Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Discovering Munich
Welcome to Bavaria – the state which wanted to be independent:
- the name comes from the Celtic Boii who lived here: it became Bai and “Heim” for home: Boihaemum – which became Bohemia which is in todays Czech Republik north of the Danube – to have a difference to the people on the south of the Danube: Baiovarii: the Franks used the word Bavaria the first time around 520
- Duchy of Bavaria: the Dukes of Bavaria did a lot of strategic marriages with the Franks and Allemanes and played a major role in the foundation of the future Bavaria
- Wittelsbach Dynasty: in 1180 Bavaria was given to Otto I Wittelsbach – his family ruled Bavaria until 1918 – the last of this line was Ludwig III
- Under Ludwig I: Munich got a lot of impressive new parks and buildings
- In 1866 Bismarck forced Bavaria to join the Prussian camp to unify Germany – Ludwig II who ruled Bavaria at the time avoided politics and lived in the world of Wagner’s music and fairy tale castles – his son Luitpold tried again to be independent of Berlin
- After Germany’s defeat in WWI the Wittlesbach were overthrown and the free state of Bavaria proclaimed – this weakened Bavaria started to embrace extremist groups such as Hitlers
- From 1923 – 1933 the country was ruled by the Bavarian People Party opposed to the red Berlin and the Prussians
- In 1926 the NSDAP Naziparty was reactivated and by 1933 Hitler has seized power and overthrew the Bavarian government: Munich became the capital of the movement: the Fuehrer wanted it to become “Das Reich” ideological and cultural center: the 1st concentration camp was built in Dachau. During the Olympics in 1936 the Nazis presented a positive image to the world
- 1937 The redevelopment of Munich began – only a very few people in Munich spoke out against Hitler – one of them the White Rose students
- 1945 it became occupied by the Americans
- 949 the Federal Republik of Bavaria made another effort to be independent
Why is everyone coming to Munich?
- Monks came here drawn by farmland and it’s closeness to the Catholic Italy
- The name comes from the Medieval name Munchen = monk
- 1158 the city of Muenchen was born
- 1240 it was given to the house of Wittelsbach
- 1864 Things got out of hand with grandiose buildings under Ludwig II – he bankrupted the royal house
- WWI: starved the city to death
- WWII nearly wiped Munich off the map
- 1972 the Olympic games began as a celebration of democracy and ended with 17 people being killed in a terrorist attack
- 2006 it hosts the opening game of the FIFA World Cup
- It is known for it’s high living standards and with more millionaire per capita than any other German city except Hamburg, it is the most expensive city to live in Germany
Jetlag in Munich
we arrive and drive to Munich with no wrong turn thanks to
Google map.... find the parkade and then we are on the way to have a cup of
coffee with Paul: I don't want to walk forever to find a coffee.... and right
from the long flight we start out with sightseeing….
Driving into the downtown: around the Siegestor and down the famous Ludwigstrasse: where all important buildings are like the university
Parking in Munich
with Google we found the centrum and we found a parking
garage... and we discovered it is all very narrow and tiny...now you know why
the cars have alarm when backing up ... and we don't want to mention that it is
also not very cheap!!!!!!!! Really your money won't last very long with those
parking fees....
Coffee at the Marienplatz in the Old Town (Altstadt)
right near the old townhall is a cafe... so time to sit down
and have a coffee and a pastry (even he had to wait a while for it) or Gine an
ice coffee which was super refreshing.... and during Paul enjoys the sun and
sitting down Gine checks out the Marienplatz... admires the townhall and
all the figures: which actually is the new townhall from 1867... as well as the
Mariensaeule: since Gine didn't bring the right papers for Munich we
didn't know at that time that it was from 1638 after a victory over the Swedish
forces during the 30-year war.... but it still looks cool, that was when Gine
learned that you shouldn't have coffee at the Marienplatz... the service is not
that great here – maybe that’s why we waited so long, but nevertheless it is a
great place to sit down….
But now we know that they named the place after the virgin
Mary when they asked her in 1854 to protect them from cholera
the Feldherrenhalle am Odeonsplatz
maybe a little walk will wake us up... so we walked up to the
Feldherrenhalle and we walked through the Viscardigasse: during the Third Reich also known as Dodger's
Alley – all the once who didn't wanted to greet the guards in fron of the
Feldherrenhalle with the “Heil Hitler” salute, walked through here – in memory
you can see some cobber cobblestones and we followed them along.
Paul is siting in front of the Feldherrenhalle on the Odeonsplatz: to relax – the hip
was not too happy about the long flight, and Gine walked up to the Loggia
looking a little bit like the one in Florence with less figures I think the
best part is the history:
Beer Hall punch:
- originally built to pay homage to the Bavarian army
- on Nov 9,1923 the police stopped here the beer hall punch when Hitler attempted to bring down the Weimar Republik: 20 people died: 16 Nazis and 4 police officers. This lead to Hitler being in jail when he then wrote the famous book “mein Kampf”.
- After the Nazis came in power they made here a memorial to the 16 Nazi soldiers dying and 2 SS guards where always there and everyone coming by had to do the Hitler salute – and they had the slogan “Und ihr habt doch gesieg – and yet you triumphed”...
- the Americans removed the Hitler monument in 1945....
still we stand here and history comes alive – when you stand
there and you think about what happened here...
the Theatiner Cathdral
Gine had to check out this yellow church which was built in
1662 for the birth of Prince Max Emmanual. And it is amazing: you can only
stand and look: stone work everywhere and all kept in white... there is not
even enough time to stand and look at everything... a lot of site chapel – an
amazing altar and a huge cupola...
Hofgarten – a place to rest
Paul said he needs a rest: the hip hurts when walking and
when sitting... so we decided to go to the Hofgarten behind the Munich Residenz
(yes we should have more time, so that we can go inside…) – because in a park
should be some green space right? Yes, there is a lot of green space surrounded
by hedges... but Gine discovered a spot near the Hofgarten... so Paul relaxes
and Gine checks out the Hofgarten with all the fountains ands flowers and the
Diana tempel under renovation. - and even if it doesn't look like it was laid
out in 1613.
The Munich War Memorial: is also right here where it
says “Sie werden auferstehen – they will rise again” - a sunken crypt with a
soldier, to remember the soldiers who died during WWI (13.000) and WWII (22.000
dead, 11.000 missing and 6000 dying during bombing)
Remembering the White Rose: so we didn't had time to visit the university and where the White Rose Resistance happened... but we came across a black stone where they had a part of the leaflet from the White Rose Resistance Movement: "Every person has the right to a righteous government - who allows freedom to each individual and the whole: freedom of speech, freedom of religion. Protecting the citizen - that should all be the foundation of Europe" - and on the other side you can read someof a last letter "My beloved, this is my last letter I send you. I will be executed at 3 pm. Do well and I will see you in eternity"
Bavarian State Chancellery: this imposing looking building near the Hofgarten was once the Army Museum and you can still see the holes from WWII - but it looks cool with the old and then the new glass wings... and in case you wonder how the first Duke of Bavaria from the Wittelsbacker looks like then here is the statue and from here is:
the red Carpet: and then there is the red carpet...
I'm not sure if it was rolled out for us... but we made a picture with us on it
and felt important…
Supper at the Hofbraeuhaus
ok this is a must go for every tourist... and so we come too:
the most famous Beer Hall... it looks amazing from the outside and amazing from
the inside...
the upper Festsaal “festival hall”: we went up there –
because up here was it, where the Nazi meetings had and also Hitler hold some
of his most meorables speeches here– like the on Feb 24, 1920 in which he laid
out his goals of the new Nazi party and “Why we are Antisemists”. As we stand
here we do have to remember that it got rebuilt and does not look exactly as it
did, when he was here.
What I think was the best: when we walked up the stairs we
already could here the humbaba music.... and then you see the old folks dancing
to it.... with the flags hanging on the side... we felt like in a bavarian beer
hall back in time
What's so special about this beerhall:
- it is the mothership of all beer halls: Munich has a lot but this one is the most famous and as well as the largest one holding up to 5000 party-goers – ok, it didn't really look that big but then there a lot of side rooms
- originally it opened in 1589 and got remodelled in 1897
- we were to jetlagged to discover it right away: but then later discovered it on our pictures: the Swastika made of the blue-white Bavarian flag
- a lot of famous people visited it: besides us also Mozart and Lenin were here
our Airbnb
we wanted to go to an Aldi and get some milk and cookies...
but Aldi was in the middle of town and no free parking... guess we didn't need
it that desperately... and we continued on to our Airbnb.
We have a wonderful room with modern light switches and fancy
lights.... and Paul goes to bed and sleeps... as where Gine waits for the
suitcase – which by the way did not arrive today......
Coffee & Cake
what should we do during waiting.... how about a German cake -
Gine finds a Bakery and gets some goodies, during Paul is getting over the
jetlag....
Munich Part II:
after spending a whole morning wasting our time during
sunshine with either waiting or calling around at 2 pm we have now 4 hours to go
around Munich. With the Underground goes we go to the Koenigsplatz so that's
where we start:
Koenigsplatz:
- once King Ludwig's royal square – the Nazi's paved it for being a parade ground – today it has again some greenspace
- Glyhptothek: I have no clue what it means but it is a Greco-Roman colonnade
- 2 old museums with columns and you feel like you are in an old area
We started out our 2nd
day here…. And came up to the huge plaza
and had right away view on the huge square with the Propylaen on our right side (in case we didn’t know either, but
this gate shows reliefs of the Greek war of independence and was built by
Ludwig I in 1854…. And on the other side the Glyphtothek an impressive building (ok it’s a museum).
the Nazis and Munich:
- it was the Capital of movement or “Hauptstadt der Bewegung” and the birthplace of the Naziparty
- throughout the third Reich Munich remained the spiritual captial of the Nazimovement
- today they have a documentation centrum at the place where the brown house was: the brown house was purchased by the Nazis in 1930 and was the seat of the NSDAP – you wonder why they called it the brown house: because the early Nazi uniforms were brown – the brown house is not here anymore but on this spot you can learn - “Why Munich and what has this got to do with me”
Nazi office buildings: you can see those 2 huge old
buildings – one was the Fuehrerbau where Hitlers offices were (by the way the
room and it's fireplace is still there even today it's used as a music school)
Ruins of the Ehrentempel: you think those old stones
are nothing special, but when you think that the Nazis built it to house the 16
sarcophages of the Nazi's you got killed during the beer hall punch – guess the
Americans didn't want to keep this memory alive and they destroyed it in 1947
(those dead soldiers got moved a lot: first from the graves to here and then
back to some unmarked graves)….
From here we walked over to the Karolinenplatz:
walking by the huge obelisk (yes it is again a memorial for soldiers who died
in a war: this time the 30.000 bavarian soldiers dying during Napoleon’s
Russian campaign)
and then ended up in the Pedestrian area and our first stop
was the:
Michaelskirche
going in from the side – and another spectacular old church –
you could use a whole guidebook for this amazing place with lots of site
altars... amazing ceilings and then once you come to the front you can see St.
Michael killing the dragon – even from the front it is a very unique looking
church.
- Built in 1597 after 14 years of construction a Jesuit church – and also the largest Renaissance church north of the Alps
- Built as a center for the counter reformation (a catholic revival in response to the Reformation, it started in 1545)
- To built it: 87 houses in the best location were pulled down by William V, the Duke of Bavaria
- And yes you can go in the crypt here and look at the tombs of the Wittelsbacher
Frauenkirche
ok so we didn't went up on the tower of the of the highest
building in old town Munich – but we admired the twin towers and the first
thing we saw was the empty black marble tomb of King Ludwig of Bavaria from
1622 (I still don't know why the tomb is empty) – this landmark of Munich is a
totally different church this time high and gothic look... and more plain...
but still very impressive and still a lot to see: It would be interesting to
know what all the stain glassed windows display
- The Cathedral of our dear lady
- It is the landmark of Munich got built 1468-1488 is a large gothic building
Munich in the rain
guess Munich is so far not our favourite: 1) our luggage
didn't arrive then 2) we pay a lot for parking and 3) spend the sunny morning
in the apartment and 4) when we go into town it is cloudy and cool and then 5)
it starts to rain.... and 6) as soon as we are back at the apartment the sun is
out again – guess we haven't discovered Munich's charm so far... maybe next
time
and because it is rainy we decide we have another coffee
Wienerwald
after we feel better because the suitcase is here: we go and
have a Wienerwald... it's filling and fairly reasonable priced... German's
chain restaurant.
We will happily say Good Bye Munich after all the start-up
stress… even there is still so much to see in Munich – who knows maybe another
day…
2025-05-23