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July and August 2016

Munich

Rick Steves Munich

Scheduled Events:

  • Walking Tours of Munich

  • Dinner at the Bier und Oktoberfest Museum

  • Dachau

Michelle's Munich

We didn’t have much down time in Munich. We quickly did an orientation walk, with our guides showing us how to get to nearby landmarks, Marienplatz and Viktualienmarkt. After a brief pause, we had another walking tour with our local guide Kathleen. She took us through Munich. We got to see some of the most famous buildings, such as Altes Rathaus, Neues Rathaus, Marienplatz, Frauenkirche, Max-Joseph Platz and the Hofbrauhaus. We also got to see a few locations geared towards the locals such as Funf Hofe, an indoor shopping mall.

Our guides had set up dinner at the Bier und Oktoberfest Museum. The food was excellent (we were shocked at how good liverwurst could be), and one of our tour members, Bart Gaul, got to tap a quarter barrel.

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The next day we continued our walking tour before heading to Dachau. This is, needless to say, a sobering place. What went on there was terrible, and it wasn’t the worst concentration camp.

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In listening to Kathleen tell us about the attitudes in Germany, our eyes were opened to the extent of German nationalism. At the time, we thought it was fairly localized, but this was before our own election. Michelle and I drew obvious parallels between what we heard and the Nazi movement 80 years ago. Let's hope our fears are unfounded.

Doug's Munich

I was able to get up early and I walked the neighborhood. Two blocks south of our hotel was a pleasant square (Gärtnerplatz) that had flowers in the middle. It was a photo opportunity that couldn't be missed (see the Rick Steves Munich section above). In that square, I saw garbage men at work. Like in Beaune, their trucks are much smaller than at home.

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On the way back, I passed a McDonald's and had to take a picture of their menu because they sell beer!

There were two other stops of note. Our first night, Michelle and I went with our bus driver Rony to a local watering hole. It was fantastic. It had one guy playing music tucked back in a tiny alcove large enough for him, his keyboard, an accordion and a microphone. The place was claustrophobic and hot. There were two tables of locals having a zehr gut time. One group was dressed in lederhosen, the other in football jerseys. Just like in the movies, they were singing along with each song and slapping each other on the back. Thank you Rony! This was easily our favorite memory of Munich, and it reinforced Michelle's fondness for Rony.

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We also went to the Hofbrauhaus. I wasn't too excited about this. I went to college and I've had enough of drunk frat boys. But we went on a Sunday so it was a little more laid back and we had a blast. It was odd that we had planned to go there alone, but ended up with half of the tour members at our table. Gesuffa! 

 

I did my best with a German family. I asked them (in German) what a Stammtisch was and they seemed to think I was fluent and returned with a barrage of German. I understood about 10% of their response. I know it has something to do with a key, a corner, 40 years, and the beer flowing out of something, or something flowing out of the beer... When in doubt just sing: Ein Prosit, ein prosit!!!

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