The last time I visited Munich was nearly 15 years ago.  It was the summer of 2003 and I had just finished school in France and was backpacking Europe before flying back to the US.  I had no money and was still shooting film on my old Olympus camera.  And while I remember the feel of the place, the only thing I could actually remember seeing was this:

The frieze that broke the “fourth wall” by having the dragon climb up from below and break into the frame stuck in my mind.  I took a picture of it then, and I took a picture of it again today.  And while I must have seen all the other buildings around it, I had forgotten them, so I saw them again today as if for the first time.

It was cold, by the way.  So cold the gargoyles were vomiting icicles.

I fortunately churches are (almost) always open and (almost) always warmer than the air outside.  I found the famous St Peter’s, which dates from the 1100s, was badly damaged in WWII (has since been restored), and displays a terrifying skeletal martyr in one of its small chapels.

After St. Peter’s I found my way to the Frauen Church, which dates from the 1400s and has two onion-topped towers that rise 99 meters high.  I know less about the history of this church, but I was surprised by how spare it was inside.  I suspect that much of the original has been destroyed and replaced over the years.

By this point I was freezing and all the shops where I had planned to stop and eat pastries were closed for Sunday.  So I went back to the hotel to warm up, take a quick nap, and call Justin.