Archive for June, 2009
Munich
Know worldwide for the Oktoberfest, Munich is the Disneyland of Germany. Heavily bombed during WWII practically nothing in the town is older than 60 years. Walking around the city though the place looks much older. This is because during the war the Nazi’s did massive amounts of photo cataloging of the buildings in Munich and from these reference photos Germany was able to rebuild the city to it’s original glory. It was also the center for the Nazi movement, being the setting for some of the biggest moments in the rise of Hitler into power (well kinda, his attempt at overthrowing the government while they had a meeting in Munich landed him in jail where he wrote Mein Kampf) and interestingly Munich is one of the few places of Germany where their dark past is almost completely covered up.
Munich, as Germany’s third largest city is famous for it’s beer halls and gardens, both of which I became very well aquanited with. The English Garden with its massive Chinese Tower looming above provided a great setting for an afternoon of massive steins and huge pretzels. Leederhosen are worn everywhere, just as Blue Singlets and Thongs are worn in Australia. The weather was turned on mightly and I was treated to three glorious days in the sun. It was not until we left the very enjoyable Wombat’s hostel that I encountered my first bit of bad weather in a few weeks.
Probably my best time in Munich was my last night, where a few randoms from the hostel and I decided to head out and find an oft mentioned beer hall. Stupidly I left my camera at home, but the night featured tuba players, leederhosen, much too many steins of beer, huge schnitzels, massive piles of snuff and raucous singing. Great times.
As usual, most of the photos you’ll see below are from a walking tour I took around Munich, but check out the party in the park where we danced to drums and drank black market booze. A fantastic day.