Tour of Munich

I suppose at this juncture in my Germany experience, it is becoming necessary to think about what I still would like to do before leaving. I finally booked my return flight on Wednesday this week and I will officially be returning on the 25^th of August. That is only 18 days… or two weeks and four days. Is the end really that close already?? The reality of that has not quite set in yet, but I will likely have further reflection on that soon enough.

This weekend I decided it would be prudent for finally have a closer look at Munich. I’ve been here a while now, but from a “tourist” standpoint, I have done little outside of my Beer Tour and my Third Reich Tour. Yesterday, I decided to do one of the general two hour city tours, and I did actually learned a few more interesting facts about some of the things, people, and places I’ve been seeing a lot of since being here.

We started our tour in the Marianplatz (city center of Munich) at 11:00 AM. After five months in this city I finally was able to see one of Europe’s most infamous tourist attractions- the Rathaus Glockenspiel. At exactly 11 AM, 12 PM, and 5 PM every day, the clock on the new Rathaus (city hall) chimes and sets in motion animated figures. For crazy king Ludwig II (the same one who built Neuschwanstein), this was state of the art technology of the day. Our tour guide jokingly compared it to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Disney world. What the animation depicts is more fun to understand though. When the clock strikes the hour, the Glockenspiel plays a number of songs. These change frequently and are sometimes dependent on the season. When the second song starts, the first set of animations occur. This is to depict a wedding feast in Munich. Figures dance around the couple and two knights representing Bavaria and Austria joust in a tournament. All the while, the new couple cheers on with drinks in hand. After this scene, another one starts just below depicting a traditional “Cooper Dance”. This is a ceremonial dance done by barrel makers in Germany. It originated in the cooper guilds and is still conducted by some of the major brewers on certain festival days and years.

After watching the stellar performance at the clock tower, we moved on to Old St. Peter’s Church. This is the same church I posted about way back in April. We learned a little bit about the town and church history at this location. As I have heard numerous times now, the two big factors in Munich’s stimulated development were the Catholic Church and the salt mines just south of the region (you’ll recall my post from Salzburg).

From there, our guide showed us the new Jewish museum and temple in downtown Munich. This was opened just a few years ago and is a very big testament to the remaining strength of the Jewish faith in Munich and Germany. Many of the site’s founders proudly proclaim that having such a temple and faith center in the former headquarters of Nazi Germany is a clear sign that Hitler lost in his original intents. In fact, Munich today officially has more Jews than pre-Nazi Munich. I think that is a wonderful show of survival and strength.

Following the Jewish temple, we moved on to Viktualienmarkt. As I have stated before, this is the largest market in Munich and takes place every day. Fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, and meat may be purchased around every corner. I did learn a few more interesting facts here though. The first one is that Munich’s city government actually subsidizes the market. If shop keepers had to actually pay the full rent value, they would go out of business very quickly and a high-rise would likely take their places. The support of the local government keeps this very old city tradition alive. I find this to be a very pleasant part of Munich’s make-up… along with the law that forbids buildings from being built taller than the Frauenkirche. These two support systems keep Munich cozy and inviting, yet still allow a thriving and growing economy. This is exactly why Munich is titled Europe’s largest village. If you want to sell in this market, however, don’t get your hopes up too high… there is a ten year waiting list just to be considered as a booth holder in the plaza.

Directly in the center of the market is the giant Maibaum (Maypole). You’ve seen these in numerous pictures I’ve taken, but the question is naturally, “What is it??” Well, to be honest, I’ve heard numerous stories about its origins, but one thing is certain… it is a proud German and Austrian tradition. Our guide explained the origin as follows…

Back in the day, when a young lad fancied a girl, he would go into the nearest woods, cut down a tall tree, strip it, sand it, and decorate it. The idea was that the man’s wood pole would demonstrate his love for the girl (and yes… this is how it was told to me). He would paint it and decorate it with figures and scenes that would lead the girl to him. Once complete, he would erect the pole in the front yard of the ladies house. Until this point, the young girl would not know the man’s identity. It became her job to figure out who had erected the pole within a week of seeing it in her yard. If for some reason she could not identify the man, she would leave a case of beer at her door step for the fellow as a consolation prize (supposedly so the man could drink away his sorrows). Our guide proceeded to tell us how some men still do this today when they want to proclaim their love, so if you see a giant maypole in a German’s front yard, you can grin knowing some guy is in love.

In today’s age, every city typically has its own maypole and it is decorated with scenes representing the city. Munich’s is in the Viktualienmarkt and among its other traditional scenes it contains a wagon with barrels from all six of its major beer brewers. There is a tradition that goes with these city poles too. If a city’s pole is stolen by another city, tradition says that in order to “recapture” their pole, the victim city would have to provide food and drink to the captors. In essence, the ransom was a party. Typical German sense, right?

I was at the Munich airport a couple months ago and I noticed that between its two terminals is a beer garden complete with a rather large maypole. Our guide told us that this pole was stolen from the airport just a few short years ago. Someone managed to haul a giant wooden pole out of an international airport!! To say the least, the airport staff was confused and very concerned. Big breach of airport security! They immediately called the police. The answer they got from the police was laughter. Apparently the police had stolen the pole the night before!! So… in order to get the pole back, the airport had to throw the police department a party. Did I already mention that the crime in Germany was low?

From the market we moved on to see the Hofbräuhaus. Just when I thought I knew everything, I learned a little more. Apparently back in the day, there were no restrooms in the hall. People instead had to leave the building to use the facilities. At some point in time, the city architects got smart and put grooves in the city streets so that men could simply take care of business in front of the restaurants. Well, the Hofbräuhaus got smart too. They installed these groves in the floor the brewery so that men could simply relieve their bladders right under the tables. All the grooves led right out of the building. Efficient, right? Well… some Germans got tired of wet ankles while drinking and they invented these walking sticks with grooves in them to help channel the stream under the table. As appealing as all this sounds, I think there is fair room to say that Germans can sometimes be too efficient. Luckily today this particular practice is frowned upon. Keep those flaps up on the lederhosen, boys!

We moved on from here to Maximilian Street (the richest street in Europe) and ended in Odeonsplatz. I have been here countless times by now, but I still learned something new. Four brass lions line the government building to the east of the Odeonsplatz and are supposedly lucky. If you rub the noses of these lions, they bring luck. The rule is that you should only rub three of the four though. If you rub four, you are being greedy and you will be robbed of all luck. The second cool thing I learned was about the stone lions on the Feldherrnhalle (directly in the center of Odeonsplatz). The two lions are identical with one exception… their mouths. The one on the right facing the church has its mouth closed. The one on the left facing the government building has its mouth open. The idea here was that the people could always speak out against their government, but should keep their mouths shut when it pertains to the rule of God. Cool symbolism, right?

This watch is for sale. 200,000 Euros anyone?

So that ended the tour for the day. Since it was so incredibly nice out (low seventies and sunny) I decided to finally climb the tower of St. Peters and get a better view of the city. It was an amazing view! You’ll have to see if you can spot the BMW tower way in the distance of one of the pictures. My apartment is approximately in that region, so perhaps that will give you an idea of where I live in reference to the city center.

That was Saturday. Today (Sunday) I was supposed to meet up with Micah and my supervisor to visit one of the lakes south of Munich, but the weather turned back to pure rain. It has been raining here since 9:00 AM and shows no signs of stopping until… Monday. With that, our meeting plans will have to be postponed. Hopefully not for too long though… I’m quickly running out of weekends!

I hope you enjoyed the “cultural update”! Hopefully you are all enjoying a brighter Sunday back in the States!

One Week Nearly Complete!

It is now Friday, and I need to do a double take on how fast the first week has flown by! First, let me give you an idea of what the daily routine has been in this two-week language program. Every morning, I’ve been getting up around 6am (I’m an early starter) and heading down to the cafeteria for breakfast. As stated earlier, it is included with the hostel price and the coffee is great. Our language program is carried out by the Carl Duisberg Centren and begins promptly at 8:45am every morning.

At that time, our semi-crazy German teacher begins instruction. Picture an older gentleman with semi-long white/gray hair. He is clean shaven and wears a variety of colored ties, sports coats (mostly plaid), pants, and shirts. He enjoys red-wine (not an observation…he simply told us he’s not a beer-loving German), smokes cigarettes from an old leather cigarette case, and moves about the room in the same manner as Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. He is terribly funny, but also a very good teacher. I have yet to hear him speak a full sentence of English. Our language classes typically end around 12:00pm every day. The classes consist of German language review (although, I confess some of it seems new!), daily homework, a report, and a project. None of this is too intensive, but I am looking forward to being done with academics for a short six month stint very soon! I enjoy German. I enjoy Engineering. I also enjoy free time. Going back to the “routine”, in the afternoons we typically have some form of organized cultural activity. These vary, but are very useful. Our evenings are always free. Now, let me catch you up on the past four days…

Tuesday, March 22nd

On Tuesday, after our language course, we had the afternoon free. A group of us took off to check out the acclaimed “best bakery” in Cologne. It was called Fassbender KG. I purchased a cheese, tomatoe, and spinach sandwich on fresh baked bread. Mmmm… I love the bakeries here. In fact, I have yet to see one loaf of “processed” bread… even at a general store! After lunch, we spent the better part of the afternoon exploring Neumarktplatz and the shopping in that area. The weather was beautiful and the market was very lively. After an afternoon of checking out the shops (sporting goods, books, clothing, and others), we visited the Malzmühlen Brauhaus for a couple beers. After relaxing for a bit, we walked down the street to the boardwalk along the Rhine River. Bicyclists, walkers, runners, street performers… they all filled the walkway. It is a rather wide one too. To our right was the

beautiful Rhine and to our left was the skyline of steeply pitched roof houses with a towering cathedral behind them. At around 4pm we decided it would be cool to climb the stairs to the top of the Cathedral’s (Koelner Dom) right tower. It stands at nearly 500 meters, so it was a hike, and anyone willing can make the journey for only 1.5 Euros!

We were all panting at the top, but it was well worth it. The view was incredible! We then spent some time checking out the inside after we had descended. Absolutely gorgeous. I cannot speak to the chills I received when I walked in. It was SO big. Columns towered around us; intricate statues of saints adorned every nook and cranny. A magnificent tabernacle rested in the distance as I entered the church. It is truly amazing what sort of architectural feats one can accomplish with time. It took centuries to complete this church, but its beauty is unmatched. I may be making a return trip soon! After exiting the church, we went to purchase dinner at Früh Brauhaus. After the meal, a single scoop of Gelato ice cream completed the day’s adventures. Gelato is an Italian ice cream. It has a lower fat content and higher sugar content. It is made through a more refined process than US ice-cream and bears a very creamy texture. It typically doesn't keep as long as our ice-cream, but with as good as it tastes, they probably don't have to store it for very long! After ice cream, I headed back to the youth hostel where I spend a decent about of time battling Blogger to get up that last post. Blogger hates formatting! Good thing the wi-fi was randomly free that night.

Wednesday, March 24^th

I decided to take the 40 minute walk to the learning center on Wednesday. With weather like we’ve been having, I couldn’t bring myself to waste the time on a train. After our language course, we met our GIZ Program Coordinator, Genevieve, who brought in a guest speaker on German culture. We spent the afternoon (until 5pm) learning the dos and don’ts of German

business culture. There we reviewed how exactly we would interact with our employers on day one. The main take-aways for me were the importance of being extre

mely polite, giving background information, and practicing speaking situations one will likely run into beforehand. For instance, one encounters of situation where he is given a waterfall of German speak

(happens often!) and wants to communicate, “I cannot understand one lick of what you’re saying!” Obviously, we say this a little more elegantly, but you get the point. It is extremely awkward being the guy on the other end of a language. You feel about 10 cm tall and a little dumb, because you know what you want to say, but can’t!

From the class, a small group of us went back to the Malzmühlen Brauhaus for dinner. I had a dish with ham, fried eggs on wheat, and home-made potato salad. It was called, “Strammer Max.” Again, delicious! That evening was pretty laid back. I was mostly just wiped out from the day, so I crashed around 10pm.

Thursday, March 25^th

I walked again today. For the fourth in a row… beautiful weather! After class, we had a tour of the “Altstadt” (old city). Our tour guide was German, so I didn’t catch everything, but was surprised at how well I did understand most of it. This city has amazing history! …and again it catches me off guard to hear just how far back it goes. We talked about structures from when the Romans were in the city! That’s a long time ago!!

At the end of the tour, we took another tour… this time of a few breweries. We visited three and learned about the history of the beer and why those in Cologne practice certain traditions. First, one should always toast by hitting the BOTTOM of the glasses together. This prevents spilling and glass breaking. Logical, right? Second, the glasses are small in size and the opening diameter is small because those in Cologne enjoy fresh and cold beer. Smaller glasses mean the beer sits out for less time and is exposed to less air. The concept was at first confusing, but with explanation, it makes sense. (*Note: I still enjoy our pints at home!) After our tours were complete, a few from our group headed off to Lidl (German supermarket) to get some bread and cold-cuts for dinner. I decided to walk along the river back to our youth hostel. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy the walk. It’s very relaxing and a great way to clear your mind and relax after a long day. When I got back to our hostel, I worked on some homework and writing before heading out with a few of the guys to check out the university district where we visited a few establishments and met some pretty cool Germans. The one waiter knew immediately that we were Americans, but asked if he should speak in English or German. After a united response of “auf Deutsch, bitte!” he continued to endure our speaking in German for the duration of our stay. He was very helpful in clearing up how to say “beer on tap” in German! One simply says, “Bier vom Fass.”

Friday, March 26^th

Well this catches us up to today. Again… weather = brilliant. They ensure us this is HARDLY EVER the typical weather in Cologne. Typically it is rainy and cloudy. I am not sure how we lucked out this week (good prayers from home I think!), but I’m not complaining. Class today was shortened, because in Germany, schools end an hour earlier on Fridays. At 11:30am, we walked downtown with our instructor for a scavenger hunt of sorts. We were given a map with location points and questions. It was our job to answer the questions pertaining to each location point by asking Germans in the area. This was a little intimidating, but we were able to fudge our German enough to tap into the very friendly nature of the locals.

This wasn’t always the case though. We learned to stay away from waiters at bars. One of them flat out told us to leave and one ignored us after failing to understand what we wanted. It was pretty comical in hindsight, but at the time, it was slightly confusing and embarrassing! Do not interrupt the bar tender if you want anything but a beer! We wrapped up the hunt at around 2pm and I went with a small group to get a cheese pizza. Es schmeckt mir sehr gut! We ate on the boardwalk by the Rhine and proceeded to walk back to the hostel afterwards. There, I did some typing before taking a nice one hour nap.

Here I now sit finishing up this entry. I’m not really sure what this weekend will bring. I am still debating on what I would like to do. I could head to Düsseldorf or Bonn for a day, or I could stay in Cologne and do some more exploring. The options are many, but I’ll be sure to keep you all in the loop on what goes down!