11.09.09 - Munich with the Grandparents

Prior to my departure abroad, Grandma and Grandpa expressed great interest in visiting me. I retorted with appreciative and hopeful hesitance, noting my unwillingness to commit to a certain date until I knew more about my future travel plans, program structure and potential friendships. As my semester jumpstarted and my idea of how it would play out became more predictable, we resumed discussion of possible visitation options. Because I wanted to travel each weekend while abroad, G and G offered me two cities in Europe that they hadn’t been to that were also on my city radar. The choices were Barcelona and Munich. And because, from what I heard, Barcelona has less to see culturally, historically, touristy etc. and the majority of Barcelona is nightlife, which starts at midnight, I figured that the Bavarian capital was a much better option.

So with this decision in store, and my grandparents awaiting me in Munich after their red-eye US Airways flight, I embarked on Thursday midday directly from class on my 7 hour train route, Eurail and all. I finally made it to Munich a little after 8:30 PM, to the relief of my grandparents who had been waiting for almost two hours. (To note: My train was basically on time). From the Munich Hbf we U2-ed (U = underground, 2 = the line) it to Café Ignaz on Georgenstr. 67 for some satiating vegetarian dinner. The Café has become one of my favorite European restaurants – I use ‘have become’ because we returned for another meal later in the weekend. Afterwards, we U-ed back to the hotel, Hotel Herzog Wilhelm (on top of Tannenbaum restaurant) on Herzog-Wilhelm st., for an early night. The hotel was spacious, with three beds and nice facilities. You will see that packing it in early was a theme of ours. This was not necessarily a bad thing.

Friday morning we awoke to the picture of a full throttle buffet, literally 10 steps down our small hall. What’s better then rolling out of bed, putting on shoes, and stuffing your face with cereal, rolls and cheese, oranges, cucumbers, juice, cake, and warm milk mixed with chocolate powder? Gotta eat hurt! Now that’s a way to start a day! Friday was our first day of touring, and of course our highly regimented ‘3rd specialist corporal’ wanted to be on time. Grandma, whose knee was bothering her, opted to rest for the day, so it was just the two men out on the town. After discovering that Rick Steves was wrong about his proposed tram #17 route, we boarded the tram #37 – get it right Rick! – which got us to the Schloss (means Palace) Nymphenberg around 11 ish. Schloss Nymphenberg was similar in shape to Versailles in terms of its horizontal spectrum, and at first appeared topographically similar, but as we explored I realized that the French had far outdone this Schloss in terms of everything. Frankly, I found Schloss Nymphenberg much more enjoyable, quaint, and manageable, but maybe that’s because I saw Versailles on a day where half of the Asian continent had poured into the palace and its gardens.

At Schloss Nymphenberg we took a 45 minute highlight tour of the main section, which included the elector and electress’s (prince and princess’s) various rooms and the main hall. The main hall had a spectacular fresco depicting images of various Roman mythologies. The fresco must have been restored because it was one of my favorite frescos that I have seen thus far on my travels. It had a sense of simplicity and meaning that was attainable to the eye. It wasn’t too busy or full of too much symbolism. And its cornucopia of colors made it pleasant to look at for long periods of time, until of course my neck got tired of staring at the ceiling.

From the Schloss, G and I tram-12-ed it to the Olympiapark. Olympiapark is the designated city area that hosted the ’72 Olympics. Its cob-webbed architected stadium structures still stand prominently. Many of the buildings are still used, including the soccer stadium, an indoor soccer arena and the pool to name a few. Grandpa really was a trooper strolling up and down the hills of the park. The autumn leaves certainly beautified the scenery. At the end of the park was the famous Olympic Tower almost 600 ft. above the ground. We took the elevator to the top and enjoyed the panoramic birds-eye view of the city.

After the tower, we crossed the street to peruse through the new, eco-friendly, BMW museum. We eyed new Beemer models, read some of the information signs, and fiddled with a test-drive game that demonstrated one of BMW’s new all wheel drive amenities. Being that it was almost 3 PM, we decided it was a good time for some lunch. At the BMW café we grabbed some tomato soup and paninis, actually I ate most of Grandpa’s panini. You will find that tomato soup is a big theme around Munich too. Once lunch was finished Grandpa insisted on going back to Grandma in the hotel room, so I continued the touring to the Alte Pinathotek, the Old Art Museum, just a U2 ride away to Konigplatz, on 27 Barer str.

I was particularly interested in the Art Museum because they were having an exhibit on Ruben paintings and Rick Steves in his write-up noted that the art museum showed the differences between Rubens and Rembrandts. Now you must be wondering why all of a sudden I actually care about art. No, it wasn’t my Dad’s doing. But in fact, just this past Wednesday in my Dutch Art History class, one of the options for assigned presentations was From Rembrandt to Ruben. Perfect opportunity. So, after a slight debate with the museum entrance staff about the validity of my student card, I grabbed my audio set, pen, camera without a flash, and paper, and began to document everything I needed to know, that the Munich museum could offer, about the two artists. I first took pictures of all of the pieces of artwork. Next, I sat on a nearby bench and literally wrote down everything, almost verbatim, what the audio tape would say about the painting. If the audio would discuss key parts of the painting I would photograph those close up. Not only did I enjoy the museum and learn a lot, I basically got a good portion of my project complete. I think people thought that I was crazy too. Love it! From the museum I rejoined my grandparents in the hotel to discuss Friday night dinner plans. We opted for a nearby place called Prinz Myshkin, located just a ten minute walk away on Hackenstrasse 2. We indulged in a variety of pasta looking dishes and then called it a night.

Saturday morning we, myself especially, ate a good amount at the breakfast buffet. Then Grandpa walked with me to the Jakobplatz synagogue, about ten minutes away. The Jacobplatz is the square central for Munich Jewry. Along with the synagogue you can find the Munich Jewish Museum and the Munich Jewish Community Center, which specifically houses the Einstein restaurant, reception hall, city and clerical leadership and K-4 private school. It is a very modern and pleasant looking square that not only provides accessibility between the various Jewish buildings along the ground, but also through tunnels below the street level. I suspect that it was recently finished and possibly subsidized by the German government. The whole complex is really a magnificent facility. The synagogue is literally a rectangle box on the outside and within. The sanctuary is all new wood finished pieces. The women are flanking the two sides. The ceiling is an extension of the box but covered with all glass so that the sun peers through during the day. The congregation at the synagogue, we later found out, is almost 80 percent Russian. I noticed that many were older Jews during services. It was very warm to see the way they all cared for each other. From witnessing the different subtle interactions the congregation truly looked like a caring and somewhat vibrant community. Lastly, I later found out that the cantor was just a young man from Switzerland, studying in Israel, testing out the position. Just to note, he was one of the best cantors that I have ever heard, and I feel like I have heard a ton of different people lane. The way he hit some notes were unbelievable, and I usually dislike cantors.

After services and a light drink at Kiddush, I met back up with G and G to spend the day doing some serious center city touring. We first rolled out to the Marienplatz, the main square, to take in the true touristy Munich culture. From the New Courthouse in the Marienplatz, we found our way through the Viktualienmarkt, the main marketplace of Munich. In the market we saw true Bavarian storefronts displaying their myriad of recently slaughtered meats, freshly (I hope) picked fruits, and series of famous beers. A true Bavarian scene. Then Grandpa and I climbed the 306 steps to the top of St. Peters’ church while Grandma waited outside “catching up on her Vitamin D.” Although a tight squeeze with lots of people atop St. Peters’, the climb afforded us with a view of the whole city in great detail. Next stop was a return stroll through the Viktualienmarkt, and then on to the Deutches Museum. Midway on our walk we grabbed a quick lunch bite of small sandwiches. After more walking, we arrived at the museum arrive 3 PM. The Deutches museum, famous for its endless exhibits on Science and Technology, shows true German engineering at its best. Although being one of the biggest museums of its kind in the world, and with many fascinating displays on bridges, trains, tunnels, machinery, robotics and more, we could only take about 2 hours to see everything because it closed at 5. Nonetheless, we took in a lot. It was really quite enjoyable and very informative, even the exhibitions that were all in German, which were many.

Our last tourist stop of the day was at the famous Haufbrau Haus. The Haufbrau Haus has special meaning to me because it was the tent that I spent most of my short stay in while at the Oktoberfest festival a month earlier. Not to mention I had swiped an Oktoberfest beer mug from there as well. Prior to going to the Haus I read about the massive hall on the second floor, which I wanted to find. Guiding my grandparents through the festive, energetic, and wild crowd of beer and culture enthusiasts, the epitome of an uber-Bavarian place, we eventually found the hall, but to my dismay it was hosting a rotary conference. Settling for the feel of the place we opted not to sit in the hall and after some deliberation and searching elected to return to Café Ignaz for another dinner. It was a great decision! And then of course we packed it in for the night. It was a long day of course. My grandparents are such troopers!

Sunday morning, as you would guess, I stuffed my face at the Breakfast buffet again. Obviously the grandparents enjoyed the luscious setup and meal as well. Sunday was the uncertain day. We were vacillating between the two major out of city castles or seeing everything else that we hadn’t seen within the city. We opted for the latter because we weren’t interested in five hours of total transportation and the weather wasn’t promising. The first stop was the highly anticipated moving clock at the Glockenspiel, the clock on top of the New Courthouse in the Marienplatz. Grandma and Grandpa met me at the square because I didn’t want to miss it. To be honest, between the cloudy sky and dismal chimes the moving figures were somewhat overrated. Oh well. Feel free to see extended videos on youtube. Then we attempted to jump along a “I work for tips” free tour of the city, but between the tour guide’s thick British accent, poor annunciation, terrible jokes, and fast walking, the three of us couldn’t keep up. So, we selected the National Museum and nearby park instead.

Before going into the museum, while the weather was still holding up, we took a stroll through the Englischer Gartens, the Rick Steves proclaimed Central Park of Munich. From what I read it is rare to have large, preserved parks in the middle of a large city. Between the foliage, sprawling fields, and flowing water, the gardens proved to be a wonderful location for a walk and some pictures. One highlight at the park was the river, right as you entered, with a man made wave. It appeared to be constructed by a series of strings and a possible dip in the riverbed. About 6 surfers, taking turns, road their boards from bank to bank, some even doing spins and other tricks. The river was flowing so fast that once a surfer would fall off he would be pulled almost 100 feet downstream until he was able to swim to the side.

From the gardens we walked down the street to the Museum. We got there around one-ish, put in just an hour on the whole first floor, saw lots of Catholic influenced art – LOTS – and then called it time for lunch. For lunch we sat at the open café in the main hallway of the front of the museum. As I intimated earlier, we of course had some filling tomato soup and passed the time with some stories of Grandpa and Grandma’s first few years of marriage, of course the climaxes being Grandpa’s three almost court-marshallings. Post museum we headed back to the center of the city to the Jewish Museum. Although small and limited it was very well done and quite powerful. And of course the building was beautiful as well. After the museum we walked across the Jakobplatz to the JCC where I was treated to an authentic kosher meat meal of steak. We also split and falafel and Grandpa had lamb chops, while Grandma had chicken. Delicious! And of course, after dinner we called it a night and a successful weekend visit in Munich at that.

Monday morning we - ? – you guessed it, ate too much at breakfast and then walked to our Underground stop, Sedlinger, where we BOUGHT our respective train tickets and departed home. G and G went to the airport and I enjoyed my 8 hours on the train all the way back to Maastricht. Munich overall was a very lively, culturally rooted, and proud city. The Bavarians are really very different Germans, and it goes beyond the clear Christian differences, Catholicism versus Protestantism - they will be the first to acknowledge the differences. When you think of German (must read in a deep voice) engineering, it comes from Bavaria. When you think of German (must read in deep voice) drinking tendencies, it comes from Bavaria, hence why the center of Oktoberfest is in Munich. And when you think of German (be careful how you read this) strength, epitomized by their power in the World Wars (forget the results), and Munich being the center of transportation and industry of Germany during the World Wars, you think of Bavaria. And experiencing it all with my grandparents, even though it was a different type of touring then I was used to, was all the more special. Hey, what’s wrong with packing it in early and skipping the beer halls? But in all seriousness, spending the time with the people you care most for, like I learned last weekend in Edinburgh, is all that matters. And it was truly a great weekend because of that.