Today we went on a walking tour of Munich, we started in Marienplatz in front of Maries Column, we watched the Glockenspiel Clock chime, it goes forever and chimes a few different songs, that you can’t understand as it’s sounds so out of tune and it has little figurines that dance around, the tour guide dubbed it the 2nd most over rated tourist attraction in Europe (you can watch it on utube, just type in Glockenspiel clock Munich).
We then went to Frauenkirche Church, it took 20 years to build it, the church came up with a story that it was built by Satan, because back in those days, it would take a few hundred years to build a church, it’s a ridiculous story concocted by the church to get people to come in and see it and then give donations to it. There is even a footprint in the church they say is from the devil stomping his foot when he realized he’d been tricked by the builder (the footprint is actually of the guy who designed the church, but that wouldn’t draw people in!) Also the front part of the church was one of the only bits of Munich that survived WWII bombings, a bomb did hit the side of it, but bounced off, so they put a gold brick in as a monument of it surviving.
We then went to the new town hall and then to the old town hall, this is where the Kristallnacht began as Hitler gave first orders for the persecution of the Jewish community in Munich.
From there, we went to the new Jewish Synagogue and Jewish Quarters of Munch, they have heavy security there 24/7 and only allow people of the Jewish community into most of the buildings (due to constant high security risks).
Then we saw a maypole in the markets ground, that is what you tie ribbons to and dance around, and if a male wants to marry a Bavarian woman, he must build her one and put it in her back yard, if she accepts the proposal, she will dance around it, if she declines she will put a case of beer under it (pretty sweet compensation!).
We then went to Hofbrauhaus, which is Munich’s oldest and most famous beer hall.
After that we went to Maxjosephplatz, this is where the royal opera house is, the royal residence and a statue of King Maximillian the 1st is, his dying wish to his son was that the statue not be put up, but 10 days after his death, his son had the statue erected, his son said he’s not here anymore, he’ll never know.
We then went to an ally nicknamed dodgers ally, when Hitler got into power, he would make people solute a monument to his first campaign in Munich as they walked down the main street, so some people’s silent form of protest was to walk down a different street where they didn’t have to solute, then run across this ally back onto the main street so it looked like they had saluted. Unfortunately, they caught onto this and started putting them into camps for “re-education”.
Close by there, on residencestratz, is the street where the Nazis’ failed to rob the armory and take over Munich (10 years before Hitler got into power). He was shot at by all police and guards’, but his body guard jumped in front of him and saved his life, the guy took 11 bullets to the back and still survived.