Munich Day 5 and Transit to Prague (7 August 2012)

Ralph here.  We woke up pretty early and took the subway to the Englischer Garten, a very large urban park on the east side of Munich.  It is the second-largest urban park in the world, right behind London’s Richmond Park and ahead of Central Park in New York.  It is not very wide – maybe a half-mile – but stretches for about four miles along the edge of the city.

En route to the Englischer Garten, we stopped at the Munich central train station’s Deutsche Bahn (German national railroad) information desk to print out our tickets to Prague.  I ordered them on the Internet but you have to have a printout of the ticket before you board (the tickets are sent as a PDF file in a confirmation email).  We haven’t been lugging a computer printer around with us, so I figured we could just go to the railroad’s information desk and they could print it for us.

No dice, when they looked up our confirmation code they had no record of us purchasing any tickets.  Obviously, I had, but it meant nothing to these heartless German bureaucrats.  It seemed appropriate that I faced Kafkaesque bureaucracy en route to Kafka’s home city, so we resolved to print out the tickets at an Internet café in the train station.  The Internet café wouldn’t open for another hour, so we continued onto the Englischer Garten and decided we would print out our tickets at the Internet café on our way back to the hotel.  Easy enough.

The Englischer Garten is pretty much one gigantic lawn with paths and trees through it, as well as a couple random monuments.  [We saw many cyclists and people walking their dogs.  We also so a few people on horseback.]  We stayed there for about a half hour, watching the early-morning bike commuters.  We headed back to the central station, printed out our tickets, and returned to the hotel to pack up.

When we arrived back at the central station to await our rail journey to Prague, I discovered that the word “BUS” printed on our tickets did not mean “Business class” but instead meant “you will ride a bus to Prague.”  Apparently, the German national railway also operates a bus line.  It was all for the best though; the bus was clean and comfortable and got us to Prague faster than any of the rail options – and far less expensive as well.  Plus we did not have to drive.  [The bus had a drive attendant to distribute snacks we paid for.  No one wanted any so her job seemed pretty easy.  More importantly, each set of seats had a power outlet so we were able to keep our electronics charged throughout the journey.]  Surprisingly both the people to our immediate left and immediately behind us on the bus were Minnesotans.

After five hours on the bus through the German and Czech countryside (think Wisconsin without the drought and with more metric system) the driver snaked us through the evening rush hour traffic into the center of Prague and dumped us unceremoniously at the main train station.  I had read on the Internet that it is one of the most architecturally impressive train stations in the world.  This is kind of a lie.  The atrium of the old Prague train station is impressive but has fallen into disrepair:

But the actual train station is beyond it and looks as indistinguishable as every modern train station or airport.  [It was kind of jarring to step down from the old station into the new, modern and very red station.]

Thankfully that bland conformity means that most signage being in English as well as Czech.  In fact, this is something I did not expect at all in Prague – nearly all signage, especially in tourist areas, is in English, even more so than we saw in Germany.  This is odd because British and American tourists seemed to be the minority of tourists.  Lynnae thinks there may be a resistance to German signage because of the German occupation during World War II (more in a future post).  Maybe it has to do with the close relationship the US has had with the Czech Republic since Czechoslovakia rejected Communism in 1989.  But who knows.  At any rate, it was very easy to get around Prague without knowing the local language.

Before leaving the train station we went to the “Bankomat” (ATM) and withdrew the local currency, the Czech crown – while part of the European Union, the Czech Republic does not use the Euro ($1 is approximately equal to 20 crowns).  The relatively simple exchange rate made it easier to do currency conversion in my head while looking at a bill or credit card slip, but it did feel like we were using Monopoly money.  I felt wealthy handing a 500-crown bill to a store clerk – then remembering it was $25.

The site for Prague was originally chosen because it was on a steep promontory jutting into the Vtalva River, which cuts through the middle of the current city.  While the location was suitable for building Prague Castle, it means that the entire city is on a slant leading down to the riverbank.  That also means that we were hauling our baggage uphill for a mile, trying to find the Clarion Hotel Prague City.  We eventually navigated our way through the heavily graffitied streets (Seriously – someone should call Sherlock Holmes, right now there is a loose Vandal in Bohemia).

After consulting Tripadvisor we ate dinner at Matylda’s, a Czech restaurant almost adjacent to the hotel.  The food was really good and restaurant prices in Prague are very cheap compared to the US (but not for fast food, surprisingly).  [“Really good” does not do justice to the wonderfully sumptuous food.  Ralph ordered a pizza that was in fact “really good.”  However, I ordered roast duck with red cabbage and dumplngs.  It was absolutely delicious.  My mouth is watering as I think about it and I’m not even hungry.  The roast duck was perfect, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.  The dumplings were good and the red cabbage was the best I have ever eaten anywhere.  Plus, our meal including tip was under $25. Pretty unbeatable.]  Lynnae bought a 20-crown ice cream cone from the KFC (featuring the Kentucky Meal) on the corner, we walked in the immediate vicinity for a while and turned in.

Munich Day 4 – Dachau (6 August 2012)

Lynnae again.  We slept in again and had breakfast at the hotel.  We took the subway downtown and walked to Marienplatz.  We paid to go up in the tower.  The only option is via elevator.  It was very convenient and certainly easier than climbing the tower in Cologne.  They views were pretty good and tower was relatively empty as we were there just before the glockenspiel began playing.  The square was packed with tourists though.

Then we walked to the meeting point for our last Munich based tour – Dachau.  Dachau is a sizable town about 45 minutes from Munich by train.  Dachau concentration camp lies just outside of it.

Dachau is a unique concentration camp.  It was the first one utilized.  As such it primarily contained political dissidents and those who had been powerful in government before Hitler gained power.  It grew to contain members of all the groups that were incarcerated elsewhere.  Also because it was the first, all of the systems put in place were tried out at Dachau first.

We had a small group of nine people.  It was nice to be part of a smaller group.  We had decided to wait for this tour until Monday when it would probably have fewer people.  Jeff, the guide from Neuschwanstein Castle, was our guide.  He did an excellent job presenting information and was able to answer every question asked.

Work sets you free –this sign was over the entrance to many concentration camps

This building houses the false shower/gas chambers.  It was never used on a large scale although some experimentation may have been done with it.  You can see the gray slots for adding the toxin to the room inside.  This building also contained a crematorium that more than doubled the capacity of the old one.

The area immediately surrounding this building has been made into a cemetery.

This statue represents the men (Dachau was a men-only camp) who were imprisoned here.  Looking up, having hands in pockets, and feet spread apart were all punishable offences during roll call.

The barracks were torn down when the camp became a memorial site.  The outlines were left so returning victims and their family members could locate where they stayed.

Several memorials have been built at the back of the camp, Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, and Russian Orthodox.

The space where roll call was held.

The message that survivors wanted visitors to take with them.

It was a very sobering experience.

It was raining as we left.  After a wait for the bus and another wait for our train we were a little damp by the time we reached Munich.  We took the subway back to our hotel, feeling like we were getting our money’s worth out of our unlimited day pass.  We dried off at our hotel and took the subway back downtown.

We went to Wirthaus Ayingers , directly across the street from the Hofbrauhaus.   No tables were available so we sat at the bar.  Our food was delicious, as was the beer of course.  [It is much less tourist-feeling as well, although they must get a lot of tourists as they had an English-language menu.]

We had hoped to see the Englischer Garten but it was still raining so instead we headed back out the hotel.

Munich Day 3 (5 August 2012)

Lynnae again – Ralph woke up early-ish and did a short run.  He reported that we was feeling much better.  We ate breakfast at the hotel and walked to Peace Methodist Church.  (We had tried to find an English speaking Lutheran Church but Munich is predominantly Catholic.)  Peace was an English speaking congregation that was largely made up of African immigrants.

The service was a little unusual because there was a baptism, so there was no sermon.  The baptism was very nice though.  One thing that was a little different but also nice was when the sponsors were called up, the pastor also called for “those who supported this family to come up” and about one-third of the church emptied the seats to stand at the front in support.

We were invited to stay for a potluck dinner afterwards, so we did.  The church was pretty friendly.

We went to the appointed meeting place for our next tour – also with Radius and met Steve, our guide.  This tour was smaller only eleven people.  It was a walking tour, Hitler and the Third Reich.  It was excellent.  Steve was very knowledgeable. He had studied WWII and what had immediately preceded it in England and had moved to Germany to get a feel for the German perspective.

He began with Hitler’s failed attempt to get into art school, his suicide attempt, his draft dodging move to Munich before WWI and a copy of a drawing Hitler had made to sell on the street to support himself.

We walked through Munich seeing places that were key while the Nazis were in power. 

(In the room with the door leading out to the balcony, the Munich Agreement was signed.)

This square was used for Nazi rallies.  It was near Hitler’s office and many other high officials.

Then we saw places crucial to their rise to power.

(Place were Hitler joined the Workers Party and officially entered politics.)

(Room in the Hofbrauhaus where Hitler announce the change of the Workers Party to the National Socialist Worker’s Party.)

(In this hotel café, the Gestapo was formed.)

Steve also covered how difficult is still is to talk about some of these things.  He used the street sign below as an example.  [Meisterstrasse (Meister Street) was named after Hans Meiser, a Protestant bishop during the Nazi regime, and while he protested the Nazi executions of physically and mentally disabled people, he did not oppose the Nazis and published a lot of anti-Semitic writings himself.  In 2007 the Munich government lined out his name on the street signs and renamed it Katharina-von-Bora-Strasse, after Martin Luther’s wife.  Of course, Luther himself became anti-Semitic later in his life, so who knows if it was the right decision.]

It was a fantastic tour.  We learned a lot more than can be conveyed here.  It was interesting and entertaining.

We decided to eat at the Hofbrauhaus.  Immediately after we arrived, it began pouring.  Instead of going in with the hordes of tourists, we went to the restaurant upstairs.  Unfortunately, this meant our menu was in German.  This also meant it was quieter.  Ralph wasn’t very hungry so we ordered the appetizer platter that had a little of everything and split it.  By the time we were done, it had stopped raining.  So we walked back to the hotel.

Munich Day 2 – Neuschwanstein Castle (4 August 2012)

Lynnae again – Ralph was finally starting to feel better, although he still didn’t feel well.  So by design, he stayed back, did laundry and rested while I ventured into the countryside to check out Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration for the castle in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty.

Ralph and I had decided while driving to Munich that we were going to book some tours while in Munich and see how we liked being guided around instead of seeing everything ourselves.  So I had booked our tours with Radius Tours, a tour company that had received great reviews online.

My first impression was not overwhelmingly favorable.  It was a Saturday, so probably one of their busier days of the week.  You could purchase the tours online but you had to check into the office to receive your ticket.   Only one person was working the desk.  They had three or four tours leaving at approximately the same time – mine was the last of these.  Because of this, the guides kept moving people up the check-in line so their tours wouldn’t be delayed.  As a result, my tour was slightly delayed.  It wouldn’t have been a big deal except we needed to catch a train.  We made the train, but because of the delay there were no seats available and not enough space for everybody to even stand together so we were spread out across the train standing as we began our two hour train journey.

I stuck pretty close to a cluster of people in the group.  I didn’t want to be forgotten or left because I was by myself.  I ended up standing with seven other people from our group of 29 and two scouts, one of whom was in a very bad mood.  After about an hour or so, most of us in our cluster were able to sit down but apparently the other groups of people were not so fortunate.  Our guide, Jeff, walked through the train periodically checking on us.  He normally gave background info during the train ride but under the circumstances it wasn’t possible.  Instead he passed around a pamphlet.  During this time, I got to know some of my companions.

We went from the train to a bus that conveyed us to the town of Füssen.  Our tour guide, Jeff dropped us off at a take-out restaurant (his buddy’s I think) while he went to pick up our tickets for the castle itself.  We had twenty minutes to get our food and eat.  I ended up sitting next to two Norwegians, a girl planning on going to Munich for University and her dad.  They were nice and very friendly.

We gathered together and walked to the lake.  We had great views of Hohenschwangau Castle.  The castle Ludwig II grew up in.  We made a couple of stops and Jeff told us about Ludwig’s childhood.  Basically it was very regimented, disciplined, and isolating and Ludwig did not like it. 

Hohenschwangau Castle

The lake.  That distant mountain is in Austria.

A few people opted to take a bus up to the castle instead of walking.  Jeff dropped them off at the bus, then led us up the very steep road to the castle.  I made it to the top in good time with a few others and we were afforded about 15 minutes to go the Marienbrücke (Marie’s Bridge) for photos.  This bridge was built by Ludwig’s father for his wife because of the great views of the valley.  Ludwig II had the wooden bridge rebuilt in steel.  The bridge has been unaltered since then.

The views from the bridge are below.

Unfortunately, those that had made their way more slowly up the climb did not feel compelled to stick with the timetable while on the bridge and we ended up waiting for the rest of our party over 15 minutes.

Views from front of Castle.

View from Castle courtyard of viewing bridge – replaced by Ludwig.

We walked up to the castle for our tour.  The tour of the castle is only 30 minutes long and only comprises those portions of the castle that were completed and furnished at Ludwig’s death.  Some people are disappointed by the interior.  I can’t imagine why.  Each room was very ornate and with its own unique theme.  The theme of the Castle is Wagner’s operas.  Each room represents a specific opera.  There was so much wood in Ludwig’s bedroom that it took 14 woodcarvers 4 years to complete it all. The strangest room was a hallway that looked like a cave.  Sorry but photos were not allowed inside the castle.  There are some good images if you do a google image search or Wikipedia has some decent photos too.

The castle was incredibly modern for its time.  It had hot and cold running water on all floors, flushing toilets and central heating.  These things and the relatively small room sizes actually made it seem livable.  Short tour, but interesting.  Our castle guide was very informative.  Of course, we did not have time to see the video about Ludwig that was playing.

Two girls did not show up at the appointed meeting time and place.  After waiting 10 minutes beyond what he said he would, Jeff went back through the castle in search of them.  No luck.  He hoped we would meet up with them at the bus stop in the town (our last meeting point – in case of separation) and we moved on.  We took the scenic route down to the town along the gorge.  Really everywhere around the town was so incredibly beautiful, you could take photos of everything.  Indeed, one girl in our group shared that she had taken over 700 photos by the afternoon.  Presumably she took even more before boarding the bus.

The viewing bridge from the ground.

This was our walkway for a portion of the journey.  Very sturdy.  I’m not sure if you can tell but there is a gap between the rock on the left and the walkway.

Jeff told us more about Ludwig’s political problems and his supposed madness.  The doctors who had declared him mad had never examined him.  He also told us about the uncertainties surrounding his death.  He was an excellent swimmer and he apparantly drowned with his doctor in very shallow water.  His family has refused to release the autopsy results. The castle was unfinished at his death. He’d only lived in his castle for 174 days.

Most of the information had been in the pamphlet he passed around but not everybody had seen it but I did feel like Jeff had additional information we just didn’t have time for.  Jeff did a good job within the limitations but it was a little disappointing.  However, the scenery and the castle itself was pretty phenomenal and it was worth it to not have to arrange any transportation and so forth.

We took the bus back to the train station, then two trains back to Munich.  (We did meet up with the two girls who had decided to ditch the tour.)  I took the subway towards the hotel, walked back and met up with Ralph.

We went out for supper.  They got our order wrong but the food was delicious so we overlooked the mistake.

We walked back to the hotel and turned in.

Munich Day 1 (3 August 2012)

Lynnae here – We slept in and resolved to have a light day as Ralph was still not feeling great.  We ate breakfast at the hotel and were impressed by how substantial it was.

We drove downtown to return the car.  After stopping by the tourist information office in the train station, we consulted our map and walked towards the river.  We happened to walk through Marienplatz [Ralph: the center square of Munich] at 11:50AM so we decided to hang around to watch the glockenspiel at noon.  Bells started pealing right around the expected time but the figures did not begin moving until about 12:05.  It was pretty cool but Ralph was unimpressed. [It is essentially a merry-go-round in a tower.]  It was more complex than I expected.  The first time the knights joust, they both miss although the second time the blue knight triumphs.

We got a smoothie to share as we walked on toward the Deutches Museum – the German Science and Technology Museum.  This museum was huge, over 40 exhibits and over 10,000square feet.  Immediately opposite the entrance were boats.  There were full scale full scale boats and lots of models, ranging from ancient to the cruise ships of the 2000s.  This was typical of the exhibits, for whatever topic it would begin at the dawn of time and cover all the advances between then and now – in some case it would include prototypes for the future.  We actually did not linger long in boats or aeronautics as they did not interest us, however they were visually astonishing.

About two-thirds of the museum had English on their placards in addition to German.  So that made most everything easy to understand.  Ralph enjoyed the Physics exhibit while the Pharmaceutical exhibit was probably my favorite, with genetics a close second.  Chemistry was under renovations.  We spent about five hours here – with only a short break for currywurst and fries – until the museum closed.  We could have easily spent more time as we didn’t even make it up to the fourth floor.  This was an amazing museum with only a few minor disappointments.

[It is true that most of the museum was in English- the most popular parts.  Unfortunately very little of the physics section was in English.  We didn’t have time to visit the mathematics or astronomy sections, but I bet they weren’t in English either.  Still a great museum.]

Photographic proof I generate more heat than Ralph – even when he’s slightly feverish.

Our light day wasn’t quite as light as we had intended but at least we had a lot of fun.  We started to walk back to the hotel, but decided instead to take the subway.  The subway was like the rest of Germany very clean and well lit, however it was a little confusing at first.  With the help of a friendly local we figured it out and were back to the hotel in less than 10 minutes.  Clearly we should have been using the subway sooner.

[It really surprised me that the Munich subway has no turnstiles, no ticket-checkers, nothing.  You can just walk on the subway and never buy a ticket from the ticket kiosk, if you really wanted to.  There are signs in the subway trains that tell you it’s a 40-euro (about $45) fine plus potential court charges if you are caught fare-jumping, but I never saw a transit cop anywhere so I don’t know if that is really enforced.  It must be a an interesting decision on how much enforcement is necessary to keep free riders to a minimum while still having no turnstiles.]