The train’s information display showed the external temperature as 16 degrees when we got on but we watched it steadily climb to 32 by the time we reached Munich. Perfect weather for city sightseeing! The journey was particularly enjoyable because we had the company of a very convivial travelling companion, an ex-sea captain from Hamburg. We chatted about various places we’d been in the world but his tales were not of his sea voyages but of motorcycle camping trips he’d taken around the world, including a tour of South America. The journey flew by and all too soon we shook hands in farewell.
We decided to start our Munich tour by visiting the Englischer Garten. This is the place we wanted to see that was furthest away from the train station so we start here and work our way back. The Englischer Garten is a massive city park, bigger than Hyde Park, and has several interesting follies. By the bridge at the Prinzregentrasse entrance to the park there is a very odd sight. Scores of people are leaning over the bridge looking down into the water. An artificial wave has been created in the creek and wet suited surfers practice their sport right in the city centre, taking it in turns to jump in and ride the wave.
Surfers in Munich City
A quieter part of the Eisbach Creek
We took a walk through the park trying to find the first folly on our list, the Monopteros, but when we eventually found it it was covered in scaffolding as it’s being renovated. It reminded us of when we searched in Copenhagen for the Mermaid, only to find she’d been shipped off to Shanghai on loan for a while. Very disappointing. By then it was lunch time and the park was filling up with workers having their break so we ate our packed lunch under a shady tree in the park and then headed back into the city, just in time for a beer before we joined the Hitler and the Third Reich Guided Tour.
There were about twenty of us at the meeting point for the tour. Munich was the birth place of the Nazi movement and the tour was billed as providing background information on the rise of the Nazi party as well as visiting some the buildings where important events took place. We could have devised our own walk but time was limited and you can’t beat local knowledge for this kind of thing. That’s where our excellent guide, Keith from Aberdeen, came in. He spends six months of the year giving Third Reich Tours in Munich and the other six months back home (now Brixton). However, he is extremely knowledgeable, having studied Social History at University and several of his works can be viewed in the Document House.
Having a beer in Munich
80% of Munich was destroyed in the war but unlike Berlin and other cities who took the opportunity to improve and modernise, Munich decided to rebuild them all exactly as they had been before. The building that had been the Gestapo Headquarters still stands and is now the main Police Station. This seemed an odd move but Keith said that they had made this decision with several of the Nazi buildings to prevent them from becoming shrines for Right Wing sympathisers. They are not likely to turn up in numbers to meet at the local Police Station.
Previously Gestapo HQ now a police station
Much of the early support for the Nazis was drummed up through meetings at the Hofbrauhaus where their meetings were advertised along with offers of free beer, and we all know how well beer helps us make rational choices. Interestingly the Nazi emblems that once adorned the ceiling roses are still there, just a little disguised with the Bavarian colours and added forms. One wouldn’t see it unless it was pointed out.
The Hofbrauhaus One of the Ceiling roses in the Hofbrauhaus
We were also shown a wall where previously there had been a plaque commemorating the early Nazis who had lost there life during some of their demonstrations in Munich before Hitler came to power. There is still dispute over how many people were killed and indeed whether they were Nazi sympathisers. None the less, during the Nazi era, guards were posted at the plaque and anyone walking past had to salute the plaque, and anyone failing to do so was arrested. People who did not want to be seen supporting the Nazis tried to get around this by dodging down a side alley before reaching the memorial. Many were still found and shipped off or worse. An art installation commemorates the alley with a silver pathway.
Drückeberger-Gaßl (Shirkers Ally)
Our guide suggested that many of Trump’s speeches are uncannily similar to those of Hitler in their tone, although obviously he was quick to say that he was in no way comparing the two. However, it was disturbing that the right was on the rise again in Europe.
Keith was an excellent and very knowledgeable guide but he could get a bit silly at times.Towards the end of the tour, he decided to show us pictures on his phone of cats that look like Hitler, which he also helpfully provided the web address for – we won’t need it and neither will you (I hope). He also talked about the Thirty years war and how Swedish troops tried to impose Protestantism and IKEA on Germany, and judging by the number of IKEAs we have seen, it looks like they succeeded.
New town hall and inset Carillon in the tower
We had a very full but excellent day and would certainly recommend Munich for a longer break – obviously one day isn’t long enough.
We watched the outside temperature going back down again as we travelled back to Klais and only just at the last minute, whilst stopped at a station, realised we were in the wrong part of the train. We just managed to hop off and run along the several carriages to the front carriage before we got left behind in the back half.
mmmmm Munich beer :)
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