Trip Notes - Munich and Bavaria
I really, really love Germany. I can speak passable german and can understand about 50 - 75% of what I hear (depending on how fast people are speaking), but Munich and Bavaria seem to be in their own little world in southern Germany. The dialect of spoken german is different enough that it takes a little while to pick up on all the colloquialisms that are unique to the area. Fortunately, most of the people we encountered spoke english much better than I can speak german and will speak in english regardless of whether or not you try to converse in german. Either my german is that bad (probably so) or it's just easier for them.
Munich is an interesting city in that the vast majority of the buildings that you see in the old part of the city are reconstructions of the buildings that stood prior to the bombings in WWII, in which the city was leveled. One of the few surviving structures is the Church of Our Lady, with the twin towers topped by onion domes, which serves as the city's icon. The towers were left in place while the rest of the church was leveled so that the allied pilots would have a visual reference in order to drop more bombs. Regardless, the reconstructed city with its many cathedrals and monuments is quite striking. I was a bit disappointed with the sheer amount of scaffolding around the famous glockenspiel though - it is currently being restored for the 850th (I think) anniversary of the founding of the city. Still pretty and very quaint though.
We got out into the countryside for one day to tour Neuschwanstein castle in southern Bavaria, the purported model for Disney's Cinderella castle. The trees in southern Bavaria were in full fall color, and there was a dusting of snow on the nearby alps - very pretty. The castle is also undergoing restoration, so you are only able to tour a few of the rooms, including the bedchamber and throne room of King Ludwig II. We were also fortunate enough to be able to pass through the grotto built inside the castle where the King liked to listen to Wagner's operas being performed above in the concert hall. That was a bit weird, but when they play music in the overhead room and you hear it in the grotto, it takes on the most otherworldly quality, very appropriate for Wagner and very cool. The castle is also decorated with numerous scenes from Wagner's operas, in addition to byzantine and local bavarian elements (ie swans). I've decided that Ludwig wasn't crazy, he was just a fanboy!
On our way back to Munich from the bavarian countryside, we stopped at a small roadside inn for lunch where we discovered that Dieter our driver spoke perfect english. We spent the rest of lunch teasing him. ;) We also stopped off at the White Church (an absolutely fabulous church out in the middle of nowhere) and saw its adjoining shed. The story is, that the people of the village had cast/carved an icon of Jesus for this shed, which served as the original church for the tiny town. The icon, for whatever reason, had been put into storage in someone's garage/attic/basement for quite some time and when it was rediscovered, the statue reportedly was 'crying' - with tears running down its face. After this, the White Church was constructed and many pilgrims traveled to the area to see the statue. The statue itself is a crude little thing compared to the remainder of the church and you are not allowed to see it up close, but the church itself is magnificent. Other places we stopped by that I do not remember the names of (and will have to look up) are where the regional passion play is performed every 10 years and also a monastery where we picked up some plum wine that the hubby liked so much that he managed to drink it all over the course of two days. I also survived the autobahn! At one point, we were doing 120 mph but we all felt very safe. The german road systems are very good, but they do have a sign every few meters it seems with some rule. It seems to be a very rule-oriented culture. :) The germans love their cars. Saw lots of shiny BMWs passing by us on a regular basis.
On our last day in Munich, we visited the concentration camp of Dauchau (that was a very moving experience); a beer garden (yes, we were there for Octoberfest); rode the public transportation system around the city and did some souvenir shopping. My mother is now the proud owner of a bavarian cuckoo clock (I had that shipped), dad has a stein. We bought Katy a snow globe of Neuschwanstein castle (when we were at the castle), Mackenna got a doll dressed in traditional bavarian clothes, and little Keira got a Steif teddy bear. The hubby did not want a pair of lederhosen, which is most unfortunate. Debbie (we were traveling with another couple) and I thought they were most becoming.
Munich is a wonderful place to visit and the people are all very friendly and laugh readily. The only thing that struck me as being a little off was the fact that we did not see ANY children in the city the entire time that we were there. Munich is apparently a city of working singles, much like Manhattan. The cost of living within the city gates supposedly discourages young families from living there. It gives the city a strange atmosphere (at least for me - I'm so used to seeing/hearing kids of all ages where I live). The airport is also brand new and state of the art. I would not hesitate to go back.
Next up: St. Petersburg, Russia