I went downstairs for a cigarette. The restaurant at the hostel opens at 6:30 AM. After the cigarette, I went in and had breakfast, then went upstairs and checked my emails and tried to update my phone. At about 8:00 AM, I decided to get ready for the free walking tour. It started at 10:45 AM at the Marienplatz which is a square in the centre of Munich.
I left the Hostel at about 10:00 AM and got a taxi. It was a woman driving this time and she didn't speak much English, but she understood where I wanted to go. The fare to Marienplatz was about 9 Euro, so it was the same as to Hauptbahnhof (Central Station). The meeting point was Mary's Column a monument in the Marienplatz and in front of the Glockenspiel.
I had to wait about 20 minutes, so I took some photos and smoked a cigarette. The sun was finally out. I had not seen the sun in awhile. It was still freezing cold in the shade but in the sun it was not too bad.
The tour guides arrived a few minutes early, followed by a large group of people that they had met at the train station. there was another meeting point at the station but I thought, "Why walk from the station to the start point". I was hoping they were not all for my tour. As it turns out this was the starting point for 4 different tours and the group all broke off into different groups with different guides.
After I got my ticket, 2 women in my group started talking to me. They were Australians too. Originally from Perth, but had been living in London for a number of years. They were friends that went to University together. We just made some general small talk about Australia and travelling. After a few minutes, our guide, Adam, also an Australian from Perth introduced himself and the tour commenced.
At 11:00 AM some bells on the church next to the Glockenspiel began to ring, then the bells on the glockenspiel itself started to play a tune. While the bells rang, Adam explained the history of the glockenspiel and the bell ceremony. After a few minutes of the bells, the figures on the Glockenspiel began to move. They portrayed 2 moments from Munich's history. The whole routine takes about 10 minutes from start to finish. It was a little overrated but I guess, it's one of those things, that you can only see in Munich.
After the Glockenspiel ceremony we headed off to we headed around the corner to a church. The church had been destroyed in World War 2 bombing raids. Only the 2 towers at one end of the church remained standing and these were used by allied bombers as a reference point for further strikes.
Adam explained that 80% of Munich was destroyed by Allied bombing raids in World War 2. Mostly due to the fact that this is where Hitler was born, the Nazi party was founded and where it's headquarters was before power of Germany was completely seized.
Adam later on told us that the Nazi's loved Munich so much that in 1933, very early on, Hitler knew Munich would be a target and ordered for photographs to be taken of all the buildings in Munich, so that after they were destroyed they could be rebuilt, as they were, in order to retain the atmosphere of the city.
The church had originally been built in 20 years which was very quick for the century it was built in. Inside the church, there is a plaque that tells the story of how the devil had demons come from hell to enable it to be built so quickly. Obviously, it's not true and those crazy Catholics would believe anything.
We walked around Munich for 3 hours and learnt a lot about Munich's fascinating history. We saw another square where Hitlers failed uprising happened, however would provide the platform for him to be be heard all over Germany and eventually seize control of Germany. There is also a road half paved as a memorial to the German dissidents, to the Fascist government, that were arrested and sent to a nearby concentration camp for re-education.
We made another stop at the Hofbrauhaus and I learned some further things from Adam about it's history. During a 10 minute interlude, I took an opportunity to visit the souveneir shop in the beer hall and bought myself a hoodie. It was 45 Euro, but I thought it is a good reminder of my visit to the most famous beer hall of them all.
After the Hofbrauhaus we saw some more of the historic sites in Munich, each with it's own part to play in the history of this really great city.
I can't think of any other place on earth, except maybe Ireland, where the entire culture and history is built around beer. If you love beer then Munich is a city you definitely need to visit. Adam was telling us stories about how during Oktoberfest, if people know you are Australian, they will not let you sit at their table because of how disgracefully drunk we get. Funny stuff. It was a good tour and Adam, provided plenty of humorous stories combined with fact.
I leave for Berlin on the train tomorrow. Another 5 and a half hour journey, but I can't wait to get there. Berlin has so much history from Fascism to Communism and now somewhere in the middle. I just hope that I have enough time to see it all.
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