ASCENSION DAY

We used to call it Ascension Thursday and at home it goes unnoticed by all but the hard-core. You know - forty day after Easter, the risen Jesus goes up through the clouds to heaven without exploding along the way. Oh my. I mean ascension to a higher level is one thing worth considering, but literally?

Anyway, here in Bavaria it's a public holiday. All shops are closed. Galleries and museums are open, except for the new two-week-old Nazi museum. That seems a bit odd, or not.

Hans suggested the short tram trip to Karolinenplatz, a lovely big roundabout with its obelisk, and from which it is a short walk (past the new Nazi museum) to Königplatz and the fabulous Glyptothek, or opposite down the smart Brienner Strassse, one of the royal avenues, and today's stroll.

                                                                               (looking back to the obelisk)

Gently past these Royal Whatevers, past Cafe Luitpold and some seriously posh shops, you reach Ludwigstrasse, another of the royal avenues (which disappears away to the Triumphal Arch where it becomes Leopoldstrasse) at Odeonsplatz, all very touristy although I did meet an expat who was off to Mass.

 Odeonsplatz is where we come up from the U-bahn to walk to the Opera. Tonight. 

Mercedes, on the corner, is drawing some crowds and only emphasising how things just aren't what they used to be, notably that very smart little '53 red number.

Inside the 17th C baroque loveliness that is the Theatinerkirke, the incense and the worshippers were clearing but the organ played on. Outside was covered in hessian.

The parterre, just beyond and which leads through to the English Garden, was as beautiful as it was surprisingly empty.