Munich from batteries to opera

We wake up about 7am, and Barney goes out for yogurt and fruit while I make coffee. Well-rested, we're off for our one full day in Munich, and decide to catch the morning performance of the famous carillon and the 32 life-size characters which act out a medieval joust and dances. But first, e discovered the batteries in our camera were dead, and the backup ones too, so it was off too find a hardware store or someplace that would sell batteries. And voila, near the carillon was shop that sold everything from vacuum cleaners to cookware to duct tape to batteries. And Barney enjoyed browsing the 2000+ euro espresso machines.

After consulting my various printouts, we decide to visit the Residenzmuseum and treasury, the ancestral home of the Wittelsbachs, who ruled Bavaria for 500 years, long enough to collect a boatload of treasures, and too add onto their palace over 500 years. Talk about never-ending renovations. The Treasury is stunning, filled with jeweled crowns and inspired filigreed reliquaries (the menfolk were the Electors and in some cases also the Holy Roman Emperors). The most beautiful piece was the jewel-encrusted St. George and the Dragon, photos of which I will post when I can figure out how to get them from my iphone to my ipad. (and, ta-daaa!)
Room after beautiful room of paintings, gilt furniture, gold-trimmed ceilings and chandeliers, marble and pietra-dura all attest too the extraordinary wealth of the kingdom of Bavaria. One guide said allow 2 hours ... in true Nelson-Smits fashion, we were there 4-1/2 hours. Famished, we left and walked to the Hofgarten on the other side of the Palace, and found a lovely cafe called Luigi Tambosi, and sat at an outdoor table, despite the cold. We ordered some chicken soup, two espressos, and maxi-toast, which turns out to be a rather interesting kind of grilled cheese. While we ate, a couple in traditional garb walked by and the waiters yelled something to them which made us think it was related to a wedding. At the nearby Temple of Diana, we saw them with their friends and about a dozen heart-shaped red balloons. As I watched people turn the corner from the path and see the balloons, without fail, each person smiled. It's simply not possible to resist red heart-shaped balloons.
Everyone rides bicycles here, parents taking their kids to school, people commuting. The broad sidealks near the Odeonplatz have two-way bikes lanes, and boy watch out trying to cross them. These folks means business with their bikes. And virtually no one wears a helmet. We noticed that so many people are walking on the street or in the metro wiith musical instruments ... they are everywhere, cellos, violins, trumpets, trombones, even a guy with a distinctive lute case. This is a musical city.
And everything in Germany is made in Germany, or at least has a German brand on it. And I mean everything. Siemens (refrigerator and stove), Moen (faucets), Grohe (sinks), Schindler (elevators), Thyssen (escalators in metro), Rheinstahl (sensors of the 2way escalators) ... every piece of mechanical or electrical or plumbing has a German name on it. When German average wages are higher than those of the US, how is it that they can afford to build their country with things they make (with the good jobs that provides) when US companies say it is too expensive to build things in the US anymore, so now everything seems to now be made in China?
After a brief stop at the apartment to change, we head off to dinner and then the famous Munich Staatsoper to see Ariadne auf Naxos. We found Alter Hof on TripAdvisor, and it was lovely ... they seated us at 6:15 without a reservation, brought a thimble of tomato soup with paprika for a starter. A salmon salad with asparagus for me and a pork roast with potato dumping for Barney (we switched halfway through) and some nice paired wines. W People in Munich love asparagus, I mean they LOVE asparagus. There are stands set up in the various squares with kiosks that sell only white asparagus, which has a short season, and these places are packed. We secured tickets in the ticket shop in the Marienplatz metro, though most of the posters were for rock, hip-hop and pop concerts. The Staatsoper performs in the National Theatre, a stunning historical building whose inside is a festival of red and gold, with five balconies. On the second balcony, the sound and sightlines were excellent, and the seats amazingly comfortable (SF Opera, I'm looking at you). The singing was glorious, and the modernist play-within-a-play approach was wonderful. Everyone piled out onto the metro, and we enjoyed some of the delicious strawberries from breakfast.