schloss nymphenberg

while in munich, i decided to head to the schloss nymphenberg, which was a little outside downtown.  from the main train station, i needed to take a metro train and then a bus.  this palace was built in honor of future king's son's birth.  talk about a birthday present!  similar to the residenz, this building also was built in staged and continually added onto to make it what it is today.

the walk to the main palace is quite grand.  it has a few canals and is surrounded by all of these pretty outbuildings.  the main entrance is in the middle between two staircases.  within the main entrance is where you can buy the admissions ticket.  i ended up buying the combination ticket, which got me entrance to everything, the main palace, and all of the park palaces.  my guidebook mistakenly mentions that the audio guide is free; it is no longer the case.  i was also slightly disappointed in the pamphlet.  it did not contain a map of the entire estate, which is sort of key, since the park palaces are a decent walk away.  thank goodness, my guidebook had a decent map. 

i started my visit in the main palace.   this was very well laid out and easy to follow.  they had arrows and had pretty good descriptions of each room translated into english.  these rooms demonstrated the rococo style very well!  i particularly enjoyed the gallery of beauties, a room of paintings of the beautiful local women ranging from noblewomen to daughters of townsfolk.  

gallery of beauties

the grounds behind the palace and beautiful.  within them are four more "park palaces."  each of these tiny houses were about 4-5 rooms.  walking to the far palaces took me about 10 minutes each way, so i was able to gather a lot of walking time really quickly!  

first, i went to the grotto known as magdalenenklause.  it acted as a chapel.  it was also a trendsetter in that it was built to look as though it was decaying or in ruins.  the entrance to the grotto is also all shells like at the residenz.  this was in slightly better condition though, since it is completely inside.

the altar in the chapel

the second one i went to is the pagodenburg.  this little palace is octagonal and decorated in a rich, oriental style.  it was about a 10 minute walk further into the gardens.  it was used as a resting place for the rich during their outdoor festivities.  they could go into the pagodenburg for some rest and refreshments.  some day, i will have an outbuilding like this for myself on my estate!  haha!

upstairs room with some indoor games to pass the time

the funny shaped building

on the way back to the center of the estate, i passed by this lake.  i was obsessed with the swans and ducks on the grounds.  i think this picture demonstrates the calm and peacefulness of the estate.

now, i looped around the lake and canal to explore the other side of the estate.  i headed to the badenburg.  this building contains a ballroom and an indoor heated pool (one of the first!).  i figured i should probably walk all the way to the back first, see this building, and then go to the building closer to the main estate.  if i viewed the buildings in reverse order, i probably would not have decided to walk out to this one!  this building also had asian influence in the decorating.

the indoor pool!

after the indoor pool, i was not sure much could top it!  after this building though, i still had one more to visit: the amalienburg.  this building acted as the hunting lodge for the estate.  it is also the best example of european rococo.  i can see how this hunting lodge has earned that reputation.  look at the intricate design of this ballroom.  there were so many places to look that it was difficult to take it all in at once.

this building had a series of rooms and most interestingly, a kitchen!  supposedly the mother of the king liked to have it at her disposal.  look at the tile work in the kitchen!

my last stop on the estate was to visit the museum that contained old carriages and sleighs as well as the porcelain collection.  i only did a quick peep through these rooms since i was getting quite tired and hungry by this point!  they are renovating the first floor, which contains all of the sleighs and carriages.  i am curious to see what it looks like when it is complete.  

the estate is very elegant.  it is very difficult to believe that you are only about 30 minutes outside of downtown munich.  i wished there was a little more information about the estate and a better map with directions available.  the visit is time consuming, but you do get to check quite a few boxes with this stop since there is so much variety in the buildings.  

time on site: 3 hrs
times visited: 1
overall: A-