Munich/München

With our stay in Garmisch-Partenkirchen cut a day short, we found last-minute accommodation in München, the capitol of Bavaria and Germany's 3rd largest city. We knew the beer would be good, and it was, but the city itself was overrun with tourists. Dana and I found ourselves avoiding the major avenues and squares in favor of the smaller back streets.

The architecture is phenomenal, despite the fact that all statues and sculptures are covered in netting. Perhaps this is why pigeons rule over most pf Europe but are rather uncommon in Germany. While this may keep the stone structures poop-free, it severely detracts from the beauty of the artwork. München was hit hard by air raids during World War II, but much of the city has been restored to its original design. Amazingly, the towers of Frauenkirche, one of the most famous buildings in München, remained intact while nearly all of the rest of the church was destroyed. München was an early stronghold of the Nazis, and the first concentration camp, at Dachau, was built just 10 miles outside of the city. Not surprisingly, it was very difficult to find the concentration camp using road signs, which we attempted upon our departure. Dachau is now the site of an important museum, and we're disappointed to have missed it. Conversely, München was a site of strong opposition to totalitarianism during WWII. Among them was Rupert Mayer, whose resting place we came across in the Bürgersaalkirche.

On a lighter note, and as stated earlier, the beer in München rocks. Our visit landed on a Friday night, so we got ourselves a good table at Andescher am Dom and settled in for some excellent Bavarian fare and monastic beer brewed by the monks at Klosterbrauerei Andechs nearby. The quality of these beers was such that the four brews served on tap at the restaurant were more than enough to satisfy my Bavarian-bier-starved palate. The Andechser Doppelbock Dunkel was particularly smooth.

Over the course of the next day in München, we climbed to the top of Peterskirche for a view of the city from above, popped by the Viktualienmarkt for a pickle, had a beer at the famed Hofbrauhaus and witnessed vegetarians pretending to shoot people wearing Aardvark masks at a PETA demonstration. An eventful day, I must say.

Photos of Munich/Fotos von München