The inside of the square formed by the arcades and the New Residence is filled with noble old trees which in summer make a leafy roof over the pleasant walks.  In the middle stands a grotto ornamented with rough pebbles and shells, and only needing a fountain to make it a perfect hall of Neptune.  Passing through the northern arcade, one comes into the magnificent park called the English Garden, which extends more than four miles along the bank of the Isar, several branches of whose milky current wander through it and form one or two pretty cascades.  It is a beautiful alteration of forest and meadow, and has all the richness and garden-like luxuriance of English scenery.  Winding walks lead along the Isar or through the wood of venerable oaks, and sometimes a lawn of half a mile in length, with a picturesque temple at its farther end, comes in sight through the trees.

The New Residence is not only one of the wonders of Munich, but of the world.  Altho commenced in 1826 and carried on constantly since that time by a number of architects, sculptors and painters, it is not yet finished; if art were not inexhaustible, it would be difficult to imagine what more could be added.  The north side of the Max Joseph Platz is taken up by its front of four hundred and thirty feet, which was nine years in building, under the direction of the architect Klenze.  The exterior is copied after the Palazzo Pitti, in Florence.  The building is of light-brown sandstone, and combines an elegance, and even splendor, with the most chaste and classic style.  The northern front, which faces the royal garden, is now nearly finished.  It has the enormous length of eight hundred feet; in the middle is a portico of ten Ionic columns.  Instead of supporting a triangular facade, each pillar stands separate and bears a marble statue from the chisel of Schwanthaler.

The interior of the building does not disappoint the promise of the outside.  It is open every afternoon, in the absence of the king, for the inspection of visitors.  We went early to the waiting-hall, where several travelers were already assembled, and at four o’clock were admitted into the newer part of the palace, containing the throne-hall, ball-room, etc.  On entering the first hall, designed for the lackeys and royal servants, we were all obliged to thrust our feet into cloth slippers to walk over the polished mosaic floor.  The walls are of scagliola marble and the ceilings ornamented brilliantly in fresco.  The second hall, also for servants, gives tokens of increasing splendors in the richer decorations of the walls and the more elaborate mosaic of the floor.  We next entered the audience chamber, in which the court-marshal receives the guests.  The ceiling is of arabesque sculpture profusely painted and gilded....