Munich

This morning, we were excited to get up for a tour that takes us to see the Neuschwanstein castle which was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle. We got ready quickly before heading to the tour office where we met our guide, Stevo. We got lucky again because he seemed like he was the best of the guides. When it was time to go, he led us to the train station where we boarded the train to Füssen. The train took about two and a half hours and was easily the hottest one train we’ve been on. By the time we got there, we were already dying from the heat (Germany and Austria are currently suffering a heat wave). After the train, we boarded a bus to the area where the castle is. 

We were given a bit of information about the area and the lunch options before being given an hour to get lunch and explore at our own leisure. Our guide suggested a small restaurant close by and we each enjoyed a bratwurst and fries which we enjoyed with slushies to cool us down. 

We were under the impression that the hour would be enough time to enjoy lunch and explore some of the town, but by the time we had gotten food and finished eating, it was almost time to meet our guide for the next portion of the tour. 

Stevo led us down to the edge of lake Alpsee (literally Alps lake) where he started telling us about the start of the royal family in Bavaria and how the castles came to be. From the lake, we could see Schloss Hohenschwangau, the castle that housed the royal family for many generation. The primary focus of the tour was on Ludwig the second who actually designed Schloss Neuschwanstein along with two other castles in Bavaria. Ludwig II grew up knowing he was in line to be king and he was constantly being educated to help prepare him. Two things he learned were that families are tight units of love and support (which didn’t make sense to him because he only got to see his parents once a week for dinner) and that kings are all powerful (which also didn’t turn out to be true because his kingship was more of a figurehead that worked with the government). He spent a lot of his youth with servants and tutors who raised him and his brother.

After hearing a little more about the family, everyone got on another bus to take us to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, Marienbrücke (Mary’s bridge) was closed, but we went part way down a trail to get a different view of the castle that included the bridge. After everyone got their pictures, we headed down a path to the entrance of the castle. We had to wait a few minutes until our time slot, but then we were invited inside to be guided through the main part of the castle. 

Ludwig II was also very fond of the arts, so his castle is very ornate with beautiful craftsmanship and artwork. He also designed a gorgeous concert hall which was one of the first few rooms built in the castle and was designed to have perfect acoustics. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside the castle, so we were unable to even attempt to capture the beauty. We did, however, get some great pictures of the view from the castle’s balcony which is amazing. 

After the tour was over and we finished enjoying the view on the balcony, we made our way down the mountain back toward the town.  It was a really nice walk to get down, but we were glad we didn’t opt to walk up in the heat. When we made it to the bottom, we walked through the town before settling back in the same restaurant with a beer and an ice cream. 

Before boarding the bus to get back to the train, Stevo told us a little more about Ludwig II and the royal family including some rumors about Ludwig II’s mysterious death. Even today, the public has no idea exactly how he died and the castle’s construction halted with his death, leaving the castle forever unfinished. 

When we made it back to Munich, we stopped at a grocery store for some food before heading back to eat, shower, relax, and pack for Prague. 

Yesterday morning, we had a quick breakfast at the hotel before heading out to meet our guide for a walking tour of the city.  We knew within the first 5 minutes that the tour were booked was definitely the right choice. It was a group of 6 people with a local guide who didn’t stop talking and giving us information for the entire tour. 

Munich is a city is the state of Bavaria which is the largest of 16 states in Germany. Bavaria does have its own royal family and the locals consider Bavaria to be its own kingdom and don’t like to be considered a part of the rest of Germany whose views are much more liberal than their own. Our guide, Ozzie, said that every country has a Bavaria and it is important to recognize similar situations as the same because history is recycled. For example, he said Bavaria is to Germany as Texas is to the US, as Bordeaux and Champagne are to France, and as Naples is to Italy (along with many other examples). If you call a Bordeaux wine a French wine, people from Bordeaux would get very angry just like if you call different parts of Bavaria (like Oktoberfest) German, they will get angry too. 

After leaving the meeting point, we started the tour at Karlsplatz, or as the locals call it, Stachus. It marks the west entrance to center city and old town. More specifically, it is the entrance to Main Street which our guide emphasized as a good way to help enhance your sense of direction in Munich. The tour primarily consisted of walking along or to/from different parts of Main Street. After passing under the archway in the square, we were on Main Street and learned about how Munich was arranged strategically. All of the shops selling similar things were close by so you would never have to go far from one place to the next. For example, there is one mall with all of the luxury stores and there is a separate mall for discount stores which includes a grocery store. 

Toward the beginning, we also were given a very extensive introduction to the city which Ozzie describes as more of a village because of the low crime rates, conservative nature, and focus on tradition that defines Munich. The entire tour emphasized that Munich and Berlin are polar opposites and that everything he told us about Munich could be flipped when trying to understand Berlin. While Munich is Catholic, Berlin is Protestant. While Munich is very conservative, Berlin is very liberal. While Munich is centered in tradition, Berlin is very modern. While Munich has low crime and low unemployment, Berlin has high crime and high unemployment. 

Two of our earliest stops were to a Catholic Church and the Cathedral. The church was famous because had the highest vaulted ceiling of its time which means that there are no columns supporting the dome. The cathedral is famous because it is said that the devil assisted the architect in building it with the stipulation that there could be no windows in sight. The architect was sneaky and found a loophole by adding columns so that the devil wouldn’t be able to see windows from the spot he was standing because all the windows were blocked by support columns (if you stand in that spot). In frustration, the devil stomped his foot leaving a foot print that people come see from all over Bavaria. 

After the cathedral, we took a “breakfast” stop at a beer hall where we all consumed a half liter of beer (around 10am) like the locals do. At the beer hall, we also had an extensive lesson on the definition of reich. The guide said that even though everyone has heard of the third reich, no one (in his 17 years of giving tours) has ever been able to tell him what the English translation is. After none of us could guess, he told us that reich means influence and that everyone has had lots of reich people in their life which usually includes at least one of your parents.

We rushed out of the beer hall in time to catch most of the bells that go off at city hall. They have a giant clock that plays at 11:00 and 12:00 year round, but also plays at 5:00pm in the summer (because the sun sets at 3:30 in the winter). There was a huge crowd on the plaza to see the show which ended with a small golden bird above the clock cooing and flapping its wings three times. 

Bavaria remained neutral in the First World War, so none of its architecture was destroyed until the Second World War. Throughout the tour, we were showed buildings that are either original (never destroyed), buildings whose facade is original, and buildings that were completely recreated. The tower with the clock is one of the few completely original buildings for a very specific reason. During World War II, it was used as a landmark so enemies trying to bomb Munich spared it so that they could use it as a landmark when they were trying to find the city from the air. 

Our next stop was a sausage shop where we were able to get lunch: sandwiches and more beer which came with a very cool lanyard that lets you wear your beer hands free around your neck. It was a really cool way to be able to hold everything without spilling your drink and we were excited to hear that we could keep them. Our sandwiches were also amazing and the shop marked the entrance to the market place which had everything you could imagine including a beer garden. On one end, you start with all the meat shops, then pass the honey stand, cheese stands, vegetable stands, bakeries, then fish stands. We also got pretzels from the bakery Ozzie told us had been getting excellent reviews every year for longer than any other bakery at the market. He also shared that the fountains in the market, along with the tap water, is safe to drink and actually contains a lot of vitamin B which is useful for a lot of reasons including the fact that it can help protect you from mosquitos. The water is also used in the local beer and so the beer is also considered to help protect you from mosquitos. 

While we were at the market, two of the group members decided they were too tired to continue, so they bowed out leaving the group with only 4 people plus the guide. On our way out of the market, Ozzie started pointing out different cars and explaining the origin of their locals. For example, BMW stands for Bavarian Motor Works and their logo is a white and blue checkered flag just like Bavaria’s flag. Also, Volkswagen has the V (representing 2 parents) above a W (representing 3 kids) which represents what is considered the perfect German family. 

We also walked through the Hoafhaus, a famous state owned beer hall whose profits are used to pay off Germant’s debt, including that of the Versailles treaties. We also learned that beer halls have a system for locals where people must go to the same beer hall at the same time on the same day every week for 10 years in order to receive a special locker for their beer stein at the beer hall. Once you have the locker, it’s yours for life, but it can’t be passed on after you die. 

After leaving the hall, we passed a Little Red Riding Hood statue who Ozzie pointed out was actually French (not German) before passing by the opera house and continuing the tour. At this point, we were about four hours and a liter of beer into the tour on what had become a very hot day, so the history was harder to keep track of at the end. 

Our tour ended with an invite from Ozzie to join him at the beer garden he frequents which we couldn’t decline. We ended up sharing a sampler of three Augustiner beers which we enjoyed while getting to know Ozzie and the other two people on the tour a little better. After a bit, we left and wandered back down Main Street, looking in some of the stores, as we headed back to the hotel to cool off a little from the heat. 

After a short break, we headed out and grabbed a quick dinner (and tomorrow’s breakfast) from the grocery store which we enjoyed before getting ready for bed and getting a good night sleep before another early morning.