The city was founded in 1158 as a mint and marketplace by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony. One of its most beautiful open spaces is the 900-acre English Garden, which sits in the center of town. Created during the late 1700s, the garden sprang from the mind of Benjamin Thompson, an American expatriate who'd befriended the Prince of Bavaria. When the garden was constructed as a park, open to everyone in the city, it gave Munich something unique: a place where people of different classes could come together in a relaxed and natural setting.

The rulers of Bavaria were into music as well as parks, and they made Munich a great city for music lovers. The National Theater is one of the finest opera houses in the world, specializing in the works of local heroes such as Mozart, Wagner and Strauss.

In front of the theater is a statue of one of the early rulers of Bavaria, Maximilian I. The king was hoping to be shown on a horse, but the sculptor felt that for the long haul he'd be more comfortable in a nice chair. The word around town is that his hand points to a cafe across the street, gesturing for a waiter.

A few blocks down from Maximilian is Marienplatz -- in many ways the center of Munich. The area is named after the statue of the Virgin Mary that stands in the middle of the square. Its central attraction for visitors is the Town Hall's mechanical clock, which goes into action every day at 11 a.m., noon and 5 p.m.

The clock's figures perform the "Coopers Dance," which dates from the early 1500s. There had been a devastating plague in the region, and the first people to realize that it was coming to an end were the barrel makers, known as "coopers." In 1517 they came to Marienplatz to perform a dance of thanks to the Virgin Mary, marking the end of the plague and cheering up the locals. The dance now continues three times a day.

Behind the square you can see the twin towers of the 500-year-old Church of Our Lady. The onion-shaped domes, added as a temporary measure, don't match the rest of the church's Gothic architecture. But with one budget shortage after another, they never got replaced. Now they are to Munich what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, a lasting symbol of the city's skyline.

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