Isar River at Munich

The Isar is a river that flows through Munich. Its source is in the Karwendel mountain range of the Alps in Austria. It starts flowing in north or west direction, flows into Germany, where it flows predominantly in northeast direction.  The river is 295km long, and 32km of it are inside Austria, the rest entirely within the state of Bavaria, Germany. The river merges with Danube near Deggendorf, Germany.

It caught our attention when we saw many people rest on the dry river bed, or beach as they call it locally.

Dry river bed of Isar river, Munich

We walked along the river in Munich only for a short section a couple of times. The section is near  Fischtreppe. This section of the river has an island in it, which splits the river into two streams, the side with exposed river bed is wide, the other side is narrow, the flow is fast, see the screen capture of the map at this section.

Maximillian Bridge passes over the island and is upstream to Fischtrppe (note - the river flows to northeast). One can walk down from the Bridge to the island - which has a park, and a walking trail.

On the bridge there is a sculpture - it represents Pallas Athenne, the Greek goddess of wisdom, stretgic warfare and craft. Below the bridge at the time of our visit, there was a family of ducks - a mother duck with six ducklings - one duckling was the odd one out - it was yellow, totally different from other ducklings, and no resembling to the mother duck either.

an island in the river Isar 

A trail near the river level

A park on the island

A sculpture on the bridge with a sculpture

A duck family with one odd duckling

Fischtreppe, which means fish ladder or fish pass, is a structure in rivers, built near dams or waterfalls to help fish swim upstream past high walls. There is also a structure, Wehrsteg, weir bridge, which is a combination of a pedestrian bridge and weir (aka low dam) to regulate the water level in Isar.

Fischtreppe

Wehrssteg

The surrounding is beautiful, especially around Sunset time.

Along the river there are apartment buildings, community parks, and numerous restaurants. Local residents enjoyed themselves in various ways - sitting on the beach, listening to concert at community park, skipping stones over the river, wadding the water at the shallow side.

Wednesday evening concert in a community park by the river

two guys climbed over the rail of Wehrsteg to have a private time

another view of the duck family

close up of Pallas Athene

Maximilianeum

Schloss Nymphenburg

Schloss Nymphenburg (German), i.e. Nymphenburg Palace, is a Baroque palace situated in Munich's western district Neuhausen-Nymphenburg, in Bavaria, southern Germany. It served as the main summer residence for the former rulers of Bavaria of the House of Wittelsbach. Combined with the adjacent Nymphenburg Palace Park it constitutes one of the premier royal palaces of Europe. 

There is a channel to the front of the Palace, connecting it to Munich city center in ancient time. The primary builder of the palace was Maximilian Emanuel, the heir to Bavaria, a sovereign electorate of the Holy Roman Empire. 

The channel is perpendicular to  the front of the palace, which connects to the large pool close to the palace.  It was a bright sunny day when we got there in the morning  - cloudless, windless, the water was flat as mirror, reflecting its surroundings.

schloss Nymphenburg

In the back of the palace - there is a rectangular shaped garden with sculptures and flowers.  Beyond the garden there is a channel/pool which ends at a manmade small water fall.

Back of the main palace building

The garden behind the palace

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Water falls

Looking at the palace from the water falls

The inside of the palace was ordinary, just rooms with paintings, furniture, except the main hall - which looks more like a church.

The main hall for the palace

Surrounding Park is more interesting  - ponds, trees, flowers, water fowls, birds, and sculptures. We also encountered  two deer. The other interesting observation is that there are quite a few Chinese themed decorations in the palace and some castles.

Pagodenburg - Castle - by Kleiner See

Sitzpilz am Menzinger Tor

Apollo tempel

Chinese style decorated room in Pagodenburg 

Chinses decoration in Badenburg

A Deer at Nymphenberg Park

Great Crested Grebe

Double wing dragonfly

Eurasian Coot and its baby

boat in the Channel at Schloss Nymphenburg 

First Day at Munich

Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany.

We arrived at Munich, Germany around 6am on a Sunny Saturday morning on a Lufthansa flight. We rode a train to the hotel at Aschheim-Dornach, a small town east side of Munich city center.

the corridor between airport and train stations

A statue in front of the conference center at the airport

train is a main means of public transportation

Mairenplatz

We dropped our luggage at the hotel and went to Mairenplatz, the city center square, historical old town. Rathaus-Glockenspiel, Town Hall clocktower with figurines, is imposing over the relative small square in front of it. One has to tilt his head backward to look up to see its top. Right next to the clock tower, is Neues Rathaus, i.e. new townhall. There are churches all around. Southwest to the square is a large marketplace with many small stores. Few people in the area in that early morning. When we returned for a late lunch, the area was bustling.

Rathaus-Glockenspiel

Neues Rathaus

Altes Rathaus

side of St. Peter's Church

The clock tower with green spiel is the St. Peter's Church

The plaza was filled with people after noon. 

Residenz

Our next stop is Residenz, former royal palace of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria, which is a short walking distance from Mairenplatz. Residenz is now a museum. We did not go in, stayed outdoor to beat jet lag! Looked at Sculptures, and visited Hofgarten  adjacent to it.

King Maximilian Joseph 

model of the Residenz

Atrium

Theatine Church

Hofgarten 1

Hofgarten  2

Englischen Garten

The Englischer Garten is one of the world's largest urban public parks, 3.7 square kilometers. For comparison, it is about 5 times the famous Singapore Botanic Garden, and slightly larger (1.1x) than Central Park in New York city. The name refers to its English garden form of informal landscape. 

It is to the west of the Isar river, and has many streams, ponds in it. It is lush green, perfect place for relaxation, jogging,  and running. It has quite a few historical landmarks. 

In one of the artificial streams flowing through the Englischer Garten, there is a standing wave (a stationary hydraulic jump) in which there is a transition from laminar to turbulent flow. It leads to a famous entertainment at the garden, river surfing, E2 Kleine Eisbachwelle. Surfers line up on the bank taking turns entering the water with their boards. 

With running streams, trees, the park is a place for water fowls, birds, and some small animals. Swans, Geese, ducks were all over the places by ponds, creeks. We also spotted great crested grebes, a squirrel. The birds there are typically very small, it was hard to take good pictures of then the dense trees.

It was not only our first visit to Munich, it was also my first visit to Germany. I got a good impression of Germany from it.

 

The Monopteros - Appolo Temple

Chinese Tower

Schwabinger Bach 

a large group of youth running on the trail, many families picnicking
 Northern Schönfeldwiese - church towere in the back

squirrel with fluffy tail

Bar Headed Goose

red crested pochard- a type duck

BMW Welt

We went to BMW welt after a late lunch at Mairenplatz, looking at the model cars and motorcycles. It was about 2:30pm then, we went back to the hotel to check-in, instead of visiting the BMW museum.

BMW Welt

Late Sunset 

The Sunset was 9:15pm. The day was very long during summer there. 

a rustic Vietnamese restaurant 

evening glow