Two weeks before Malu departed to mobilize for his deployment, I took some much needed leave time from work so that we could spend some quality time together. I always return from leave saying that I need "leave from my leave," because it was just downright exhausting. It was tons of fun though.
The first couple days of leave, we drove to Bavaria to visit our friends, the beloved Finch Family, who make several appearances throughout this blog. This family is near and dear to our hearts and they just wanted to see Malu for the last time before he deploys. We ended up going to Munich!
I'd been to Munich several years ago, but merely passed through in-transit to Garmisch. What a great city! We didn't see even a quarter of the city because we were only there for the day. We hopped on one of those free walking tours and left when the kids got antsy (or maybe when we adults were just plain tired lugging those antsy kids around). A lot of people freak out in big cities or big crowds. I love it. There's always tons to see.
Munich is the capital of Bavaria and is the third largest German city behind Berlin and Hamberg. It is home to the largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world at which the Hofbrauhaus holds the second largest beer tent. The Hofbrauhaus am Platzl, located in the city center, is the most famous beer hall worldwide. Apparently, in 1920, Hitler organized one of his first propaganda events at the Hofbrauhaus. The place really does serve up some good food, in addition to their beers. We know because we stopped by there!
I honestly don't like beer. These are Radlers. It's basically beer with sprite or lemonade mixed in. I can [somewhat] handle the taste.
Like every other German town or city, Munich has a Rathaus, or town/city hall. The one we saw is supposedly the new Rathaus, although I'd hardly call it new. It was built between 1867 and 1908. I don't even recall seeing the old Rathaus. The building was beautiful. It has a glockenspiel that tells two 16th century stories.
The Munich Frauenkirche, or Cathedral of Our Dear Lady, is a symbol of the Bavarian capital and one of the most famous landmarks in Munich. The interior of the church highlights a "no-window" effect that is connected to the legend of the Teufelstritt, or Devil's Footstep. At the nave of the church, lies a footprint on a square tile. One version of the legend says that the devil made a deal with the builder to finance construction on the church on the condition that it contain no windows. However, the builder tricked the devil by positioning the columns so that the devil could not see them from where he stood in the nave. Upon discovering he had been tricked, the devil could not enter the already-consecrated church and was relegated to stomping furiously, leaving the dark footprint that remains today. Pretty cool, huh? The first picture below was taken outside the church. The last picture is of the church standing on the Devil's Footstep.
I think we hit up a palace before we decided to be done with the tour. I don't have any pictures of the palace though. No biggie. But you guys get the gist.
Munich = Pretty Cool City
Whoa! It's way past my bedtime!
Tomorrow's Friday! Looking forward to the weekend. The Finch Family (less Daddy Finch) will be visiting us here in Stuttgart for the Pumpkin Festival! Yay!
