Steven woke up with Amanda waking him up. She was already ready for the day, and even had her coffee already. Steven knew it was going to be a good day.
First thing we did was go to the supermarket for some breakfast. Then we waited until our “free” walking tour (aka pay what you want). Before the tour started we got a brief run through of the afternoon. The tour guide wanted to make the point that Munich was very different from Berlin (not better or worse, but just different). This notion was reiterated numerous times along the trip. In fact, we would summarize the tour by explaining the differences between Munich and Berlin. It came off a little strange. We also learned about Bavaria’s (southern German) history. Munich was born out of the salt trade in the 1100s. It grew as a large trading post. After the Franco-Prussian war (late 1800s), Munich became a part of Germany. When they joined they weren't shouting with joy. They kept a mind frame similar to that of Texas and the US. That is, it’s a part of the county, but its proud of its culture and wishes to keep it that way. All the culture stereotypes that one makes about Germany (how they dress, how the eat and drink) is all from the Bavarian lifestyle. They are very proud of this, and try to dissociate from Berlin.
Munich is Catholic, Berlin is Protestant
Munich is conservative, Berlin is liberal
Munich has old buildings, Berlin has new buildings
Munich is rich and thriving, Berlin is poor and in debt
Munich digs into is rich culture history, Berlin is trying to forget their past
The differences continue. Throughout the tour, our tour guide kept making these points. Strange, but understandable. Stevens thinks its similar to his old FSU roommates’ (Tommy) mentality of how great Texas is. He believes the south is going to rise again... haha, not really... but seriously, he thinks that, but not really). Oh well, to each their own.
The first stop on the tour was a church (the one with the 2 towers). Pope Benedict has already given a service there. We learned a tale about how the church was built that was quite interesting. The story says that the architect made a deal with the devil. The deal was that if the architect could build a church with no windows, the devil would do him a favor. So the architect built it in a way that if you look from the entrance of the church towards the altar, the entire church is lit up, but you can’t see any windows on the side. So the architect tricked the devil. Pretty interesting.
Also, this particular church was bombed in WWII and was rebuilt since. However, the 2 towers remained. That was done on purpose because the US used the towers as a reference point during the bombing. From the outside, you can distinguish the bleach brick from the new darker brick.
Next we got to the town square at high noon. At this time, the glockenspiel played. It is dancing puppets that are located in the bell town at the town hall (which survived the bombings). There is a long story about what the dancers are doing and why, but we won't bore you. Let’s just say it had to do with a fight at a wedding reception and barrel makers dancing during the black plague.
Following the dance, we had another history lesson. The tour guide brought us up to speed how the history of Munich was during the 30 years war, WWI, and II. He "refreshed our memory" about the events after WWII. He told us that Israel was given to the Jewish community. He further explained that Palestinians weren't too happy and are near the breaking point of trying to regain their land back. He says it’s the next big current event news.
After our lesson, we had lunch – Brats and beer (naturally).
Their supermarket was close by and we meandered through it. They had many wieners stores where you could buy sandwiches or meat to go. There was also cheeses, fruits, veggies, and a beer garden. Apparently it was the place to be. It was packed.
On a side note- their were decorative fountains throughout the market center that you could actually drink out of, or fill up your water bottle. It felt weird to drink out of a continuous fountain but was a nice treat to the public, if only they had a public bathroom next to it (those were seldom to none, in every city)!
Next we visited the most popular beer hall across the land – Thy Hofbrauhaus. We got a brief intro of the pub scene, some history to it, Oktoberfest, and walked through the beer hall. It was similar to Augistiner Keller that we were at on sat, but this one had a little history to it. We were told that Hitler had a famous talk in the beer hall in 1923 (10 yrs before he stared the 3rd Reich). This talk led to riots, Hitler was imprisoned, and that’s when he wrote Mein Kampf. History in a beer hall, who would have known.
Lastly we strolled around so more, learned some interesting facts, and had a final summery talk on the stairs. There, he gave us insiders into the life of a typical Munich citizen. He again talked about the difference between it and Berlin. As an example of how Christian Munich is, he said that no one in the city is allowed to play music on Good Friday. No Ompa-ompa bands, no clubs, no café, nothing. Interesting. He shared other stories, but that’s enough. Overall, we learned a lot about the city and have better feel for it.
If we had to choose Berlin or Munich… Munich might be the better choice. Berlin has the recent history, but Munich has culture, conservatives, beer, and brats! What more could you want? Very similar to the Irish lifestyle if you ask us.
We then walked through the English gardens. This large park is usually packed on hot summer days, but this was not the case today. We stopped by the Chinese tower, another beer garden. We checked it out and kept moving.
At the end of the park we heard there was a surfing swell. We weren’t 100% what this was, but it sounded interesting. When we got there, we were dumbfounded. Surfing on a river? It was crazy. There was about 10 surfers in wetsuits. Each took their turn at riding the wave. Most would fall after 15 seconds but some would go almost a minute. They would ride back and forth on the one wave. When they fell off, they would swim to the side, hop up and try a again. Pretty cool.
Next it was time to roam again. We went back into the Hofbrauhaus and read up on their history again. Amanda tried to pretend she was a German waitress carrying 7 liters of pils.
Next we swung by the market again. We hung out for a bit and ate a couple German Pretzels. We also got a wiener with kraut. With a tough language barrier, ordering a brat and kraut was something they could understand. It was great. The kraut tasted similar to the one at the restaurant. It had almost of a pickled taste to it.
Then we roamed around trying to find a souvenir shop so Amanda could buy another magnet (we got one from every city so far – something Amanda picked up from her Nana).
Next we took a 15 min walk to see the fair grounds where Oktoberfest takes place. It’s nothing special, just a large field. When we were there, Carnies were setting up for festival of some sort. During Oktoberfest, they have humongous tents that are filled with picnic benches. Outside of the tents, the carnies are still there. While we were exiting the park, we saw a couple 1 liter beer glasses (the clear ones with a handle and bubbles in the glass) by the trash can. Hey, if its by the trash can its fair game. So yeah…. We took one. Great souvenir…. For free!
Next we stopped by the supermarket to get some breakfast for the morning. We went back to the hostel, got our bags, and headed to the train station. Before we left, we had to treat ourselves to German food one last time. What better than yet another currywurst. It was sad to know it was the last authentic currywurst for a long time. But we have the feeling it may be made in the Roof household soon. We finished our last German meal and got on our overnight train to Italy.Munich was a very special city. Its filled with pride and a rich culture. It had a city feel too it, but it wasn’t massive. It didn’t have that many hot spot attractions, but it was closer to a city-like-life that we would want to live in. Great place.
Germany as a whole was great. It introduced us to the currywurst, history, and beer. You can’t complain about that. We were happy that we dedicate 5 full days to Germany. If not, we wouldn’t have learned about Hitler, the Cold war, had a currywurst, sat at a beer garden, or biked up a mountain to a castle. What a great adventure for us. Our last country is next, Italy.
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