Pretzels, Beer, and the Foster Trophy in Munich

We have officially reached the halfway point in our journey, and we all know what halftime means! SNACKS! (Also a trip to the WC, so I’ll talk about that too.)

But first… Because it needs a mention. KZ-Dachau

It was a horrible, cold, wet, and foggy day when we got to the memorial outside the city of Dachau. I think that was fitting and when the weather changed and got sunny in the afternoon I found it weirdly disrespectful. How dare the sun come out!! This place doesn’t deserve sun.

It was a strange feeling.

I won’t go into great detail because there isn’t anything I can say that’s going to add to the “conversation.” Dachau was the first of the concentration camps (or KZs as they are known in German) and for most of its active life was a work camp, very unlike the camps at Treblinka or Auchwitz which were designed primarily for efficient extermination. Which doesn’t mean that the heinous things which happened elsewhere didn’t happen in Dachau.

What made things worse, I think, was the proximity to the city of Dachau. Some accounts on the excellent audio tour we took relayed that the US Army forced the citizens of the city of Dachau to tour the camp within days of liberation, as they almost — to a man — denied knowing what went on, despite seeing some of the evidence firsthand in the city and the environs. Unlike most other camps this was right in the middle of the town, and the Martin Niemöller poem “First they came for the Socialists …” was never made more poignant to me.

As Jim said in his post yesterday, it’s not a thing you can really talk about. Not a thing you want to talk about but this wouldn’t be a fair representation of our trip if I didn’t at least mention it in some measure.

A palate cleanser. We came all the way to Germany to take a picture in front of the Grand Canyon. (We left the postcard leaning up against the display. I hope some security guy thought it was funny) (But this is Germany, so probably not.)

Today we decided we’d had enough of history and went to the Deutches Museum, the largest science museum in the world. And I will say it is certainly the most comprehensive. For example, in the aeronautics exhibition, we found this:

This is an entire display devoted to aircraft harnesses and harness buckles. There were similar displays for every part of the cockpit from the level flight indicator to the oxygen delivery systems for military aircraft. When I say this was comprehensive I am not kidding. NOTHING was missed. And considering the museum had sections on everything from paper making and printing to glass making, optics, lasers, steam machines, marine navigation and boat building, and even the history and process of welding.

There were lots of buttons to push and lots of stairs to climb and it was a nice break from social history.

And then we went on to the SNACKS!

Our first Biergarten experience! Jim got a half liter of the beer that was being poured today (it rotates through the eight breweries daily) and we shared a big pretzel (I swear this whole country is made of carbohydrates, not wood and brick, just carbs.) The Biergarten is in the Viktualienmarkt which I talked about a couple of days ago so I won’t go through it again, just give you a picture.

After the walk around the Victualienmarkt, we went down to check out Dallmayr. Dallmayr was the official victual provider for the Bavarian Kings, and has become the high end market to end all high end markets. Just walking in feels expensive.

I don’t even know what half this stuff is. And that’s not because of my crappy German. It’s all aspic and pressed meats I guess? Maybe some mousses? Behind this was a gorgeous fish counter, and I could have lived an entire lifetime at the cheese counter, it was so amazing.

This stuff though, I recognize and Jim and I each got a truffle (just one) before moving on, down to the Hofgarten to see it during the day, then back up to see the Glockenspiel one more time. We took the trip up to the top of the tower at the Rathaus for some amazing pictures of the Munich skyline before heading off to dinner at the Pauliner Haus

I had a salad:

Yep that’s what passes for salad in Munich. It’s a sausage (veal and pork) sliced thin and served cold with red onion and sour gherkin. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it was surprisingly good. Jim had this:

A couple of Wursts and the best sauerkraut we’ve had in all of Germany. Probably due to those little pieces of pork you see in it. But it was, simply, amazing.

On the subject of restrooms (since I said I’d address it) the public facilities are really well done throughout Germany. They are not free, in every public restroom that wasn’t attached to a restaurant or museum (and some that were) you are asked to pay between €0.50 and €1 sometimes to an attendant and sometimes to a machine. What you get for that is a clean restroom that is maintained by an attendant who will also make change for you. Whenever we used a public facility, someone was cleaning it. Also they are everywhere – you don’t have to look far to find a place to go. It’s a good system and one I wish we had in the States. We took a long walk with Gary and Tina in Cleveland that was made longer because I had to take us out of the way to find a restroom.

We leave Munich tomorrow for the rural area between Salzburg and Innsbruck in Austria. We are staying at a bed and breakfast in a small town called Hall in Tirol not far from Wattens, the location of the Swarovski Crystal Worlds, my special place I wanted to see.

Let this be fair warning

From now until we head to Budapest on Tuesday, September 23, I cannot be certain we will have an internet connection good enough or stable enough to post regularly. Mom P and Mommy T this does not mean we have been kidnapped by cannibalistic Bavarians. It means that little bed and breakfasts in tiny towns and small 100 year old hotels in Salzburg are not necessarily up to date on the latest fads. Like internet.

For anyone I email regularly (you know who you are) this goes for you too. Will reconnect once we have some stable internet.

I’ve got no secret message today so I’ll leave you all with something nice for the 3rd quarter.

CAKE!

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Yep, that’s Jim traveling 220kph on the ICE train between Berlin and Munich with the national drink of Germany. Looks happy, doesn’t he? Why wouldn’t he be, beer does in fact cost less than water here. Also less than soda products and juice. So we are paying four dollars for me to have a 20 oz coke light for morning caffeine but he can drink an entire liter of beer for about that much here in Bavaria.

Cockpit view of the ICE train somewhere south of Berlin

For most of the day today we did two things, sat on a train and did laundry in our hotel room. Because when you are traveling for three weeks with the contents of two overhead-size bags between you, there comes a point where things have been recycled enough and there needs to be some sink-washing or a trip to a laundromat. But I really don’t want to spend time at a laundromat so we washed some stuff out in the sink, draped it over any flat surface, and headed out into Munich for an audio walking tour from Rick Steves we had downloaded onto our phones.

I instantly fell in a deep and abiding love with Munich. We got to the Rathaus (the city hall – I’ll let you all make the jokes) on Marienplatz (seen above) in time to watch the end of the Gockenspiel and the mechanical dancing “animatronics” and by the time we finished and cued up the walking tour I was already besotted.

Most of the center of Munich is pedestrian only, and the city is vibrant, alive, and stunning. I think this is what I’ve been waiting to experience in Europe, that quintessentially European city vibe that you just don’t find in modern America much anymore. By the time we made it to the Victualmarkt, with its dozens of stalls selling every kind of food, flower, and beer you can imagine with the huge Biergarten in the center, I was ready to move. It was obviously not a place for show, this wasn’t Checkpoint Charlie, but a place whee Munich residents come to get good quality foods and have a beer with friends. It felt authentic, and the Audio Tour said the City keeps the place’s town market feel by charging the vendors very little rent, lowering their taxes, and prohibiting chains from setting up shop. The eight local breweries take turns selling in the big Biergarten in the center and a sign indicates which brewery is on tap that day.

Meat!

The tour took us all over the city (a lot of churches though – Rick Steves is really fond of Churches) and took us right up to (and through) the famous (or infamous) Hofbrauhaus.

Hofbrauhaus from the left side

Hofbrauhaus from the right side (those are cabs)

We will be back in the area on Thursday, I intend to pull a “Feast of San Gennaro” (you non New Yorkers will have to just look it up – here, I’ll help – http://bit.ly/Xxuqwn) and eat my way through the place one end to the other. So many good things to sample, all fresh and real farm to table.

Tomorrow we are going to the concentration camp at Dachau, and I don’t imagine I’m going to want to post tomorrow night. (Prepare for the worst, hope for the best you know.) I’m not sure how I feel about going other than it’s something I have to do. I couldn’t come here and not pay homage to where I came from, and while I was lucky to have my predecessors escape, their friends and their extended families were not so lucky. Instead Jim will be guest posting tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

I bid you all Tschüss from my new favorite city, and I’ll write more about amazing Munich on Friday.

PS Secret and special message for my mom, Susan

Pickles!

Me eating a picke for your birthday! Jim had a beer!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

(By the time you read this it’ll be tomorrow here, so it counts)

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