It seems that the general consensus on Facebook was that we had too many beers and too many pretzels in Germany, but isn’t that kind of the point? We took our first full day off to go live the life of a fairy tale, but the rest of our time there was dedicated to experiencing Munich, and all the beer that it had to offer! That meant we had to start right away so we went to a cozy little restaurant down the street from our hotel for our first night in town.
For our days in Munich, we woke up early to fit in as much as possible. Munich is a pretty small city and all of the areas of interest are in the same general area so we walked a lot.
On our way into the city center, we passed the Sendlinger Tor (conveniently located steps outside of our hotel!) which is one of only three remaining gothic town gates which were used to defend the old town.
We also happened to pass our restaurant from our first dinner in town. And it looked so cool in the daylight that we had to take pictures. Lots of pictures.
From there we made our way to the Marienplatz, the main square in the city. Both the New City Hall and the Old City Hall are located along the edges of the square. The New City Hall was constructed in a gothic style and actually kind of looks like a church from the outside. The tower includes a Glockenspeil, which reenacts two stories, three times a day (11:00, 12:00 and 17:00). The first is the story of the marriage between Duke Wilhelm V to Renata of Lorraine and a joust between the two cities to celebrate their union. Spoiler alert, Bavaria wins every time. The second is the story of the dancing coopers. I kind of want to leave you with just that. ‘Dancing coopers? Whatever could that mean?‘ The story goes that during the plague the coopers took to the square and danced to convince the townspeople that it was safe to leave their houses. At the very end of the show, an owl hoots three times to signal the end of the show. And while it’s probably not the effect that they are going for, it’s pretty adorable.
After taking in the show we wandered a little bit along the streets in the old town and had some snacks along the way of course. We even made our way down to the shore of the river where I made friends with some ducks.
While we we wandering, we did stumble upon a beautiful memorial that is built right into the streets of the city. The average Munichian? (…Munichite?) well, person from Munich was not an actual supporter of Hitler and the Nazi party and did what they could to resist. One such example is the Golden Line (Goldene Linie in German). The story starts with the Bierhallputsch in 1923 where Hitler first attempted a coup. He was met by a group of police in Odeonsplatz and was defeated, ended in the death of four policemen and sixteen Nazis with many more being arrested. Fast forward a decade to when Hitler had gained control of the city and had placed a plaque there commemorating his comrades who had died there during the putsch. All who walked past the memorial were required to give the Nazi salute or would be arrested by the guard stationed there and in all likelihood sent to Dachau, the nearest concentration camp. In order to avoid that, many citizens would cut down a side street before the memorial and avoid the whole situation. Of course, the guards caught on and another guard was sometimes stationed at the other end of the street in order to catch those who refused to give the salute making travel in the area near impossible for those who resisted the Nazi party. After the war, the memorial shown below was installed to trace their footsteps and to honor their courage.
There’s no good way to transition from that but somehow a church seems like a decent option. Actually two churches. First, we went for a walk inside St Peter’s Church and then climbed to the top of the tower for the view of the city. It was quite the climb since the staircase was really narrow and there usually wasn’t room for two people to pass each other. But the view was worth it.
There is another church on the street to our hotel and it was amazingly beautiful for such a small space.
And still another one. Europe loves their churches!
Now let’s get back to light and airy: the Hofbrauhaus. I mean what is there to say besides beer, pretzels and music?
And because there hasn’t been enough food already, I’ll end with weisswurst, a traditional Bavarian sausage. It literally translates to white sausage, which is actually 100% accurate. It is traditionally eaten for breakfast and the saying goes that the sausages should not be allowed to hear the noontime chime of the bells. And because this is Germany, it is to be eaten with pretzels. So we did.
