Munich (Munchen) 慕尼黑

Munich (Munchen) is the capital of a southern German state of Bavaria (Bayern), previously Kingdom of Bavaria. We visited the Nymphenburg Palace which is the summer residence of former rulers of Bavaria. We learned about Sisi (Elisabeth), born in Munich into the royal family before she became the Empress of Austria (Vienna), Queen of Hungary (Budapest), Croatia and Bohemia (Prague). It involves most the locations of our Eastern European trip.
They call her Princess Sissi (misspelled and she was not princess but duchess; it is a name of a French and French-Canadian animated series). Sisi grew up in a very unrestrained and unstructured environment and so was ill-prepared in formal Habsburg court life (Vienna). She often visited Hungary for its more relaxed environment and came to develop a deep kinship with Hungary and helped to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria–Hungary in 1867.
慕尼黑位於德國南部阿爾卑斯山北麓的Isar河畔，保留著原巴伐利亞(Bavaria)王國都城的古樸風情。我們參觀了一座巴洛克式宮殿，是巴伐利亞統治者的夏宮(Nymphenburg)。茜茜(Sisi)是巴伐利亞女公爵(其實她不是公主)，後來成為奧地利(Vienna)皇后, 匈牙利(Budapest)、波希米亞(Prague)、克羅埃西亞(Croatia)王后，她的美貌和魅力征服了整個歐洲，被世人稱為「世界上最美麗的皇后」。
茜茜(Sisi)的童年沒有受到太多拘束，喜歡自由自在，帶著豪放狂野的作風。 從一開始她就很難接受哈布斯堡(Habsburg)王朝宮廷內(Vienna)的宮廷規矩，因此她在皇宮裡非常孤立。她本人喜歡騎馬、讀書和藝術。1867年，哈布斯堡王朝對動亂中的匈牙利提出奧地利-匈牙利(Austria–Hungary)折衷方案。茜茜始終對匈牙利民族持同情心，於布達佩斯(Budapest)加冕為匈牙利王后。



The name of the city "Munchen" means "Monks". At the center is the Marienplatz square with the Old and the New Town Hall which has a tower containing the Rathaus-Glockenspiel. It has chimes and life-sized figurines to amuse tourists. The Frauenkirche "Cathedral of Our Dear Lady", with two 99 meter towers, is a distinctive landmark of Munich. We went to visit BMW factory. In evening, we enjoyed German Beer and Pork Knuckle dinner at Hofbräuhaus, a historic royal brewery.
慕尼黑 (Munchen)名稱的本義是僧侶之地, 因此市徽上表現的就是一位修道士。市中心是瑪利亞廣場(Marienplatz)，舊市政廳（Altes Rathaus）和新市政廳（Neues Rathaus）都在這裡。新市政廳有一個華麗的壁鍾，有與真人一樣大小的玩偶表演。聖母教堂(Frauenkirche)是慕尼黑鮮明的地標, 雙塔高達99米。我們去參觀寶馬原廠。後來我們參觀了歷史上皇家釀酒廠(Hofbräuhaus), 吃著名的德國啤酒和豬腳大餐。