Munich

Rathaus-Glockenspiel

My escapades on the autobahn drew to a close as we entered Munich, the principle destination that birthed our grand European adventure so many months earlier.  We were here for one reason: Oktoberfest, and boy did it live it up to all of our expectations. Of course one shouldn't spend her entire time in Bavaria's capital staring down a beer mug at the delicious, amber colored nectar of the gods - even if there are plenty of people who do. The city has quite a lot to offer in terms of beer, food, culture, history, and more beer. A lot more beer.  Though our time in Munich would be short, it was very sweet and full of fun, happy memories.... at least the ones I can recall. If you care to find out, well, keep on reading. 

Dani and the most delicious
pretzel ever made

For the first time on our trip, we were staying with a friend of Alex whom he knew in China. Our plan was to rendezvous near her apartment and then go to dinner, however, work kept her very busy - at Oktoberfest (yes, business is done there) - so we were on our own. Since we weren't in the most happening of areas, our search for food was comparable to wandering around north side Richmond (no offense, your Honor!) After about an hour of perusing some overpriced, bland menus, we settled on a hole in the wall pub that served dinner for an affordable 10 euros. Now, I had brushed up on my German before the trip, so reading menus was a lot less complicated and fairly easy to figure out what was what.  Or so I thought... While Alex ended up with a pleasant steak, I was stuck with chicken livers that literally smelled like warm dog food. It must have been karma for eating an actual dog in North Korea. 

The following morning we made a day trip to Salzburg - see the post "Austria" for more on that. 

Clara, Ried, Alex, Dani - 1 beer down

Back from Salzburg earlier than expected due to unpleasant weather, we quickly showered and changed into our best Oktoberfest outfits - no, not lederhosen. When we disembarked the train, the station was filled with people wearing their beautiful, traditional Oktoberfest attire. Many vendors were selling them at the station entrances and believe me I was enticed until looking at the price tag of roughly $150 - and these were the cheap ones! Turns out that Germans treat lederhosen like Americans treat tuxedos: buy a really, really nice one - tailor made if possible - and make sure you never gain enough weight not to fit in it. The result is an incredibly expensive outfit that in all honesty looks and feels like a million dollars. However, being that we aren't the type to attend Oktoberfest annually, it didn't seem worth it for us to buy.  

As night fell, we became courageous knights ready to brave the menacing dragons of beer, jihadists prepared for the water boarding by dark ale; yet we were Daniel in the den of lions; we were mere Davids in the land of Goliaths - who could down a pitcher of beer in one breath - our tiny mouths (and bladders) child's play to them, a sign of profound weakness as they, the fierce predators, relished the fearful odor reeking from us, their easy prey; we were....well, you get the picture. 

Hofbrau Festhalle

Our friend arranged for us to be at Hofbrau Festhalle - the most famous tent at the festival. By late evening it was full of young people standing on the benches, arms locked together toasting one another while signing traditional Bavarian and international popular songs at the tops of their lungs. Move over, Disneyland...this truly is the happiest place on Earth! Though we didn't know most of the songs - I knew only one I think the whole night - at least my time in China helped me master the 'pretend' lip syncing, not that anyone was sober enough to notice anyways. Beer after beer came and went, with beautifully strong women and men carrying 7 mugs at a time - each one containing about a liter. The not so strong gals hauled baskets of freshly baked monster brezen (pretzel) that was the most delicious bread I have ever tasted - I will never again be able to enjoy American pretzels. When it was over at 10 pm (early, I know) I stumbled back home amid the several hundred thousand other merrily inebriated revelers to enjoy a thorough and well deserved slumber.  

Left: Frauenkirche and Old Town Hall on the Right 

Amazingly hangover-free the next morning after several cups of water and later coffee, it was time to see the non-alcohol induced Munich. We joined the Sandeman's New Europe Free Walking Tours, which are very popular throughout Europe. Basically, the tour guides take you around for 3-4 hours and at the end you tip them based on their performance. Luckily for us, our guide was a Munich native, studied history, and even did his master's thesis about the Old Town Hall. He started out by telling us the origin of Munich.

Munich Coat of Arms

In 1158, Guelph Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, built a bridge over the Isar River next to an abbey of Benedictine monks and not far from another bridge owned by Bishop Otto von Freising. A prudent businessman, he decided that the best way to make money was to force people to use his bridge and pay him a toll. To do this, he destroyed the Bishop's bridge; this led to a massive quarrel until intervened by Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. He ordered the Duke to pay 1/3 of the tolls as compensation to the Bishop; however, Frederick I also confirmed the establishment of Munich's trade and currency rights, alas the Duke won out in the end. Today, Munich is the commercial hub of Germany with about 1.2 million people (the Richmond metro area), which is small considering that during the two-week Oktoberfest, over 8 million visitors come to town. The Saturday before we arrived, Oktoberfest set a new record with 900,000 attendees in a single day! 

Field Marshal's Hall

From Marianplatz, we set out for the Old Town Hall and onwards to Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). Munich was completely destroyed during WWII by allied bombers, but thankfully the Nazis had taken very detailed photographs of everything in Munich, which were used to rebuild the city exactly as it had been. Churches were usually spared destruction if possible because their tall steeples provided good landmarks for pilots and ground troops to identify where they were. Around the corner we came upon an odd monument: the statue was normal, but its base wasy completely covered with tributes, candles, flowers, and pictures of....Michael Jackson. Apparently, he frequented the hotel across the street, and after he died through no fault of his own, people started this memorial - never mind who the actual statue honors. Down the way a bit are two other statues, one of them having a tribute to yet another helpless victim of pure chance: Whitney Houston. The rest of us joked that perhaps the third statue will become a memorial to Justin Bieber. 

The most important memorials we saw were those located next to the Field Marshal's Palace, where the culmination of the Beer Hall Putsch, aka The Hitlerputsch, took place in 1923 when hundreds of police confronted Hitler and his followers who were marching in an attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic. A shootout ensued at the entrance to Odeonplatz. According to Hitler, he was walking and saw that a child had fallen so he reached down to get her to safety. In reality, he was on the front line walking arms locked with his bodyguards. One of the guards was shot - 11 times apparently - and fell to the ground, pulling Hitler down with him. As all hell broke loose ole' Adolf quickly ran away, hopped in a taxi, and left the city. He was arrested two days later and sent to prison for a decade. In the end sixteen Nazis and four policemen were killed. 

Two monuments were later placed at the sight, the bigger, more elaborate one dedicated to the sixteen, while a smaller, simpler plaque was mounted to honor the first four victims of the anti-nazi movement. During the Nazi Regime, when people passed the memorial to the fallen Nazis, they had to stop and give a "Heil" to honor them lest they be severely beaten or killed even. Many, however, refused so instead hung a left down a small alley and would walk around. This became known as "Dodger's Alley." Nazis began noticing this, and took names down of people who too often were caught taking this route. They were later sent to prison, and some were even killed. After the war, golden bricks were laid in the alley to commemorate those "good Germans" who resisted Nazism and Hitler. The memorial to the sixteen was destroyed, and today only the bricks and the plaque to the four policemen remains. 

We concluded our tour at the Viktualienmarkt - a famous outdoor market - with a beer garden in the center. A bit famished we decided to grab a snack, and of course a beer, for a little relaxing time. Afterwards we climbed up the steeple of St. Peter's Church for a panoramic view over the city. From here, we witnessed the Rathaus-Glockenspiel in action, which incidentally is considered the second most overrated experience in Europe - which it pretty much was, so thankfully we weren't standing around in Marianplatz waiting for it to happen. 

Together we walked back through the old town towards the stunningly beautiful gardens of the Hofgarten. On the way, we encountered a funny little statue of a woman that our guide had told us about earlier but that we didn't get a chance to see. Everyday, fresh flowers are placed in the woman's arms as if she is holding them the same way Miss America would while prancing across a stage. Interestingly though, her shiny gold right breast contrasts the rest of her bronze body, begging the question "What on earth?" According to local tradition, men who want to profess their love to their fair lady should first give a flower to the statue and then caress her bosom for luck. No one knows where the story originated  but it has been long speculated that the responsible party is the floral shop twenty-feet away.

We reached the gardens around five o'clock, and by that point the sun was peaking through the thick clouds ever so slightly, the colors of the autumn leaves and late summer flowers were a welcome boost of cheer to the gloomy day. We strolled through the park admiring the reconstructed buildings that were bombed out in WWII, the architecture pleasant on the eyes even though most of the details were painted because the whole city had to be rebuilt and it was not practical to construct the details.

Our last stop of the day was another park near the Hofgarten which has something no other city park can claim: year round surfing. There is a river running through the park that in one section exits from under a bridge and has a "bulge" that forces the water to make a constant wave. Lucky for us, there were three surfers out to play and give us onlookers quite a show of their skills. I imagined the water being quite cold, but they didn't appear to be phased by it. One at a time, they each would surf from one side to the other until finally loosing their balance and drifting down the river. I will admit it was quite enticing and I wanted to try. Another trip perhaps, and after I have learned to surf. 

We wrapped up our time in Munich with a traditional Bavarian meal at small restaurant off the tourist trail. Another friend from Beijing who moved to Munich last year, Andrea, joined us and we had a wonderful time catching up. It had been a long few days that were so enjoyable and full of fun, tonight was the perfect way to end it: in the company of life-long friends.