Munich, Germany

We left Prague on a Saturday, which was probably a mistake since we were travelling into Munich during Oktoberfest. The train was packed, mostly with Americans, and Mark was stuck sitting in the dining car for five hours, forced to buy awful train food. We would definitely have traveled to Munich regardless of the annual festivities, but we figured if we were going to be in the area, we may as well go to Oktoberfest. We both had our own interpretations of what it was going to be like, and we were quite surprised by what we saw.


First, the whole city was packed. We couldn’t find a hotel within an hour’s train ride, but we were actually happy to not be in a full hotel with rowdy people near the fest. As we approached the festival grounds we discovered that Oktoberfest is much the same as any county fair, like the Puyallup fair for those of you in Washington, only with drunk people everywhere. Maybe it’s the same as the Puyallup in that way as well. There are fair rides and carnival games, deep fried foods and a kid’s area all situated between the city center and historic churches. Yes, there are beer halls, brats and giant pretzels being sold, but also swarming masses of people excited for the party. We went to the fest that Saturday and upon arrival Mark got a beer outside but not able to get into a hall. On the weekends, reservations are required to join the festivities inside the halls. I was determined to eat a giant pretzel, just to partake in something cliché since I don’t drink. It fest wasn’t the most enjoyable experience as a non-drinker, but it was still an experience nonetheless. As for the crowd, I would wager that there were more foreigners mingling about, mostly Americans and Australians. But there definitely were Germans, and a lot of them were dressed in old-fashioned Bavarian garb: low-cut Dirndls for the ladies and Lederhosen for the fellas. I thought that type of dress was relegated only to those who work at the fest, but apparently it’s quite popular to don the traditional outfits as a party-goer. We always knew we were on the right train to Munich if we saw the young adults dressed that way. We left that evening a little down considering the weather was gloomy and the crowd was rowdy. But we decided to return on a Tuesday afternoon to see if things would be a bit calmer. Thankfully our intuition was correct; we were able to walk right into the once over-stuffed Spatenbräu beer hall to view the festivities inside. There were still a lot of people that day, but not so much that it became uncomfortable. The hall was decorated with white and blue streamers and brightly lit. A fully orchestrated Bavarian “oompah” band was in the center keeping the crowd entertained. Traditional songs were sung and we were witness to a “Zicke zacke zicke zacke hoi hoi hoi” as well. It looked like everyone was having so much fun that it made our Oktoberfest experience totally worthwhile. If we had not returned to see the hall, which is what we had envisioned the fest to be, we may have left with a bitter feeling about the whole affair.


While in Munich we took a New Europe tour, but this time it was a paid tour that focused on the rise of the Third Reich. Once called “The Capitol of the Movement,” Munich was the birthplace of Hitler’s dictatorship and the tour took us to the various spots where history was made. We visited the infamous Hofbräuhaus were Hitler effectively swayed the people towards National Socialism. We learned about his early days before the movement and his struggles as an artist. It’s amazing to think what the world would be like if he had been an accomplished and accepted artist instead of…well, you know. Our tour guide detailed the resistance to the movement, although in many ways it was subtle since the consequences for betrayal were extremely harsh. We learned a lot about how devastating the Versailles Treaty was to Germany after the First World War and how that lead to a collapsed economic system. The country was completely unstable and yearned for a solid government. All it took was one charismatic leader to persuade the people toward an outrageous ideology. At the end of our tour our guide explained how now, three generations later, Germans are still trying to cope with the tragedy. It is abundantly clear that although countless amounts of people were hurt by the war, so too were many Germans.


After the tour we decided to look up the locations visited on the free tour that we missed to try and see as much of the city as we could. Our first stop was the tallest church we’ve seen thus far, the Frauenkirche, or Church of Our Lady, built in the twelfth century. Two extremely tall bell towers climb over three hundred feet into the air and can be seen from all around the Marienplatz center. Unfortunately one of the towers was under construction and was not as enjoyable to look at. There is a legend about this church involving the devil. It’s said that during its construction, the devil came about and noticed that the bell towers had very few windows on it. He made a deal with the builder to not put any more in the church. The builder agreed and continued on with construction. When it was complete, the devil returned and was dismayed to find more windows. The builder said that the windows were there before he made the pact with him and that the devil must not have noticed them. In a fury, the devil stomped his foot down on the pavement, leaving an indentation that is still there today, known as the devil’s footprint. It does, however, look as though the devil was wearing shoes, so I’m not sure how much credence there is in this tale. There is a picture in the slideshow. A short distance away is the Marienplatz, which is directly in front of the new town hall, and very close to the old town hall. Twentieth century romanticism struck again as we found that the new town hall was build to look much older than it really is.


We took a full day during our stay in Munich to visit Neuschwantstein castle in the nearby Bavarian Alps. The train ride lasted about two hours each way, so we were committed to a full day excursion. The train took us as far as Füssen and from there we took a quick bus ride to Hohenschwangau, followed by a twenty minute hike to the castle itself. The weather was overcast and gray, therefore our pictures are not as spectacular as they could have been. There are some really gorgeous pictures on google images, if interested. Neuschwanstein served as the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland. The castle was pretty awesome, architecturally speaking, and was very picturesque given its location in the foothills of the Alps. Unfortunately the guided tour of the inside was less awesome, as our guide had a very thick German accent and an all around creepy demeanor. Despite that fact, the trip was well worth it because of all the beautiful scenery, which included a pretty incredible waterfall under a suspension bridge over which we could walk to get amazing views of the castle.

We had a lot of fun in Munich and at Neuschwanstein, but like most cities so far there just wasn’t enough time. We missed going to the Dachau concentration camp, one of the first in Germany, which would have been a sobering experience. It would be great to visit Munich again, but maybe not during such a hectic time like Oktoberfest.

The train is rollin’ to: Interlaken and Zermatt, Switzerland