After a wonderful day at Neuschwanstein, Jocelyn and I hopped on the train for the 2 hour ride north to Munich through the plains of Bavaria. Literally hopped. The beauty of a Eurail pass (in most countries) is that you can jump on a train without having to wait in line to purchase a ticket. I think we made it onto this one with about 30 seconds to spare.
Munich was definitely the "funnest" city we visited on this trip, in my opinion. You can't go to Munich and not have a beer or two! The hostel we stayed at, Euro Youth Hostel, had a lively bar where we met some of the nicest people, and we still keep in touch with some of them over Facebook. It was Australia Day, so we ended up celebrating with a bunch of Australian students on their summer break. One of them was actually on his way home from a semester abroad at the University of Waterloo, and we also met a Canadian fire-fighter-in-training studying in Texas. You meet the most interesting people traveling! Festivities continued at an Australian bar - these seem to be very popular in Europe - we even have one in Lyon.
Above the bar the the Euro Youth Hostel. One of my favorite quotes. You can also see a Canadian 5$ and 10$ bill above it. They also had some Canadian Tire money up there.
Beers with our new Australian friends from Perth.
Prost! (Cheers!). With Jocelyn at the Augustiner Beerhall.
The highlight of the evening was visiting the legendary Hofbräuhaus, whose full name translates as "The State Court-Brewery" and is owned by the state government. Founded in the 16th century by the Duke of Bavaria, it is one of the oldest (and probably the most famous) of Munich's beer halls, and has played an important role in the city's history. It even saved the city from destruction in the Thirty Year's War in
1632, when the King of Sweden threatened to burn Munich to the ground.
He was placated with the return of a few hostages and 600,000 barrels of
beer!
The Hofbräuhaus
Mozart claimed to written his opera Idomeneo, after been fortified to the task by a few tankards at the beer hall, around the corner from where he lived at the time. Vladimir Lenin also frequented the hall in the years leading up to WWI, and it was also the headquarters of the communist government of Munich in 1919. This was also the site of the first meeting of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialists in 1920, and was used for proclamations and functions.
When the Opera House down the street caught fire, the closest available fire extinguisher was the beer stockpiled in the Hofbräuhaus. The townspeople formed a bucket brigade and tossed beer on the flames to put it out. Unfortunately the building burnt to the ground, probably because the people on the bucket brigade were drinking too much of the fire extinguisher! The Opera House had in fact an underground reservoir of water as a built-in fire extinguisher, but as it was winter this had frozen over. Poor engineering!
On a Thursday night, the Hofbräuhaus was packed. Everyone sits on long benches at trestle tables, and a brass band plays traditional music. If you ask the waitresses in dirndls (there are also male waiters) for a "small" beer or a pint, they will tell you they only serve you 1 L maß ("maaaass") tankards of beer. They manage to carry up to 7 on each arm! We tried that with the empty tankards and it was a challenge - they have to be very strong to carry them full.
Waiter carrying seven 1L maß tankards at the Augustiner beerhall.
They often have functions in the festival hall on the third floor where locals dress in their traditional Bavarian dirndls and lederhosen - there are many shops that sell them in Munich and not just for tourists.
Lederhosen shop.
The next day we went on the New Europe free walking tour of the city - these are excellent tours offered in several European cities that work on a tips only basis, and are usually the first thing I do when visiting a new city to get a basic history and figure out what I'd like to see in more detail. Our (female) guide told us that in the men's room of the Hofbrauhaus, they have installed an incredible new invention: THE VOMINATOR. A low sink with handle bars, this clever invention is optimally designed to facilitate upchucking following a few to many tankards. They don't have one in the Ladies', but if you feel the urge, you make the universal sign that you're about to puke to one of the security guards and they will escort you to the Vominator and will shield you from prying eyes, to preserve what little dignity you have left. She was a little ambiguous about how she found out about this!
We also learned about why there is a step-like extension to one of the columns out front, too low to be used as a seat. If you were too drunk to get on your horse yourself your buddies would step up and toss you over your horses back. Hopefully he knew his way home.
You can also order traditional Bavarian food in the beer halls. Lots of meat! I had meatloaf for dinner the next night at the Hofbrauhaus (it was so good we went back), and Jocelyn had the sausage platter. The perfect snack to go with a litre of beer: warm, fresh, salty pretzels!
Pretzls and beer at the Augustiner beerhall.
Meatloaf.
4 different types of sausage. Munich is a carnivore's paradise!
Another beer hall we visited was the Augustiner beerhall. Augustiner is the most popular beer in Munich. It is also Pope Benedict's favorite beer - so "it's God's favorite beer". He has it shipped in twice a month from Munich, because you can only buy it Germany. My favorite flavor was the Augustiner Edelstoff, "noble stuff". Best beer of my life! This is a peculiar beer company, who are very fond of tradition. They still use the short-necked bottles ("the construction worker's half-litre") that have been replaced in all the other beer companies. They've never spent a dime on marketing (because everybody already knows it's the best). The label hasn't changed in 20 years. They donate 30% of their profits to charity. "Noble stuff" indeed!
The Augustiner beerhall (foreground), across the street from the Hofbrauhaus (background).
Branch location. Lots of demand!
Augustiner bottles in the bottom-right corner, at a butcher shop in the Viktualienmarkt.
Of course, the most famous event of the year in Munich (and in the beer world) is Oktoberfest. In 2011 it was held from September 17th to October 4th. It used to be held entirely in October, but the beer companies figured they'd sell more beer in the finer weather of September so moved it up. Approximately 7 million people attend every year - to put this in perspective the population of Munich is 1.5 million. The annual beer consumption per capita in Munich is a whopping 240 L - although this is probably inflated by the enormous quantities consumed during Oktoberfest. Bavaria is the largest beer-consuming area in the world.
The festival has been going on since the 1810 wedding festival of Prince Ludwig and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The lost and found list at the end of the festival is astounding. 260 pairs of glasses, 200 mobile phones, wedding rings, and even 500 crutches are lost on average. Last year there were also 18 children "found" at the end of the night, and over 600 passports. Due to the large number of Australians that attend the festival and the fact that the closest Australian consulate is in Berlin, they set up a special desk in the lobby of the British Embassy every year. I'd love to come back some time for the festival, even though many of my German friends have said it's very touristy nowadays.
We definitely had a fabulous time in Munich, and I'd love to have spent more time there. I think it has the perfect balance of history and sight-seeing vs. nightlife. The only problem with this is what when you're going all day and then go out in the evening you get very tired!
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