Andy's Germany Adventure: Day 10 - In pursuit of the blue rider

Wednesday 19 January 2011
Eschenlohe, Bavaria

1300 km (800 miles) driven.

Driving freezing rain turned to snow as I headed South and the traffic around Munich was horrendous, but (being already a sceptic about Goolge predictions) I had set out early and managed to reach Murnau am Staffelsee, at the foot of the Bavarian Alps by late morning.

It is in Murnau that Gabriele Münter lived with Wassily Kandinsky before the first world war, when he left and she stayed for many years more. Wassily Kandinsky and Frans Marc started the Blaue Reiter (blue rider) art movement in nearby Kochel almost exactly 100 years ago. The Schloβmuseum in Murnau now has two rooms dedicated to Gabriele Münter, who lived in the area for many years and developed her own style after the bliue rider days. The museum also houses a display of local geology and archeology, a tribute to the writer Ödön von Horváth and a display of painting on the back of glass - something of a local tradition, apparently.

In the afternoon, I took the short drive to nearby Kochel am See to see the recently built Frans Marc museum, a modern purpose-built building thoughtfully designed to show Marc's work and that of his contemporaries - giving a useful insight into the influences on and development of the blue rider movement.

I finished the day with a meal in nearby Garmisch-Partenkirchen, mingling with the skiers. The Partenkirchen part is still quite pretty and old German, while the Garmish is a modern town.

I then checked into the Alte Wirt (Old Inn) in Eschelohe where I would stay the next two nights.