, etc.