the Austrian woman in my car on the train talked my ear off

..but then I finally got to Munich. The hostel I stayed in while I was in Vienna was so nice, the rooms, cleanliness, security, the things they offered... as I was checking out I had the front desk call their hostel in Munich and book me a room! woo. In Vienna I just walked up to the counter and hoped for a room (I think I got the last one) so it was nice being on the train knowing I had a room waiting for me..

This is the New Town Hall in the central square, Marienplatz

It houses the famous Glockenspiel

Then I wandered to the Opera House

This is the 'dodgers alley' memorial.. it's a gold line painted onto the ground. Just on the corner down the block from this there was a memorial that when you passed you had to give the Nazi salute, and there were guards there to make sure you did.. well, this alley where it's painted was a longer route to get past the memorial into town. It's a memorial to the people who refused to salute, by dodging. You probably wouldn't notice it, and it's not in my travel book. (Yet another reason for me never to buy another one of them ever again)

This is (a beer hall) where in 1920 Hitler was able to hold his first (mass) public meeting. In 1920!!?

Then, November 8, 1923 we have the Beer Hall Putsch. Hitler and his Nazis had a plan to kidnap the current leaders of Bavaria and threaten them into supporting Hitlers new government. Conveniently there was a meeting taking place in (yet again) a beer hall where 3 three main leaders were to be guests. Hitler stormed in, fired a shot in the air and took them captives. His plan was that if they aggreed.. cool. But if they didn't he was going to kill them on the spot, and then kill himself. He was gung-ho. Alas, they agreed. Then he announced that no one should leave the beer hall.. and he left (somewhere, I don't remember)Well, Hitlers comrades weren't too bright because somehow the three leaders managed to get out of the beer hall and immediately called the police. The next morning, Hitler led a couple hundred Nazis and supporters on a march on Berlin, during which they were stopped by a small brigade of Munich cops. Shots were fired, 16 Nazis and 3 policemen died, the Nazis ran, and Hitler wound up in jail. This is where they were stopped, and Hitlers bodyguard took 11 shots for him.

This is a plaque on the ground commemorating it.. another low profile not mentioned important place.

Well now you see.. what Hitler had done, rebellion, if you will. Was taken very seriously in Germany at the time. If he was found guilty he faced the death penalty (oh how the world would be different) but everything that could have seemed to go wrong. During the trial he was allowed to publicize his party, speaking on his ideas for a new Germany etc etc. Basically he turned his trial into a big rally, and in the end he was found guilty, but given the minimum sentence of 5 years.. serving only 11 easy (under a sort of probation/house arrest) months before he was released. It was during this time that he wrote Mein Kampf. (again.. how history could have been altered so)
And that's it for the history lesson. I learned that on my free walking tour that my hostel offered. :) Totally made Munich a lot cooler.. and I'm a sponge, so what.

The first day I was in Munich.. there was a soccer game that evening between Aberdeen, Scotland and Munich. There were kilt clad Scots EVERYWHERE. And man were they rowdy. They took over the main square by the afternoon.. chanting and singing. Enjoy.. I sure did!

Mob


Which required the presence of this..

This is a beer garden.. You can bring your own food or buy some delicious sausages.. but you can't byob. You have to buy the beer they have on tap that day.

This is a (real life!) May Pole in the beer garden.

This is a beer hall. :)

This is the dinner I had in the Hofbräuhaus

Brittney (a girl I met from my hostel) and I with our Liters of beer! :)

All of the girls I met from my hostel (Americans doing a semester in Spain)

The ceiling.. notice the white and blue Bavarian flags.. where the swastika used to be..

The stein lockers for the old old old timers.. the regulars. They get to keep their own personal stein locked up waiting for them the next time they come.

My last day in Munich (I had a full day.. I had a night train ticket to Amsterdam that left at 10:45pm) I went, with the girls I met the night before to Dachau, the first concentration camp to be built. In total over 200,000 people were imprisoned here. Just being here kind of made my hair stand on end. I didn't say much while were were here.. and the only pictures I took were of the memorials as we were leaving. I can't really explain it but I just didn't feel like taking pictures inside the buildings. I saw the gas chambers, the showers, the crematories, their bunks, the cells, even the rooms where they were interrogated and given their numbers. It was.. an experience.

It says "may the example of those exterminated here between 1933-1945 because they resisted nazism help to unite the living for the defense of peace and freedom and in respect for their fellow men"

Arbeit Macht Frei "Work shall set you free

"Never Again"

And so that I don't leave on that somber note..
this is the Frauenkirche, the Cathedral of Our Dear Lady. The foundation stone was set in 1468. No building is allowed to be taller than it's towers.

The inside..

This is the "devils' footprint".. they say, the devil made a deal with the builder that no windows were to be built in the church. But the devil was tricked by the clever builder who had set the columns so that you couldn't see a single window from a certain spot in the entrance hall where the devil stood. When the devil found out he was tricked the church was already consecrated so he couldn't enter but left a footprint at the entrance where he madly stomped his foot.

And finally, the Glockenspiel at night.

...goodnight. (it's 2am here!)