Munich - Day Three - Finally! Octoberfest!

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
Copyright Andy Richards 2024 - All Rights Reserved

HAVE I mentioned that the prime motivator for this trip at this time was Octoberfest? We have traveled 4 times in the past couple years with our good friends, Bruce and Joyce. Long time readers here will remember them from my posts on Portugal (their idea: we "tagged along" and are delighted that we did, as I discovered my favorite city abroad - so far, anyway: Porto, Portugal). They then joined us on a cruise from Rotterdam, Netherlands to Iceland, Ireland and England, with a couple extra days in Amsterdam and Rotterdam for them (Rotterdam only for us - but we discovered a great city and look forward to our next visit). We had also done a long weekend in New Orleans. We are close neighbors and talk often, and the subject of travel often comes up. Bruce has mentioned his interest in seeing and experiencing Octoberfest several times, so we finally decided it was time to qeue that one up.

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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OF COURSE, our view is that you can't take a trip over to Europe just for Octoberfest (though am sure many do). The challenge for us was to create an approximately 2-week itinerary that included Octoberfest as our "anchor." It turned out to be easy. We could have added more time and destinations to the itinerary. I know I will go back and visit some of them. For the moment, though, lets focus on Octoberfest.

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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PHOTOGRAPHICALLY, THIS was not one of my best outings. The nature of the beast. We were with a group of about a dozen people, in a very crowded fairground environment or inside a tent at a shoulder to shoulder table with benches. Most of what I did were more or less snapshots, but will hopefully give a feel for things. I think if I were going to try a more serious run here, I would go by myself and plan to spend the day scoping the scene and looking for good places to shoot from. I also think this is one of those "what is it like to be there" spots with lots of people in the mix, so I would have to look for opportunities as things constantly moved and changed.

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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MOST ARE aware that the celebration takes place in Munich. Many probably didn't know, though, that the celebration takes place mostly in September. It ends on the first Sunday in October. The genesis of the celebration was the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig. Citizens of Munich were invited to the festivities, held in a field just outside one of the city gates, which is now a fairground where Octoberfest is held. The festivities included a grandiose parade and featured horse races. The parade still marks the opening of festivities, but I do not believe there are any horse races these days. The event was so popular that by citizen acclaim, it was made a permanent festival, and held each year following (except for some interruptions during wars, Including WWI and WWII).

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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OCTOBERFEST IS said to be the world's largest celebration of its type (a folk festival), attracting upwards of 7 million visitors from all over the world, annually. Here is a scary statistic: they also serve over 7.7 million gallons of beer each year at the event!

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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THE SETUP was not quite what I had imagined. To understand it, we have to talk about the beer situation in Munich. The production of beer in Munich has always been highly regulated. There are currently only 6 breweries that are authorized to brew their beer within the city, and today, each has their own sponsored tents (several breweries sponsor multiple tents).

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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WE HAD a reserved table in just one of the tents - sponsored by Hacker-Pschorr. The 6 authorized breweries are: Augustiner, Spaten, Lowenbrau, Hofbrau, Paulaner, and Hacker-Pschorr. Since our tent was sponsored by Hacker-Pschorr, that is the beer we drank at Octoberfest. I can say, though, that we drank a few of the others, including Augustiner, Lowenbrau and Paulaner while in Munich. It was all good. I am not a big beer drinker, but there are times when a very cold one tastes really good. I am basically a Lager drinker when I do. From my research, the most popular beer served in Munich is a Lager style "Hell" (light). The German Hell beer is nothing like what we here in the U.S. call "light beer." It is very crisp and full bodied.

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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WE HAD a tour with a couple local guys prior to entering our tent and finding our table. They gave us a pretty good history of the brewing culture in Munich and of Octoberfest. There are many good accounts online. They explained the local regulation of beer brewing and why there are only 6 currently authorized breweries. The water used must come from within the city. The brewery facilities must also be within the city. The beer maker must meet certain fairly stringent conditions. The beer must be brewed in accordance with the "Purity Law" (Reinheitsgebot) of 1516. This law provided that the only ingredients in complying beer could be water, barely and hops (while not specifically spelled out in the law, yeast has also historically been an allowed ingredient). The history of Reinheitsgebot - not surprisingly - contains elements of politics, religion, and local protectionism. The linked brief Wikipedia entry is a fascinating read and I would encourage the detour for a few minutes. Beer afficionados might also like to take a longer detour to read about the history of one Munich brewery that has been brewed in the U.S. and Canada and how that came about. But please do return here! 😅

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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THE CURRENT six are not necessarily destined to be the only authorized breweries in Munich. There are a couple that have applied and are trying to obtain that status right now. Our guides brought us an example and we started out our morning (kind of early for me - 9:30 a.m - whew!), but I slogged through it. I don't specifically remember what is holding the Giesinger Munchner Hell back (though I think it was that they had not been able to secure brewery space within the Munich City limits), but it looks like maybe they had the rest lined up. It was pretty good. Good luck to them.

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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OUR TOUR and tent reservation incuded a voucher for 2 draft beers and a meal which included a Hendyl (half of a slow-roasted chicken, basted in a paprika marinade). What surprised me a bit though was the drafts. They were each a full liter! I like and occasional cold one, but 2 liters is not in the cards for me. How do many of the folks drink several of these things? To add insult to injury, this "old guy" had to hold onto the heavy beer glass with two hands (at least until I observed the correct method of holding the glass. It looks like Bruce had it all figured out from the "get" though. 😂

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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A FUN day, filled with beer, chicken, and german brass music. Lest we walk away thinking Octoberfest has always been fun and positive though, I feel compelled to discuss the one negative we learned about. I don't do this to end on a down note.The fact that in spite of it, Octoberfest lives on may just be one of the most positive things about it. In 1980, a home made bomb was set of in a trash bin near the main entrance, killing 13 and injuring 225 more people (apparently including the perpetrator). This was the second largest mass terrorism event in Germany (after the 1972 Olympic Village massacre). There is a memorial outside the gate which everyone sees as they enter. You do not see trash recepticles outside around the fairgrounds today, and entering with backpacks and such are prohibited.

Hacker-Pschorr Lager - "The Heaven of The Bavarians" - Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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THE BACK pack thing is an aside that bears mentioning. None of the literature for tour groups like ours - or for the festival as a whole - mentions this. We were walking into the entrance to the grounds when we were stopped by local police and told we could not enter with our day packs. Perfectly understandable, but a bit jarring that we did not know in advance. I would have simply left mine home. Instead, 6 of us had to split off from our group (fortunately there were two guides, so one stayed with us) and walk back about a block to an area where we could check the backpacks (for a fee of course). Not a huge issue, but maybe they should include a warning somewhere. As I often say, a "first world problem." We rejoined the group and all was good.

Memorial - Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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AFTER SPENDING a couple hours in the tent, we headed back out and toward the tram to our hotel. A chilling rain returned. Ironically enough, tired but by that time hungry, we walked the short distance back to our "favorite" Mexican restaurant for supper. This time; burgers. No Mexican in Munich. 😑 We wanted a quick bite and be done for the night. The next day was early and was our trip to the Bavarian Alps.

Octoberfest - Munich, Germany
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Munich; Day Two

 

Feldherrn Halle - Odeonsplaza - Munich, Germany
Copyright Andy Richards 2024

EVENTUALLY WE would end up right where we finished up the previous day. But first, we had breakfast in the nice little breakfast area in the Opera Hotel. The night before, before completely retiring for the night, I lit up a cigar and took a little walk around the neighborhood surrounding the hotel. The Opera is situated on St. Anna  -Strasse, a small, quiet street that began just near the hotel and went north. Just up the street there were a handful of nice, small restaurants, on both sides of the street. None were open by then, but it looked like we could find a nice place for a meal in the evenings at the end of our days. Eventually, I happened upon St. Anna - Platz, a small, quiet park-like area in front of the pretty little St. Anna Kirche. There was a nice bench there near a pool and fountain and I took a load off and finished my cigar.

Isar River - Munich, Germany
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THE NEXTmorning, after breakfast, Bruce and I decided to go on a "cigar walk." We did not have a hard plan for the day, so we took it easy that morning. Bruce had an idea that we were very close to the river, so we took off in that direction and within a few short minutes ended up on a nice walkway along the Isar River.

Isar River - Maximillian Brucke in the background - Munich, Germany
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WE FOUND a bridge and crossed the river, following a rough rectangular walking track, which would eventually bring us back across right on the main street in front of our hotel neighborhood; Maximillian Strasse. The space around the river was a peaceful green space and there were a few other morning walkers out and about.

Stairway - Maximillian Brucke - Munich, Germany
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LIKE MANY European cities around the world, Munich made some nice green space around its city, but with some impressive man-made additions that I found photogenic, like this stairway down to street level as we came from a higher point on the other side of the river.

Fountain - Maximillian Strase - Munich, Germany
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EVEN IN the midst of a tranquil green space around the river, the inevitable street art found its way into a tucked in spot along a flow regulation canal on the river.

Street Art - Munich, Germany
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ONCE WE got back to the hotel, we re-grouped and headed out for the day. As I mentioned above, we did not have a firm plan. We had a couple things we wanted to do. We had read about the Viktualienmarkt, a large "farmers market" type area in the south of the Marienplatz complex and we wanted to see that. The rain had returned for the day and it was off and on drizzle as we walked. At one point the hard rain drove us into a little rooftop restaurant where we had coffee and shared a couple sweet deserts. Timing things well, the rain relented and we walked along the street checking out some of the markets, including a couple meat markets.

Hofgarten - Munich Residenz - Munich, Germany
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WE KNEW that our next destination would be back at the Munich Residenz, to walk through the garden. This time the weather would cooperate and we actually had a few peeks of sunshine for he first time since we arrived in Munich. Standing between the two plants in the image of the Feldherrnhalle, if you turn left 90 degrees and walk forward a few feet, you end up at the gate to the garden.

Munich Residenz - Munich, Germany
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THE MAIN path walks you along one of the sides of the Residenz. The above image gives the viewer an idea of just how large the palace actually is.

Hofgarten - Munich Residenz - Munich, Germany
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BUILT MOSTLY in the 1600's, the garden was once even more elaborate than it is today, with lanes of mulberry trees and other vegetation. Mostly destroyed in WWII, it was rebuilt as it is today.

Hofgarten - Munich Residenz - Munich, Germany
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THERE IS a central pavillion from which radiate 6 different paths. The paths are all lined with colorful flowers. There are also two nice fountains with seating around them. It is a popular place for visitors and residents alike. The Impressive Bavarian State Chancellery is situated on southeast side of the garden. It is a very photogenic building. I found a few compositions I liked there.

The Bavarian State Chancellery - Munich, Germany
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I DON'T remember when this happened, but one of us - Joyce - had another mission and knew we would be walking by, so we also made one other brief stop during the day - the Orlando di Lasso Memorial Statue. Born in the Netherlands, he ended up in Italy in his early years, and then finally settled in Munich, where he became a rather famous composer, during the mid-late 1500s. During that time, Emperor Maximillian II conferred nobility upon him, and he was twice nighted by Pope Gregory XIII. I am not sure what it was about him that got Joyce so excited. Oh, wait. Now I remember. 😜

Michael Jackson Memorial - Munich, Germany
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SOME TIME shortly after the death of Michael Jackson in June, 2009, a group of his fans in Munich took it upon themselves to create a "makeshift" monument to him, affixing posters, pictures and the likes to the base of the di Lasso statue. In 2015, two rival fan groups got into a dispute over who was in charge of the memorial (presumably these were MJ fan groups and not Orlando groups). The city removed all the Michael Jackson items and banned them. However, following the 2020 pandemic, fans once again began back at it and this time, with no pushback from city officials. Joyce is a Michael Jackson fan. I have no idea whether she is an Orlando di Lasso fan, though I know she is a Ted Lasso fan.😁

Munich, Germany
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THIS WAS a nice and relaxing day, taking in some of the fun sights of Munich. We actually headed back earlier than we had on some of our prior days, and arriving back in the area of our hotel, decided to explore some of the small restaurants nearby. All seemed to have outside seating and the weather had turned pleasant: dry and reasonably warm, so we looked for one of those places. We competely stumbled upon the place. It was a Mexican restaurant. We never would have looked for that, but they were advertising a special and we decided to sit down. The drinks were good (hard to miss with beer in my case), and after looking at the menu in which they advertised a taco special, we actually decided to return there a couple hours later at dinner time. We were just around the corner from our hotel. For those of you who are wondering, let me give you a word of advice. When you are in Bavaria, and when there is nobody that looks remotely hispanic working in the restaurant, don't order the mexican! Bruce and I both had enchiladas. My wife had tacos. I think Joyce had a veggie burger. She said it was good. The enchiladas weren't even close. My wife said the tacos were o.k., but I think she may be too polite.😑I really should have known better (although we had a completely different experienc a few days later in Berlin - but that's another story). In spite of this, the people who ran the restaurant were super friendly, and the service was quick and efficient. And all of this with a language barrier (no-not spanish).

IRONICALLY, AT the end of the next day and a long afternoon at Octoberfest, we returned to the Mexican restaurant - but this time a had a burger which was decent. Overall, we really liked the atmosphere and people in the Mexican place. But mexican food in Munich. Dont' do it.

Our First Day in Munich

Opera Hotel, Munich, Germany
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AFTER OUR nice ending to our Switzerland stay, we hit the ground running again the next morning, with a relatively early train (9:30) to Munich. We were, once again, impressed with the efficiency and neatness of the Swiss rail system. It was a comfortable, but long (150 mile, 4-ish hour) ride, but we probably benefitted from the down time off of our feet. At the same time, we saw a bit of the European countryside. We were pleasantly surpised that there was ample room for our carryon size baggage in the baggage area in the car, and for our personal bags overhead. Based on our "Swiss" experience, train travel seems like the way to go on a European trip. We were even pleasantly surprised that the difference between "first class" and "coach" was not really that much. It is less expensive than flying, and generally more convenient getting to and from the train station and on and off the trains. Most often - unlike airports - the train stations are right in the middle of things and close to our destination point (or on one of the subway or tram lines).

Entrance to Karlsplatz - Stachus; Munich, Germany
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THAT WAS our experience in Zurich and Munich. If you read the Zurich posts you perhaps read that the Munich Hauptbahnhof was directly across from our Zurich Hotel. In Munich, it was not as close, but it was a very direct tram ride, once we figured out the correct train and found the tram from the rail station. It was reasonably well marked and found the tram easily enough. The tram ride was about 20 minutes to our stop which was only a 5-minute walk from the Opera Hotel. The tram stop was on a main street (Maximilian Strasse) in Munich and it was more or less a straight shot and a short ride to most of our destinations. We later discovered that we were only a very short (easy walking) distance from west bank of the Isar River, which is the main river in Munich.

Karlstor; Munich, Germany
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THE START of our Munich experience was much like Zurich. Once we checked into the hotel, we had a 3:15 scheduled walking tour. We met our guide at the Karlsplatz tram stop. It turned out to be one that we ended up getting on and off a few times during the week and as noted above was a straight shot (just under a mile). Most of our tram rides were 20 or less minutes (depending on route and stop) and some were more like 10. Karlsplatz (known locally as Karlsplatz-Stachus) is right in the center of things, on the edge of Old Town.

Michael's Kirche; Munich, Germany
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THE KARLSPLATZ  name comes from Karl Theodor, who took over the rule of Bavaria in 1777, and who was originally from the Palatinate region of southern Germany, a part of the Holy Roman Empire until the late 1700's. Karl was apparently arrogant, scheming and not well liked. Once in power, among other things, he began renaming places after himself. Karlsplatz and Karlstor ("tor" is "gate" in English) were two of the perhaps most eggregious examples. The local residents (then and now) resented Karl, and refuse to this day to recognize it as Karlsplatz, instead referring to it as Stachus (named after a popular pub at the time). The arched gate was actually built 100's of years earlier. It is one of the three remaining gates in Munich’s city walls, which were torn down at the end of the 18th century.The gate was built when the city’s second layer of fortification was erected in the 14th century. At one time, it served as the main thoroughfare for traffic through the city. In 1972 (preliminary to the Olympics), the street was redesignated as a pedestrian-only zone. It serves as the entrance to what is today the heart of Munich's ritzy retail district. Through the gate the pedestrian avenue serves as the way to Marienplatz.

Augustiner Bierhalle - Munich, Germany
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WE MET our guide near the fountain at the Karlsplatz subway stop, just outside the Karlstor. You could immediately see the modern, retain shopping influence on the curved buildings framing the gate. Through that gate, even though it marks the beginning of the main downtown shopping area, it begins relatively sedately, with some very cool old buildings, a tiny, quaint and historical old church, and of course one of Munich's ubiquitous beer halls: The Augustiner (I will describe Munich's "beer culture" in greater detail in an upcoming post about our experience at Octoberfest).

Karlsplatz - Munich, Germany
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AS WE walked further in, after a brief stop in Michael's Kirche, we could see the beginnings of the shopping district. A favorite image I made during the trip is the busker playing her saxaphone outside a high end shoe store. When I made this image, I had in the back of my mind that I would probably play around with it, so I made it pretty wide. And I played. 😀

Karlsplatz - Munich, Germany
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EVENTUALLY, WE came to Frauenkirche, a gothic building with round domes that stands tall in the city. My draw, though, was to some of the landscaping that was built right into the paved area out in front of the church.

Frauenkirche - Karlsplatz - Munich, Germany
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WE MADE our way along Neuhauser Strasse (the wide, pedestrian street) eastward, we came into the Marienplatz area. The central feature here is the famed Glockenspiel which is part of the "New City Hall" in Old Town, and sits dead center in the plaza. As one might expect, the area is crowded most of the time, as it is probably "tourist central" for Munich. Were there for Octoberfest, which means Munich was probably at its most crowded.

Entering Marienplatz from the West (Fraunkirche behind us) - Munich, Germany
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THE GLOCKENSPIEL puts on a mechanical show at 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. each day, and around those times, it is a madhouse; jammed with bodies shoulder-to-shoulder. We wandered around the huge and bustling Marienplatz for a while, planning to be back at the city hall for the 5:00 p.m. "show." I was there again the next day, during a time when it was less crowded. I still had to work a bit to get a shot that wasn't cluttered with people and other distractions in the foreground (there are a couple others, including with people and closer-up shots of the glockenspiel itself on my website). This one required some manipulation of Photoshop's perspective correction tools.

New City Hall and The Glockenspiel - Munich, Germany
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MARIENPLATZ IS quite large and is really the center of the old town. There are numerous churches and plenty of eating establishments around the square. One of the few churches we went in was St. Peter Church. It is a pretty church (as they really all are), but what I took away as unique was the doves suspended from the ceiling inside.

St. Peter Church - Munich, Germany
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NOT TO be outdone by magnificent church architecture, Munich's Old Town Hall stands as a gateway to Marienplatz from the east. I thought it one of the most photogenic buildings in the plaza.

Munich; Old Town Hall
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WE LEFT Marienplatz heading toward the Munich Residenz Palace, where we would eventually finish up our tour. The Residenz was the palace of the last of the Whittelsbach rulers of the Duchy of Bavaria. When their lineage died out, Karl (of Karltor/Karlsplatz fame) from what remained of the adjacent Holy Roman Empire Palentine region took over. The first buildings of the Residenz were built in the 1400s, and were of largely Gothic style. Over a few hundred years, it was added to, and today it is a mix of late Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classicism. There is a large museum inside (unfortunately, it wasn't within our plans, but our guide told us to plan on no less than a half a day, if we purchased tickets). The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany. It is immense, and in addition to its buildings, also encompasses the huge and beautiful HoffGarten garden. We would return to walk the garden the next afternoon, experiencing one of the only sunny periods of our trip.

Odeonsplatz - site of Munich Residenz and Feldherrnhalle
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UNFORTUNATELY, THERE were unsightly barricades around most of the outside of the building; so unsightly in fact, that I didn't even attempt to photograph the building (which would have required my wide angle lens to pull it all in). I did get some nice shots of surrounding area.

The "Golden Line" gold street pavers - Munich, Germany
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THE GOLDEN line, painted on a narrow little street near the Residenz has a fascinating back story which describes its history and purpose much better than I could. Please click the link above and take just a minute or two to read the story. In short, the golden line was put there by the city of Munich, post WWII, to honor the many citizens of Munich who were anti-Nazi and showed their unique way of resistance.

Feldherrnhalle - Munich, Germany
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RIGHT AROUND the corner is the Feldherrnhalle ("Field Marshall's Hall) where Hitler attempted to stage a coup years before his and his Nazi party's rise to power in Berlin as German Chancellor. The coup was defeated in front of the Feldherrnhalle. Tragically, Hitler, who was arrested at that time and spent time in jail thereafter, would rise to fight again creating some of the darkest history of our modern world. The portico where he stood making speeches and demonstrating the Nazi "Jackboots" soldiers was flanked by two lions.

Feldherrnhalle - Munich, Germany
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OUR TOUR ended here. From there we would head back toward Marienplatz, and to a restaurant our guide had recommend as having the best of a popular specialty food in this part of Europe: the Pork Knuckle. Though using the word "knuckle" may make it seem unappetizing, it is really just a large chunk of pork leg, roasted to crispy perfection. The are also usually huge. Two healthy appetites could probably share one. The pork knuckle is a favorite of the German Beer Halls. The four of us all wanted to try it, but we weren't sure we wanted to order two of them. Our really good waiter suggested the specialty of the house, a combo plate that had Pork Knuckle, roasted duck (also a German popular food) and some popular sides. Bruce and I order (the "house" of course) beer, but fortunately that also had a full bar and our wives were able to have wine and a mixed coctail. We were tired and hungry and it hit the spot. The food and company was great (including the couple that was seated next to us). 😄. Though we hadn't realized it when we rode the tram to our meeing point, but we really weren't far from our Opera Hotel; a 15 minute walk of only about 1/2 mile. We hiked on home, ready for some well-earned rest.