Munich, Germany

Taking a break from studying for my midterms, I'll briefly describe this past awesome weekend in Munich. The three boys and Emily waited for me to finish class on Friday (as I was the only to have a make-up class) and then we were off for our 7:00p.m. flight to Germany. It was only and hour and a half before I had some major culture shock. This was the first non-Italian city I had visited and it was completely different from Rome or the other places I have been. Munich was clean, efficient, and looked like a modern city. All I knew upon arrival was Guten Tag! (Hello) and Auf Wiedersehen! (Good Bye, thank you Sound of Music). We checked into our hostel and hung out there for the night and watched some of the Olympics as we planned our big day - Saturday.

Saturday started with what I think was a typical German breakfast - sausages, a huge pretzel, and .. a beer? We went to an open market and ate outside where we saw men and women of all ages drinking beer with breakfast. The couple next to us let their daughter (I'm guessing she was no older than 7 or 8) finish their beers.

Next was the Glockenspiel (pictured above)-

The Rathaus-Glockenspiel of Munich is a tourist attraction in Marienplatz the heart of Munich. Part of the second construction phase of the New Town Hall, it dates from 1908. Every day at 11 a.m. it chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century to the amusement of mass crowds of tourists and locals. It consists of 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures.

Then we took a Free English Tour that our Hostel set us up with - we saw a lot in the 3 hours: The Royal Residence, The National Theater/Opera House, the Church of St. Peter, The Old Town Hall which is actually newer than the New Town Hall, the Hofbräuhaus, and much more.

I knew Pope Benedict was from Germany, but didn't realize he was from Bavaria! It was cool to see the Church where he was the Archbishop, sample his favorite beer etc. It really humanized him and made him seem like a more down-to-earth guy.

(The JFRC kids in front of the Hofbräuhaus)

We also did a tour of some of the most famous beer halls. The Hofbräuhaus being 1st on the list of the 1000 beer halls in Bavaria. The Hofbräuhaus in Munich was one of the beer halls used by the Nazi Party to declare policies and hold functions: On February 24, 1920, Adolf Hitlerproclaimed the twenty-five theses of the National Socialist program at the Hofbräuhaus. Before he turned to politics, one of Hitler's watercolors was of the Hofbräuhaus, which also held a 1889 baby photo of Hitler as recently as 2006.

The tour was interesting as our guide discussed the difficult subject of the rise of National Socialism, telling us about the fantastic job the people of Munich did to restore the inner city from almost complete destruction during WWII and how the Germans deal with their actions throughout this period in history.
Sunday we wandered the city, eating some Haagen Dazs, and exploring the less touristy places as there isn't much activity on Sundays. Emily was able to go back to where her dad grew up, and we made it back to Rome around 10 p.m.

2 more days and then Spring Break is here - Can't wait to see Anne Marie and Nick on Saturday!