Toys and Art

Another slow start to the day as it was cloudy, drizzling and cold outside and Fred’s apartment is so cosy. The number 19 tram, then into Marienplatz to visit the toy museum in the tower of the Rathaus. Climbed the circular stairs to buy our tickets - have noticed the serious Bavarian demeanour - which is very apparent despite my efforts to at least sprechen Sie Deutsche!!! The toy museum was amazing, found my own Barbie doll and the same box!! Delightful tin toys, teddy bears from Steiff, elaborate doll houses and so much more. Then of course the various trains, tin soldiers and dolls from many ages.

Saw the lovely kitchen shop that Sean and Michaela had taken us too and bought a few Chistmas things for baking - probably for next year. Amazing array of lovely things, I was going to buy some cute decorations but the saleswoman walked away as I was asking her a

question so gave up. We try to be very polite but a waste of effort really.

After a bit of map googling we found Eataly for a quick lunch and lagger, arancini and pizzetta are not warmed in a microwave…not very edible but coffee was good. We then did a bit more map googling and caught the tram to the Alte Pinakothek. It was an excellent day to wander around art galleries and as the new art gallery is closed we were able to see a combination of old and new art in the one gallery,

The galleries are quiet and uncrowded. We saw so many old masters and impressionists…Rubens, Van Gogh, Manet, Gainsborough, Monet plus many religious artworks mainly altar triptych’s… we were wondering why they were no longer in churches??

Anyway enjoyed the art gallery, being a guide must be so boring. Alarms kept triggering so they had to motion to people to keep back!! A distraction to standing there, I suppose!

Caught the tram and train to Michaela and Sean’s flat and saw Anna. We chatted about our trips. She loved her time in Strasbourg and Colmar in France, two lovely places to see for their Christmas festivities. Sean met us at a fab Japanese restaurant called Sushi Soul and we enjoy a delicious meal with he and Michaela for our 46th wedding anniversary.