(Contined from Wien)
My mom and I woke up on a bright, sunny Monday morning in München. I took a day off from work to extend my weekend, giving my mom and I a full three days of travel together. We both rested well and were out of the hotel before 9:00am. We had some time before our 11:00am appointment with Sandeman’s New Munich Tours and took the opportunity to ride one of Münich’s trams through the city. We were recommended Tram 19 and got on board at the Hauptbahnhof. We sat in the back where there was half-fishbowl view and experienced a substantial tease of the heart of München for only a few euro. The tram traveled down Maximillianstrasse and showed us Maximilaneum before finally reaching the more residential part of the city. We took the same tram back, but got off a bit early and found our way to Marienplatz to take part in what became my fourth Sandeman tour.
Our Sandeman Tour Guide, Curt, was much older than most of the other guides that showed me around. He also was not studying history in a traditional sense, focused rather on history in a social context – how the people of our times shaped and were subsequently influenced by the past. A former businessman who became fed up with the drags of corporate life, he picked up and moved his family over to Germany after his wife cashed in on an overdue promise. He seemed happier here, being immersed in German history and becoming a significant part of many travelers’ München’s experience.
We began by watching the famous Rathaus-Glockenspiel. Interestingly, it is rated the second most disappointing tourist attraction in Europe, second only to the Staroměstská radnice in Praha. I was happy I could make the comparison first hand. Like the Sandeman’s in Praha, Curt animatedly reenacted the sequence of events that occurs thrice a day before taking us to see the much hyped man made wonder. The only difference between München’s glockenspiel and Praha’s was that München’s was about 4 minutes longer of absolutely nothing.
Curt then took us around much of the heart of München, directly around Marienplatz, focusing primarily on both Hitler and World War II (expectedly) and the tale of König Ludwig II and his mysterious death. We saw churches built by the devil and by beer, one of which made it forbidden for men to put their hands inside their pockets while inside. We saw meat markets and famous bräuhausen, and stopped for some Starbucks and München’s best ice cream. It was the first time our break was not at a local place – usually Sandeman’s has relationships with a local restaurant and gives its tour guests discounts to the food.
We strolled down Maximillianstrasse, admiring the epitome of München’s lust for wealthy lifestyles. As if to symbolize the extravagancy, Curt pointed out a wristwatch worth 197880€.
Curt capped off our tour by recapping the tale of König Ludwig II’s untimely death. It has long been official that Ludwig II committed suicide by drowning himself in his own bathtub. But Curt started unraveling one by one each revelation that was unearthed that threw doubt upon the long accepted theory. It seems as though he was murdered and the royal family has been orchestrating one of the biggest cover up’s in European history. I’ll let you take a tour from him to find out the rest of the dirty details.
My mom and I found lunch at a Mexican place shortly after and despite many warnings of the Germans’ inability to make Mexican food, were quite satisfied with our meal. Already late into the afternoon, we had a choice between the Englischergarten, Nymphosomething, and the Deutsches Museum. Since it was much colder than we had expected and we were completely unproperly dressed, we opted for the Museum to stay sheltered from the winds.
The Deutsches Museum is a museum that features German accomplishments in science, engineering, and technology. Unlike the DC’s Smithsonians and Boston’s Science Museum, the Deutsches Museum had literally everything you could think of that were related to those fields under one roof. The museum spanned 6 floors, not including the planetarium. This was a place you could easily spend several days and still not have fully covered. For all of you leftbrainers, this is a taste of your heaven.
We started in the marine exhibit, getting to see amongst other things, the original German U-Boot (wir leben alle aus ein gelbe U-boot!). We moved from the marine exhibit to an entire floor dedicated to nanotechnology, its potential benefits, and its potential risks. We briefly walked by the aerospace portion and moved up to try to catch the musical instruments exhibit, the glass blowing exhibit, and the planetarium. Before we could do any of that, however, an announcer came over the PA to notify us that the museum was closing shortly. It had barely been an hour and a half. We got there at 15:30 thinking we would have at least a few hours, but apparently the museum closes at 17:00. My mom and I resented the museum staff for not telling us and regretted not having checked ourselves.
With some time left before dinner, we decided to make it to Olympuspark to check out the BMW headquarters. We only saw it briefly from the outside, but it was some of the coolest architecture I had seen in the city. The building itself was a testament to the level of sophisticated engineering BMW prides itself in infusing in its cars.
We finished our day tour of München by having dinner at the original Augustinerbräuhaus. I had been told by many that if I go to München, I must have a pint of fresh-from-the-tap Augistiner bier. Though the bier did not knock me off my feet, it was still good enough to warrant its widespread notoriety. I would have preferred to visit the Franziskaner brewery, as its dunkelweisen has become one of my favorites beers here in Europe.
Overall, München did not live up to the reputation that preceded it. When I think of München, I think of commerce, fashion, trendiness, a posh lifestyle, unsettling cleanliness, and impersonality. It was like München was rebuilt with the intent to be the perfect city, and in the process avoided many of the inadequacies that often serve as the reason residents of other places love where they live. It is fascinating how much of the history of the city is rooted in bier – it was in the Hofbräuhaus where Hitler was invited to be the spokesperson for the Nazi party, it was the Augustiner brewery that rebuilt one of the churches, and it has served as the root cause for several historic protests and riots. Still, other than its great bier, I found it difficult to remember much about München that would motivate me to return. Then again, maybe having only spent one day and Oktoberfest is not really giving the city much of a fighting chance.
Regardless, I was glad to have experienced everything I did with my mom. Though we both joked about how these days are numbered, there was much truth in the statement. I’ll look back on this trip and our travels through India fondly. But even with my own family in my far distant sights, I have a funny feeling that these past three days would not be the last time my mom and I try to conquer the world.
