Munich Christmas Adventure: Hilter and the Beer Hall

One of the stories on our walking tour was about Hitler and his brush with early demise. As many of you probably know, Munich is considered the birthplace of the Nazi movement in Germany. What you might not know is that it is also the birthplace of the Nazi resistance in Germany.

According to this story, Hitler was at one of the famous beer halls one evening spouting his views and rallied around 3000 people to march through the city. Sounds a bit like a drunken bad idea, but hey.

They marched through the town and came across a military road block so turned the corner to avoid it. Unfortunately, the police also saw them and came around to meet them. Shots were fired and Hilter was saved by one of his bodyguards who took 11 bullets to save him. Even more interesting is that the bodyguard survived . . . only to be shot by Hitler later in his campaign (so much for gratitude).

Imagine if just one of those bullets had hit their mark?

Munich Christmas Adventure: Marienplatz & the Glockenspiel

One of our first adventures in Munich was a 3-hour walking tour . . . in the cold. Even my love affair with the cold weather started to wear off about hour #2. We had a great guide who told lots of stories about Munich which I'll try to share with you.

Our first stop was Marienplatz (Mary's Square) and the famous Glockenspiel. Glockenspiel means ringing bells in German and this GS also has a little show it puts on 3 times per day. The first show is the top of the tower where you see a number of Germans partying at a wedding feast. This represents the marriage of King Maximillian and his wife Marie. Then there is a joust that plays out.

The second level tells the story of the plague that hit Munich a number of different times. When the plague hit, all the healthy people would lock themselves in their houses as a quarantine. This was a problem for the coopers who made beer barrels since no one was out buying beer. They were the brave souls that finally left their houses to see if the plague had passed and when it did, began dancing around town to alert the rest of the townspeople that the plague was over. This has now become a traditional dance that takes place every seven years in Munich. Book your tickets for January 2019 for the next one.

The Glockenspiel is part of the new town hall that sits in Marienplatz (Mary's square). The square, named after the Virgin Mary is home to the largest Christmas Market in Munich. It has a column in the middle with a golden statue of Mary on the top and is in between the new and old town hall buildings.

Here you can see the two levels of the Glockenspiel. The jousters come out 3 times per day.

Here is a glimpse of the square and the Christmas market. More on the markets in another post.

And a nice night shot of the square all lit up.

Munich Christmas Adventure: The Beer Hall Story

There are many many beer halls (brauhaus) in Munich and many stories to go with them. This one, while crude, is still pretty funny.  WARNING: Story may not be suitable for small children or the easily disgusted.

The beer halls are huge places with simple tables and benches where men would gather to eat, drink and be merry. They were very popular and always crowded so getting up to go to the bathroom could mean losing your seat or worse than that . . .  your beer.

So an enterprising young Barvarian set out to solve this dilemma by installing a gutter under the tables for this very purpose. As our guide said, "the men would put down the leder, take out the hosen and use the gutter underneath the tables".

Now this worked for a time with one very disgusting problem - splashback.

Time for another enterprising young Barvarian to think of a solution. This time, it was the use of the walking stick. The gentlemen about to 'put down the leader and take out the hosen' would first tap each man in the legs under the table, which would signal that they should lift their feet to avoid a nasty splash. Ingenious those Germans, huh?

This also worked for a time, but the men got tired of the bruises on their shins from the walking sticks.

Yep, another enterprising young Barvarian to the rescue. He figured out that you could carve a spiral groove down the length of the walking stick and then, if positioned just so, one could relieve the hosen and not splash his drinking buddies.

Can you just imagine? The smell must have been just awful. Luckily, indoor plumbing eventually made it's way to Germany!

Munich Christmas Adventure: It's cold!

Our first impressions of Munich? Dang, it's cold! 34 degrees to two people who haven't seen anything lower than about 65 in almost 4 years is really cold.

For me, that's exactly what I wanted so I was thrilled and loved having to wrap up with a scarf and gloves. Yep, I was cold, but it was such a refreshing change that I really enjoyed it.  My husband, not so much. He's been a really good sport, though.

I know my Wisconsin friends cannot relate, and I wish I could express it in a way that you would also understand, but I don't think I can. You see, I really miss having 4 seasons and while I do enjoy being warm and having sun EVERY day, I really miss the variety. I also miss wool socks, fleece, wearing scarves for warmth instead of fashion and cozy sweaters. That feeling when you step in from the cold into a warm house or restaurant. Drinking hot drinks and feeling them warm you up from the inside. Even with the air conditioning on it's highest setting, you can't replicate that feeling.

I think the other thing is that the turn to cold weather forecasts the holiday season. It is hard to get in the holiday spirit when you shop for your fake Christmas tree at the grocery store while wearing a T-shirt and flip flops. :) For me, the cold is Christmas as much as ornaments and presents so this trip is really putting me in the spirit.

Besides the weather, Munich is brimming with Christmas cheer. Decorations everywhere and every corner looking cozier than the last. I'm in heaven!

Starting our Munich Christmas Adventure

First an apology for my loyal readers - I have been busy, I mean lazy. And while I'd like to promise that I'll get back on track and blog regularly from here on out, I'm not sure that's a promise I can keep. In any case, I'll try my best to keep you up to date on our Munich adventure while here.

Why Munich you ask? This adventure started in May on my birthday. I don't remember exactly why, but I decided that for my birthday I wanted to plan a Christmas trip for the first week of December (National holiday so a good time to take a week off while only using 3 vacation days). I had 3 requests: 1) I wanted to see some snow, 2) I wanted to experience proper Christmas spirit, and 3) I wanted to try out FIRST class.

So, onto the flight booking system to see what was available and up pops Munich. Christmas markets - check; First class seats available - check; snow? - hmmm, maybe cold enough but doubtful. I decided 2 out of 3 was good enough and convinced Brian who reluctantly agreed. (He wasn't as excited about the cold weather idea for some reason.)

First class is a dream - seriously, we should all get to travel this way all the time.  Too bad that even with my discounts, it's expensive as heck! Here are a few photos so you can also enjoy the experience.

In the airport. Yes, we were that geeky couple taking a selfie with our first class tickets. What a bunch of losers!

On board and Brian hanging his jacket in his own personal closet. Makes the dress code of a jacket worthwhile when you get your own closet!

It's like you're own little living room on board when you've got the two middle seats like we did. There's even a privacy panel in case you're not traveling with your neighbor  (or I suppose in case you've had enough of your spouse!)

Big comfy leather seats that recline flat so you can get a nap in.

A welcome box of chocolates! Yes please.

And welcome on board dates and Arabic coffee.

And what I didn't get a photo of are:

• The set of lounge wear - pullover shirt and pants and slippers that you can wear during the flight so your own clothes don't get wrinkled. We didn't bother as it was a day flight but are using them now as PJs!
• The amenity kit with toothbrush, mints, lip balm, face cream, hand cream and sleep aid lavender scented oil.
• The noise cancelling headphones that are so good you have to take them off when they bring you your food and drink or you can't hear anything!
• And the food and drink? You have your own first class chef that will pretty much prepare whatever you'd like and make recommendations. We made sure we ate twice on our 6-hour flight so we could try breakfast and lunch!

Clearly we arrived in style!