Munich, Germany

I'm pretty sure we've been awake for about 36 hours at this point, so excuse any forgotten words or typos or jumpy thoughts...


Before we had been awake for 36 hours.
Today we arrived in Munich, famous for beer, banking and BMW! According to legend, monks in the 1100s charged a toll to use their bridge to cross the River Isar. Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria, didn't like that very much so he knocked their bridge down and built his own instead (and charged a toll)! Hence the name München/Munich, or "by the monks."

Like a lot of other cities, Munich was destroyed (90%) in World War II, so a lot of its structures have been rebuilt or restored as best they could. Interestingly, Munich is where Hitler began his attempts to overthrow the German government in 1923; however, resistance movements also thrived here at the local university in the 1940s. Hans and Sophie Scholl, memorialized in street names and monuments, lost their heads for the cause.



Max-Joseph-Platz (Former) Main Post Office


Munich Opera House, the largest on the European continent


Theatinerkirche, or Church of St. Kajetan, was actually built in celebration of a royal baby no one thought would ever be conceived. The happy parents were so overjoyed that they celebrated by creating this lovely church. It's built in an Italian baroque style because the mother was Italian.


The Glockenspiel in the tower of the New City Hall (not to be confused with the Old City Hall, just across the square) plays at 11am, 12pm, and 5pm every day. One part of the performance depicts the wedding of a local duke; the other is the cooper's dance, a dance performed in the streets to basically cheer people up during the plague.


The Hofbrauhaus: the most famous tavern in the world! This was a royal brewery founded in 1589, and it's now owned by the Bavarian State Government. While I didn't get a beer here, I did try the beer! Also I ate apple strudel which is basically better than beer. 
Dexter, is that you?? Welcome to Germany, my fuzzy friend.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Location: Cinque Terre, Italy

October 2023

Location: Rome (Part III)