Celebrating the Holidays in Munich: Part 3

As I get this blog up and running, I'm posting summaries of our past trips, starting in 2011. This is the third post about our trip to Germany in December 2011.

Day 9: December 29, 2011

We were so excited to eat another traditional German breakfast (at the same cafe we ate at on our first morning in Munich), that we forgot to take a picture until it was almost all gone. We had to fill up our tummies, because we were going to spend the entire day walking. We met the tour guide for Hitler's Munich: Third Reich Tour at the Rathaus and set off on a whirlwind tour of the city, through the lens of Adolf Hilter's rise to power.

We rounded the corner and found ourselves in a little courtyard, which was the first stop on the tour. When Hitler originally came to Munich, he wanted to be an artist. He sat in this courtyard and painted this window on postcards that he sold.

Then we went back to the Haufbrau Haus, where we had already been. But this time we went upstairs to the banquet hall where Hitler and other Nazis gave political speeches. Hitler's first speech was given in this hall.

Then we took a stroll past the Opera House (Hitler apparently was a Wagner fan), and ended up at Odeonsplatz. He gave speeches here, and it was also the spot where police stopped the Nazi's first attempted coup failed. Just a few days prior we had visited this area and it was a Christmas tree lot.

Then we walked to the capitol building (which was damaged during the war), and in front of it was the memorial to fallen Bavarian soldiers. Bavaria lost fewer people than other parts of Germany, because the war didn't come to Munich right away. The people of the area had time to build shelters before much of the bombing began. 6,600 Bavarian soldiers lost their lives.

Our next stop was the Square of Victims of National Socialism. Our tour guide told us that although the name is displayed prominently on this sign, it can't be found on any maps. The locals refer to this by the name of the square adjacent to it—Maximiliansplatz. 

The square includes an eternal flame to remember the victims of the Nazi party. I see some indications on the German Wikipedia page for this square that it was redesigned in late 2013 and dedicated in January 2014, but I can't ascertain what those changes are.

We then stopped by a pretty plain-looking bank, and learned that it used to be the home of the gestapo.

We found ourselves on a campus of the university, and entered the music building. It was the former headquarters of the Nazi party, tactfully decorated for Christmas.

If you walk up those stairs and turn around, you'll find yourself looking straight at Hitler's office. I can't imagine being the professor that teaches in that room today. It's now a piano hall.

We saw a couple more Nazi buildings in the area, and then our tour was over. We had covered a lot of ground, and seen far more sights than I've recounted here. It was an excellent tour, and I highly recommend any Munich visitors with an interest in history check it out.

After all that walking, we were hungry. We stopped at Ayinger (across from the Haufbrau Haus) for lunch and were pleasantly surprised with the quality of our meal. Unfortunately, we seemed unable to take a picture in focus.

I saw pretzel soup on the menu, and had to try it. It was basically broth with pretzel chunks, but it was absolutely delicious. We also ordered salads, which were fresh and tasty, even in December. We liked the food here so much that we came back for dinner the next night.

I'm sure we did something awesome during the afternoon, but I can't remember what it was because we didn't take any pictures.

Day 10: December 30, 2011

This was our last full day in Germany, so we got on a train to Austria. We wanted to go to Salzburg. We never really had an early start on this trip (we were terrible first-time jet laggers), so by the time we made it to Salzburg it was almost lunch time. We stopped at a small restaurant in the old section of town. There were smoking in much of the restaurant—too much for me to enjoy a meal—but luckily they had a non-smoking section. It was partitioned with a glass wall and a sliding glass door, which was different, but effective. We both ordered weinerschnitzel.

I'm sure the locals loved Aaron's shirt.

Then we took a quick walk through the old town, and headed toward our first major destination: the fortress.

No, we did not climb that hill. We took the tram up to the top. Here I am in that nifty hill-climbing contraption.

The view from the top was absolutely breath-taking. The fortress was first constructed in 1040, so it's been looking over the city for a long time.

See the one house all lone in the field in the photo below? Supposedly, that was the executioner's house. No one wanted to live by him.

Aaron wanted to demonstrate what it would be like to order the firing of the cannons.

It was a very cold day, and this fortress definitely wasn't heated!

But, in a courtyard deep within the forest, there was this cute container garden that didn't seem completely dead. I'm not exactly sure what was behind the door.

Much of the inside of the fortress was set up as a museum. This was bed for royalty. Doesn't look very comfy to me.

This was the kitchen. 

And this was the coat of arms mounted on the wall. It includes a turnip. Glad the inhabitants of the fortress could draw power from vegetables.

On the way out, it's a very different perspective. I can see how it would be hard to climb up and over these walls.

 After visiting the fortress we had one major order of business: visit the Augustiner brewery and brew hall. It was a bit of a walk, but we were treated to views like this:

When we finally neared our destination, I was a little crabby about climbing the hill. Only a tasty beverage would make it worth my time. :)

This was a really cool beer hall. It's been here since the 1700's. You go down when you enter, and you're pretty much underground the entire time. There are various stands selling food, and you can also carry in your own. But the main attraction, of course, is the beer.

Grab a stein, rinse it out, and pay the attendant....

And give it to the nice man to fill from the cask.

Then find a seat in the beer hall and enjoy your brew.

There was one bad thing about our visit to Salzburg. Between the fortress and the beer hall, we'd purchased a beautiful water color of the fortress. Somehow, we forgot it at the beer hall and didn't notice until we were almost back at the train station, just in time for the train. I hope someone enjoyed the artwork.

We were treated to this gorgeous night-time view on the way back.

We took the train back to Munich, grabbed dinner at Ayinger, and fell into bed. The next morning we traveled back home. Our first trip to Europe is in the books!

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