Beer and Churches (in Munich!)

Monday, June 20, 2011: 1:03pm (GMT + 1:00)

This weekend Chris and I ventured to Munich.  Except for the rain it was really lovely.

We decided the easiest thing to do for dinner Friday evening after arriving was to head to the English Garden, have a look around and do diner there.  We found the Garden without too much trouble, and it was really quite beautiful.  The Garden is much like Central or Hyde parks.  The Isar runs through it and splits off into various channels which are quite popular for swimming in.  Despite the moderate chill there were still a few swimmers.  There were also numerous joggers, bikers, and dog walkers.  There was a drum circle, a guitarist, an accordionist, and several different ensembles.  Chris and I climbed to the top of one of the towers in the park and took pictures.  From there we walked to the lake to watch the paddle boaters.  Finally we made our way back to the biergarten for dinner – beer, sausage, and potatoes were on the menu.  I thought it was going to be the Italian pasta or the French pastries which would add the most weight this summer but alas, I really should have feared the German beer.  The biggest problem is that the smallest size one can order is half a liter – but I wasn’t going to drink coke at a beer garden!

Saturday morning our first stop was the Deutches Museum, whose name is misleading because it is not in fact a museum about Germany, but about technology.  I expected to be bored by the airplanes we looked at first, but in fact I found my inner nerd/engineer actually found them quite interesting. It was especially interesting to look at the numerous engines which had been cut away. 

From the airplanes we headed to a section labeled “Food Technology” – a name appropriate thirty or forty years ago. I was expecting an exhibit on genetic food modification and mass meat production.  Instead we found an exhibit detailing brewing, milling, and dairy farming for the last three hundred or so years.  Among other outdated exhibits we visited were ones on math, electronics, computers, and astronomy.  There was an exhibit on new technology that was quite interesting, and contained some things that were quite cutting edge.  The most interesting display addressed the moral dilemmas of future technologies.

 The Deutches Museam was followed by a visit to the Frauenkirche, the basilica of Munich.  In the tradition of grand old cathedrals it was quite large ornate, with lots of stained glass windows side chapels and dead people.  On our way there we walked by the city hall which is large and gothic, and has a cukoo clock looking thing with dancing children in the front.  It was also Munich’s birthday this weekend so there was a stage set up in front of the town hall with musicians, many tables with umbrellas, and stalls with lots and lots of beer.

From the Frauenkirche we headed to the viktualienmarkt which I’m quite sure I would have loved if it had not been pouring at this point.  There were many stalls with fruits, vegetables, breads, spices, teas, and all manner of foods.  It was however, entirely outside.  I did have my first German Bretzle in a café though – and it lived up to the hype, it was much better than those at home, and especially those in the school cafeteria at TC. 

After the Viktualienmarkt we visited the Residenz – the castle of the Bavarian Rulers in Munich.  It was under renovation, so we couldn’t see quite a lot of it, and we arrived at 4:30, so we only had 90 minutes to look at it, but it was so extensive we only saw about 75% of what was open.  Apparently every ruler since it was built has added his or her own set of rooms.  Also the castle was periodically destroyed in wars and gave rulers an excuse to renovate.  I could have spent all day looking through the rooms.  The only down side was that much of the commentary was about the specific make of the furniture or decoration – I would have enjoyed more historical background. 

Again it was raining out, but not to worry, Chris and I had pre-agreed to go to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner.  Apparently this brewery is both quite famous and in a German song. I should note that the smallest size of beer able to be ordered here is a liter – and yes I both ordered and consumed a full liter.  We also ordered weisswurst – a traditional white boiled sausage which come with what is called sweet mustard, and I would have categorized as honey mustard.  Instead of rolls the food was brought with more bretzels.  I am sorry to say however that the food was not brought to us by a dirndl wearing beer maid, which according to Chris’ parents is customary.  Instead we were served by a rather hurried older man. 

Sunday our first planned even was mass at the Frauenkirche at 10:00.  Communion was an interesting and strange experience.  Apparently Germans don’t do orderly lines.  At communion time the EMs stand at the base of the alter and the whole of the congregation stands and makes their way in any order whatsoever and stands en mass to wait for communion.  They then return in the manner whence they came.  The other notable part of mass was that it was the feast of St. Benno, the patron of Munich,  and as such each person was handed a small fish pastry as they exited the church. 

From the Frauenkirche there was another church which Chris had wanted to visit – the Theatinkirche.  This church stands out from the city on account of its beautiful yellow spires with fernlike tendrils peeling away from the onion dome caps.  This church was equally beautiful, if somewhat smaller than the first.

Departing the Theatrinkirche into the adjoining square (most notable for Hitler’s coup d’état) we stepped into a crowd of people in what we later learned was a birthday festival for Munich.  There was another band of traditional Bavarian musicians, many wooden huts surrounding the circle, and men and women in dirndls and lederhosen wove their way through the throngs.  We grabbed lunch from a French stand selling flatbreads with melted cheese and pieces of bacon on top.  It had stopped raining, if only for the moment, and we took our bread to the adjoining Hofgarten. 

After finishing our breads we departed to the Olympic stadium.  Though it was quite interesting architecturally it produced an odd feeling as it was hard not to imagine it busy and thronging with people.  On this overcast day many years after its intended use it was showing signs of aging, and not many were around to admire it.  Chris and I stopped in the swimming pool, of course, and Chris bemoaned our lack of bathing suits, something I was quite thankful for.  Upon exiting the pool it promptly started pouring again.  Because of the unique design of the stadium roofs this resulted in small waterfalls at strategic points. Because of the rain I flatly refused to walk across the field to the soccer stadium and campaigned for weather controlled entertainment back in the center of the city.

The Glyptothek came highly recommended by our travel book – and we were off to the museum of ancient Greek pottery.  This museum was quite lovely, though not quite as extensive or beautiful as the one in Copenhagen, and unfortunately completely in German which dampened my viewing capability considerably.  It is rather frustrating to know only one language well!

The weather had abated again briefly when we stepped out of this museum and directed ourselves back towards the center of town.  

Per a previous suggestion of mine, and recommendation of our travel booklet we went in search of the Asamkirche.  Munich is hugely Catholic, and I could have spent an entire week visiting churches and looking at convents, but I’ll settle for the four we visited this afternoon.  Part of the difficulty of finding the Asamkirche lay in the tangled web of Munich streets, part in the large historical renovation projects creating construction detours, and part in the number of Munich churches without names on the front.  Regardless of the reason, we visited three other churches in our attempts to find the Asamkirche. 

We visited St. Michael Kirche, where King Ludwig II is buried and there appears to be reconciliation in all languages, and at all hours of the day – I’m sad to say I chickened out of taking the time to go to confession.  Outside we found an Irish festival taking place.  The band we encountered was singing Irish drinking songs, and instead of German bear this festival had Guinness and Kilkeny’s. 

From here we came to the St. Anna Damenstifkirche.  This one was quite ornate, and really lovely, though not particularly notable for any other reason.

Afterward we traveled to what I’m pretty certain was the Kreuzkirche, which was really more of a chapel than a church.  Here there were several women practicing the recorder, and we were told by a very friendly man that there was mass there in all different languages, and that there would be an English one in half an hour.

We finally did make it to the Asamkirche.  It was marvelous as promised.  Behind the alter is the very creepy sarcophagus of a dead man, and there appears to be another dead woman in a glass case to right.  There are also the most terrifying confessionals I have ever seen. Quite small and out in the open of the church they were decorated with skulls. 

Being churched out for the day it was time for more beer.  We headed back to the Irish festival where listened to more drinking songs with our Guiness and then watched some Irish step dancers.  Apparently Irish step dancing isn’t very popular in Germany – these ones weren’t very good.  There were no wigs or fancy dresses, and they were attempting, and failing, to smile!  They were also all quite mismatched in height, and some of them were rather overweight.  Overall it was mostly just bizarre.  The food at the Irish fest smelled wonderful, but after observing the portions of other patrons, and the prices we decided against it and found ourselves some Döner Kebab on the way home.