Munich part 3 - Mike Bike Tours

I Munich part 3.
We read about "Mike Tours" in one of the brochures from our hotel and decided to explore the city by bike, since Munich is one of the most bike-friendly cities in Germany.
Bottom: That´s the Theatinerkirche (a church) commissioned by Ferdinand Maria for the birth of his son, Max II Emanuel.

That was such a great idea because we managed to go for a 4-hr guided tour with stops at many attractions to take photos, had a great guide who was a native English speaker from Ireland and find out more about the history of Munich.

Speaking of history, here´s 2 questions for you:-

1) How did the famous October festival start?
2) How did the culture of beer drinking in Bayern start?
Shall post the answers in the next entry.

They advertised themselves as the "No. 1 Thing to do in Munich" at tripadvisor.com. However, I wouldn´t 100% agree with that. We were told a lot about the history but honestly, I can´t remember much of it. Plus the group was fairly big, about 20 people so its difficult to hear what the guide was saying sometimes. Nevertheless, I think I know more about Munich now than the average person.

That´s us on our bike in front of the Königsplatz (King´s place) and Maximilian statue- the first King of Bavaria. He has one of the richest streets in Germany named after him.

That´s the main entrance of the Nymphenburg Palace. Its visited by an average of 300,000 tourists annually and was a gift from Prince Ferdinand Maria to his wife in 1664, upon the birth of their son, Max Emmanuel. King Ludwig II (the one who built the Cinderella Castle, Neuschwanstein), was also born in this place and the entire 200 hectare gardens were modelled after those of Versailles - information courtesy of Mike Bike tour pamphlet.

Snapshots of the castle grounds from the inside
My baby looks grumpy here, but he says its because of the glaring sun...I suspect its because of my fussy-ness whenever I take photos...poor guy has to re-take photos a million times until I´m satisfied....

Myself in front of the National Theatre, built under the order of King Maximilian, the great-grandfather of King Ludwig II.

That´s the interior of the Residence of the Wittelsbach family, built between 1570 and 1850. Its unique because many of the exterior "structures"of the building were actually painted instead of being constructed.

In front of the Feldherrenhalle (Odeonsplatz), the site where the Beer Hall Putsch led by Adolf Hitler happened. He rallied people to follow him in the midst of high inflation and unemployment rates.

That´s the statue under the huge arch. The guy holding the flag represents Germany and the lady on the left represents Bayern. Her body is turned away from him subtly, which represents the typical behaviour of the people from Bayern to the rest of Germany. Bayerish people think of themselves as being independent from Germany as they are very proud of their own heritage, dialect and culture.