Looking around the Bogenhausen district in Munich

Apart from sightseeing and people-watching, one of my favourite past times is to wander around the non-tourist trail parts of a city. And when we were in Munich last year, it was no different. We spent one morning at BMW World, which is way more interesting than it sounds (and I'll share more from there in a future post) and wanted to spend the afternoon outside, so we took the train from the Olympiapark towards Bogenhausen which our guidebook told us was "a charming place full of lovely mansions of the wealthy."

Well if you're going to look around part of the city that's off the beaten track, it might as well be one of the fancier parts. As we emerged from the station, it was already looking promising...

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL A CHERRY!

As much as I would have liked to stop, I was also keen to see more of Bogenhausen. As i looked up, I knew it was the right decision, just look:

How could you not want to explore an area with statues like this on the roof. I love how they look to be surveying the area, and watching what's going on below them.

We peeked through iron railings at the large houses behind them, marvelling at the arches, the lamps and the ironwork at the windows and the balconies.

There were gates and wide leafy avenues.

There were smaller details too, the iron rose among the lusciously coloured rosebush, and mosaic pillars.

And everywhere, there were bikes.

There really was something for everyone.

As we wandered some more, aimlessly it must be said and soon found ourselves in this square. Using it to get our bearings we turned right and headed back towards the river and our hotel.

So quite a wander, with lots to see. Do you head off to other parts of cities when you visit them, or is it just me?

Stourhead: A winter visit

Around this time last year we had a few days away in Dorset and finally managed to stop off at Stourhead on our way to the South West. Despite it being winter there was still plenty to see.  I think visiting gardens at this time of year is revealing. I mean, if gardens can look good - and hold your interest - at this time of year, without the frills and fluff of flowers then it must be a pretty special garden. 

Over the winter months the structure, and structures, in a garden are revealed. Stourhead has a few famous vistas, which we saw as we walked around the lake. There was also work underway which included draining part of the lake so we got to see more of the lake than perhaps we usually would.

...Or less of the lake, I guess depending on your viewpoint.

Even so, the lake that was there was pretty clear and reflected the trees well. It was definitely a view you could just sit and watch... 

As we headed around the lake we soon found ourselves at the Grotto, with its pebbled floor, coloured walls and snatched views over the lake. 

The skylight caught my eye, as it threw light into the space.  

We stopped on the muddy path on many occasions to admire the view, it really is pretty special don't you think? 

The dogwoods were looking particularly spectacular, I think this is colour I can only dream of for my own dogwoods in the garden. 

Stourhead was owned by the Hoare family who made their money in banking; they are the last independent bank and the family are still involved in its running today. The Trust have been managing Stourhead since 1947 and like many of its houses and gardens are continually undertaking work on its upkeep.

Work on the pantheon had recently taken place and we peeked in between the wrought iron gates to see inside. I wasn't expecting this:

As ever, I looked up and this time saw a more fancy skylight.  

Continuing our walk around the lake and over the bridge, we stopped to notice the coins which were now visible with less water in the lake. I do wonder if the properties welcome these, and if when times are hard go for a bit of a sweep up. Perhaps it's the stately home equivalent of checking the sofa for loose change, who knows? 

So now that we've actually managed to stop at Stourhead en-route to the South West I'm pretty sure we will again. It'd be great to see how it's changed, and as ever is much more preferable to a service station stop! 

In the Hofgarten

For this week's "green" fix we're popping back to Munich, and for some reason I appear to be fixated by children's television programmes at the start of this post, so let's head through the arched window... No, it's just an arch, a beautiful one at that... 

The garden is in the centre of Munich and was built between 1613-1617 by Maximilian I as an Italian style Renaissance garden. It's a popular spot and it's easy to see why, this avenue of trees greeted us as we went through the arch. And like everywhere else in Munich there were plenty of places to park a bike.

We meandered around the paths working our way towards the centre of the garden and the pavilion, which is for the goddess Diana and is just beautiful. A path leads from each of its eight arches into the garden, but the inside is ornately decorated. The statue on the top is a replica of a sculpture of Bavaria by Hubert Gerhard and is just stunning against the sky.

At the far end of the garden is the Bavarian state chancellery, which since 1993 has glass wings added to each side of the building, which I liked but I can imagine could split opinions. And it was from here that we headed off towards the Englischer Garden in search of those surfers.

On the west and the north sides of the garden - and I can't remember which this was - were some fabulous arcades with wall paintings depicting the history of Bavaria. I can imagine that on a warm day, these would provide some much welcomed shade.

And now a treat for you. I wasn't going to include this photo but as I looked back over our time in the Hofgarten I couldn't help but smile and remember how much we were amused by the scene outside of the arch. The chap with the accordion in traditional Bavarian dress playing tunes to amuse the crowds, clearly playing to the tourist trade.

And with the backdrop was quite a typical photo, but then he was joined by the other man who was clearly enjoying the music and was quite literally skipping around entertaining the crowds in his own individual way. It was one of the most joyous things I've seen for a while, and still brings a smile to my face. So many memories from just one snap!

So a beautiful garden and one you wouldn't know was destroyed during World War II. It was rebuilt with a partial redesign adopting characteristics from the nineteenth century as well as its original design.