Munich City Tour
Day 2
Conan O'Brien: Do you ever get insulted that Germans are always the bad guys in movies?
Flula Borg: No. You want to know why? Have you Wikipediaed German history? We’re not Finland, ya know.
The first full day of the tour kicked off with an endlessly fascinating and riotously funny walking tour of Munich, led by local guide Patrick Charell. He seemed to have a tidbit of trivia for every corner. He clearly loves his city, and spending a morning with him made it impossible not to fall a little bit in love with it myself.
Karlstor serves as the unofficial gateway between new Munich and the old town.
The Frauenkirche (Lady's Church) is the central landmark of the city. As long as you can see her spires, you can find your way - and you can see her spires from pretty much anywhere.
(This is just a department store. I'm sure it used to be something, but either we weren't told or I forgot. But I just thought it was pretty.)
On to Marienplatz, the main square and arguably the heart of the city. It is dominated by the Neues Rathaus, or New Town Hall. (My town's hall does NOT look like that.)
These doors are still the "employee's entrance" to the Rathaus, where city employees clock in and out every day. (That's not just something they tell tourists. I literally spotted a time clock.) The gargoyles surrounding the entranceways are kind of hilariously vulgar if you look close, and of course Patrick gleefully pointed them all out.
This staircase, in the courtyard of the Rathaus, was modeled after the one designed by Leonardo da Vinci for the Chateau de Chambord in France.
This lion, one of a pair positioned outside the Munich Residenz, is a symbol of good luck. If you rub the lion muzzle below the shield with your left hand (Patrick was very specific about that) you will have a wish come true. You can see where all the patina has been worn away.
In a bit of German whimsy (who knew there was such a thing?) Patrick showed us this statue. It is across the street from the premier hotel in Munich, the one where everyone who's anyone stays. Michael Jackson stayed here several times, we were told, and after his death, the locals began to turn this statue into a Michael Jackson memorial tribute. Not sure why they chose this particular statue, as there were several others to choose from, but I couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Orlando di Lasso.
According to Patrick, Hitler would not only give speeches from this balcony, but he would also use the adjoining rooms to practice his lessons in etiquette and upper class behavior, so as to impress and earn the loyalty of the aristocracy. He wasn't born into that world, so he had to learn it, and here is where he did that.
Of course, you can't tour Munich without walking in the footsteps of Germany's most famous and most shameful historical figure.
After that, we needed a palate cleanser, so we stopped by the Viktualienmarkt, a farmer's market on steroids, and an utterly fascinating place to wander. In the 1800s they would use this maypole to advertise the goods on sale that day. Nowadays they have everything from produce to meat to flowers to wine to tchotchkes.
The arched window on the third floor (second floor if you're a European) is the room where the Powers That Be formalized the change from the National Socialist German Worker's Party to the Nazi Party, and changed the leadership from a group to a single man. "This is the birthplace of evil," Patrick told us. "But today you can still get a beer."
And I got a pretzel! Clearly the highlight of the whole day.