Back to Heidelberg

Going back to visit Steffen in Heidelberg was well worth it. I really appreciate him taking me in on such short notice, middle of the week, and being so generous. After driving up from Stuttgart, I pulled into Steffen's apartment at around 7:30pm, and he and his girlfriend, Eva, were there waiting for me. Although they were about ready for dinner, we took some time to unwind and catch up for a bit over a tasty German wheat beer. Steffen told me the last time I was there that his favorite type of beer is the wheat beer, so I brought him up a few from the Allgäuer Brauhaus, the local brewery from our region. So he sampled an Allgäuer and I tried one of his local brews, while we discussed our dinner options. They offered two choices: German food or Thai food. Although I do enjoy it, I was welcoming a change from the heavy German food. I told them I could go either way, but the deciding factor ended up being which train came first.

We walked over to the train station (about a 3 minute walk from their apartment), and it turns out that the first train to come was the one that stopped at the Hauptbahnhof, near the Thai restaurant. We only rode the train one stop, and then the restaurant was a close walk from there. This was also very close to Steffen's office, so he knew the restaurant and the area quite well. We had a really nice dinner. Steffen taught me a couple words when I was looking at the menu, so I was able to successfully order my meal in German. The curry I ordered was very good, and it was nice to catch up with them some more. While I knew Steffen in school, we did not hang out together all that often, so this was a nice chance to get to know one another better. Steffen and Eva dated all through college, mostly long-distance with her going to school in Germany and him at the University of Florida. But his last year in Gainesville, the year that I met him in our graduate program, Eva also came over to the US and got a master's degree at UF. I was also impressed with Steffen's knowledge of Gator football. I never knew a German could be so into American college football. Not only do Steffen and Eva watch all the Gator games (mostly online I think), he also follows the recruiting - something I thought only Americans like myself who are crazy about their school's football program could really get into. I told them they need to let me know the next time they want to travel to Gainesville for a football weekend, because they can definitely stay with us.

Even though I was staying with him, Steffen refused to let me pay anything at dinner. It became a little frustrating to me, but afterward I joked that Laura was going to call next week and ask where I am, and I'd respond that, "I'm still in Heidelberg because Steffen just keeps paying for everything." After dinner, we took the train back to their apartment, and they showed me some maps of Heidelberg. I was planning to do a hike in the city the next morning while they were at work, so they gave me some detailed instructions on how to find my way.

In the morning, I got up and had breakfast with Steffen before he headed off to work. I left shortly after him to catch a train into town, except that I ran into a minor issue. This is a small train station, so there was no office to buy tickets from a person. The ticket machine did not take credit cards, and only accepted bills up to €10. The lowest bill I had was €20. While trying to figure out a plan, I missed the first train and had to wait another 10 minutes - guess it could have been worse. Then I did some pathetic sign language and looked stupid in front of the machine to an old German couple, holding out my €20 bill. They finally got what I was doing, and offered change to me. So after the short delay, I got on the next train and took it one stop to the Hauptbahnhof. From there, I transferred to a tram that dropped me off at the Bismarckplatz, a main square in Heidelberg that leads to the pedestrian-only Hauptstraße. This was the area that Steffen and Eva took Laura and I to a couple weeks ago. I walked along the Hauptstraße for about 15 minutes, until I got to the old historic center, near the famous Karl-Theodore/Alte Brücke (the old bridge). From there, I could get an idea of the hike I would go on. It seemed more like a large hill to me, but as I started walking up the steep "hill," it occurred to me that maybe this was more of a small mountain than a large hill.














To get to the trail, I had to cross over the Neckar River on the Alte Brücke and then look for a small alley that led to the Philosophenweg (Philosopher's Path). The trail is named the Philosophenweg because it was the favorite walk of famed thinkers Goethe, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Ernst Jünger. It's a good thing I wrote out detailed instructions the night before, because finding my way around this hike turned out to be quite a challenge. Some of the trails were marked well, but sometimes I would get to an intersection and just have to guess - I'm sure they all led to the same place in the end, but some went by different ruins along the way. After the first steep walkway, I came to a road that ran parallel above the river, offering great views of the city and the Heidelberg Castle on the other side of the river.










From there, I found another path that took me to the first of many lookout towers and old ruins, the Heidelberg Bismarck Tower. I walked up to the top of the tower to get some more great views of the city beyond.












There was next to nobody out on the trails on this morning, which in a way was nice, but also made things a little challenging since I couldn't follow anyone. After passing the Bismarck Tower, I knew I was looking for signs to the top of Heiligenberg, the 440 meter mountain (about 1,450 feet) I was hiking up. Heiligenberg translates to "Holy Mountain." The holy people must have been smarter than me, because I found their signs tricky. Every couple of intersections I would find a marked rock like the one pictured here, but not every one of those had the word "Heiligenberg" on it, which Steffen told me I should follow. As I felt myself getting close to the top of the mountain, I started seeing signs that read "Keltenweg," which led me to some of the old Celtic ruins. I think I must have taken a few wrong turns, because I didn't see all of the Celtic ruins Steffen told me about, but I did see some pretty interesting things along the way. There are a bunch of old Celtic ruins on the mountain that date back to the 4th and 5th century B.C. I don't think I've ever seen buildings from 2,500 years ago, so any bit that I saw was pretty amazing to me.

After I scared a deer while walking up the side of the path, I came across an old Celtic ruin, named the Heide Hole, which is now covered by a protective hut. It is a 55 meter (180 feet) deep hole, but the exact date of origin or function is still unknown. It looked to me like a large well, but who knows.

Next, I came up to the 11th century ruins of the St. Stephen's Monastery, and the Heiligenberg Tower right next to the ruins. The tower, built in the 19th century, was still in great shape. It was a very cool tower, and walking up the spiral steps to the top, there are fantastic views of Heidelberg.

After I walked up the Heiligenberg Tower, I found a sign that showed different walking paths near the top of the mountain, leading to other ruins. Up here, the paths were actually very well-marked, and I followed a loop that would lead me to an amphitheater and some more monastery ruins.

First, I came to the amphitheater, called the Thingstätte. I thought it was a pretty neat amphitheater, and I was amazed at how great of shape it was in until I learned that it was not quite as old as all the other stuff around. It was actually built by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime between 1934 and 1935, to hold SS events. Steffen later told me that, like most Nazi-related sites in Germany, the Germans are embarrassed by it, and therefore it is rarely used. It looks like it would be a great venue for outdoor concerts and other events, and I've read that it is occasionally used, but because of it's relation to the Nazis, Steffen tells me he's never heard of an event taking place there since he's been living in Heidelberg.

Continuing further up the mountain, I came to the highest point of Heiligenberg, where lay the ruins of St. Michael's Monastery, built in 1023. I came across the remains of a huge basilica, and was able to walk around the ruins and up a couple of the towers to get a good look at everything. Although I didn't find all the 2,500 year old Celtic ruins, such as the ring wall that protected Celts, I was able to see some pretty cool stuff that was still nearly 1,000 years old. Steffen told me it would take about 90 minutes to hike to the top of Heiligenberg. It probably took me more like about 60 minutes, since I was by myself and moving pretty quickly, but I was able to kill the extra half hour walking around all the ruins up at the top. I couldn't explore too long, though, because I had to get back to Steffen's apartment so I could get some work done. So after walking around the ruins for a bit, I made the descent back down to Heidelberg.

When I got back down to the city, I took a short walk along the river to get a different look at the bridge (which was still under scaffolding) and the castle. From there, I walked around the old center of Heidelberg for a bit, and peeked into the Church of the Holy Spirit, which actually had a service going on. This is the most famous cathedral in Heidelberg, right in the main square of the old town district. Then I started walking back on the main pedestrian street toward the Bismarckplatz, passing by a couple other impressive cathedrals. Since I was starving, I stopped for some lunch at a pizza place, and then caught the tram/train combo back to Steffen's apartment so I could work for the afternoon.





















Steffen got home from work at around 7:00pm. Excited about the big quarterfinal soccer game between Germany and Portugal that began at 8:45, we had a quick beer and then hit the road so we could catch the train into town and find a place to watch the game. Eva was actually on the same train as us, coming from work in Stuttgart. Once we got downtown, we got a Döner Kebap to go, and walked to the main outdoor public viewing center at the Uniplatz (University Plaza), where we had planned to watch the game. Unfortunately, though, the plaza was already full and blocked off by the time we got there at around 8:00pm. Steffen, who I could tell was getting nervous about the big game and a where we would find a place to watch it, gave us a couple of options: go back to the apartment to watch it; or find a bar. Finding a bar with seats in front of a TV turned out to be a tough task.

Just as we were about to give up and head back to the apartment, we caught some luck and found a bar with a big projection TV, and a table for three sitting in front of it. This is where we watched Germany beat Portugal, 3-2, in what turned out to be dramatic fashion. The Germans were controlling the game and ahead 3-1, but a late goal by Portugal made the last few minutes a bit tense. It was more interesting to watch the game with a local, as Steffen was able to share some info with me about what the commentators were saying. I also wondered about the significance of the three gold stars on the German uniform, and Steffen was able to tell me that they represent the three World Cup championships the Germans have (although, he would like to see three more on the other side for the three European championships they also have.....who knows, it could become four within the next couple weeks!).

The Germans were led by Bastian Schweinsteiger, who scored the first goal and then assisted on the next two. The 23 year old midfielder, who was suspended the previous game because of a red card, was very impressive to watch on this night. The German coach was also suspended for the Portugal game, because of a strange situation that got him kicked out of the previous game against Austria. I was actually amazed at how calm the Germans were while watching the game. If this were the Gators, I would be screaming at the TV and going crazy, with it being such an important game. The celebration afterward was pretty neat to see, although I still think the Germans are more calm than some countries would have been. The celebrations actually did pour into the street, making it a little tough to get through on the tram, but shortly after the game was over we headed back to the apartment, since Steffen and Eva had to work the next day.

After working Friday morning from Steffen's apartment, I took a half day and started the 3.5 hour drive down to Zurich around 1:00pm. It was a very nice visit to Heidelberg with Steffen and Eva. I had a great time there, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to visit with them again.

IBM Germany Headquarters - Stuttgart

Since Laura had to go back to work in New York for a week, I tried to come up with a plan so I wouldn't be stuck in the quiet town of Kempten by myself the whole time. I already knew I was going down to Zurich for the weekend, but on Monday I came up with a new plan: drop Laura off at the Munich airport Wednesday morning, and then head up to visit Steffen again in Heidelberg so I could see some more of the city, and watch the quarterfinal game of the Euro2008 between Germany and Portugal with him. It was a very last-minute plan, but I got ahold of Steffen Tuesday morning, and he was willing to take me in, even on such short notice and in the middle of the work week. I knew I could work from anywhere with an internet connection, so as long as he didn't mind it, I'd work from his apartment on Thursday while he was in the office. Another idea I had was to stop at the IBM Germany headquarters in Stuttgart, to work Wednesday afternoon with a couple of teammates who work in that office, since it was right on the way to Heidelberg. I thought this was a good opportunity to see them and do something work-related that might look good to my boss at home.

So, that's what I did. Wednesday morning, I drove Laura the two hours to the Munich airport for her flight back to New York, and then went directly to Stuttgart, about another 2.5 hours. When I got there at around 2:30pm, I parked and went to the reception desk of building 4 to call Stephanie and Wolfgang so they could meet me. I must say, the IBM facility in Stuttgart does not have the nicest appearance. It is a bit outside the main city area, just off the A8 highway, with little public transportation to reach it. Nearly everybody drives to this office, so there was a large parking garage to leave the car, both rare for Europe. The facility itself consists of 4 buildings, each about 5 floors. They are older buildings that looked in rough shape from the outside. This might be part of the reason that they are building a new IBM facility and plan to move locations to about 30 km away (which I think is pretty far to move that many people, especially if they live close to the current office), within the next year.

After I called up to them, Stephanie and Wolfgang came down to meet me and brought me in. The first stop, as seems customary here, was in the cafeteria to grab a coffee and catch up a bit. Then Stephanie walked me up to show me the work space they had reserved for me, before we found a conference room for a 3:00pm conference call that Stephanie and I both had to attend. It was neat to join the call with all our teammates and my boss in the US, and be able to tell them, "this is Gary and Stephanie from Stuttgart."

After the call, I setup my laptop to check e-mails, etc., but mostly I talked to Stephanie and Wolfgang for awhile, catching up and telling them all about our European adventure thus far. Stephanie has a similar work function to me, except that she works in Germany with European accounts. Wolfgang is also part of the IBM International Sales Organization, but he works on the operations and data side of the team. The only time I had seen either of them in person was at our annual worldwide meeting, outside of Atlanta, each of the last two years, so it was nice to see them again and I actually learned a couple new things about the way they work in Europe, and IBM Germany in general. Stephanie normally works from home, and had just come back from vacation the day before, so it was really nice of her to come in to the office specially for me. I wasn't in the office long, but it was a nice visit. Wolfgang stayed with me until a little after 6:00pm, but that was his limit. So after they gave me some better directions to avoid traffic up to Heidelberg, we said our goodbye's and I was on my way. Heidelberg was only about an hour away, and Steffen said he'd be home from work between 7:00pm and 8:00pm, so it was good timing.

München

Because Munich is so close, and we could take a train there in about an hour and a half, we decided to save the cost of one night's hotel, and just stay in Kempten Friday night, leaving for Munich first thing Saturday morning. We got to spend our first weekend evening in Kempten, but since we were leaving early the next morning, we didn't stay out too late to see what kind of night scene Kempten has to offer. Instead, we met Jules and Eric for dinner at the Spanish Tapas Restaurant in town, El Matador, and then watched the Netherlands vs. France soccer game with them (Netherlands blew them out, 4-1). The tapas place turned out to be one of the better meals we've had here, and I'm sure we'll be back. Jules is the daughter of Ken, Laura's boss in New Jersey, and Eric is her boyfriend. Jules is a student at Barnard, which is the sister school of Colombia, in New York City, but just finished six months studying abroad in Strasbourg, France. She is now in Germany doing a summer internship for her dad's company. Eric is a student at Northeastern, in Boston. He is a photographer, and also spent the past six months travelling and taking pictures in Europe and Southeast Asia. He is here with Jules, and working in the Primavera Life warehouse. It's nice to have some people to hang out with, and they're big soccer fans, so we've been watching a bunch of the Euro2008 games with them. I first met them earlier in the week, when Laura had a work dinner that I was invited to. I also got to meet Ken, and the German owners, Ute and Kurt. A big difference from Laura's last job, these are some very nice people, and make it very much a family atmosphere at the company, even making a toast to welcome me and thank me for coming to Germany with Laura. It's a nice change for Laura to be working with quality people again.

Saturday morning, it was off to München, or Munich. This was our first train ride of this trip in Europe. Because of the time we needed to be to Munich, we weren't able to get a direct train, but it was a pretty simple connection. We left Kempten on an 8:00am train, got off in Buchloe about 50 minutes later, walked across the tracks and got on another train headed to Munich, arriving at 9:35am. It was a nice ride, through the countryside of southern Bavaria, and also relaxing to just kick back and ride, as opposed to the long drives we've been doing nearly every other weekend. Once we got into the main train station in Munich, we started walking toward the TRYP Hotel, which was recommended to us by my parents who stayed there a month earlier. As it turns out, this wasn't the best weekend to be in Munich (depending on what way you look at it). This was 850th anniversary of the city of Munich, Bavaria's capital, and festival's were going on throughout the city. So definitely a very busy weekend with lots going on, but to us that just meant things were extra crowded and hotel rates were higher. However, a couple weeks prior, I was somehow able to talk the hotel into giving me the same reduced rate my parents got a month before, so that's why we made our reservation at the TRYP Hotel. It didn't take long to find the hotel, just about a 10 minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station). Luckily, they had a room ready for us when we checked in at 10:00am, so we were able to throw our stuff in the room and relax for a few minutes before heading out for the adventure.

The plan was to go on Mike's Bike Tour, which meets daily in the main square, the Marienplatz, at 11:30am. A bike tour is definitely the best way to see Munich. The city is quite spread out and has lots of nice parks/gardens to ride through, and I think it's a very good orientation to the city on the first day. You get some great history and can see what you want to go back and spend more time at the next day. Munich has one of the highest number of bike paths per capita of any city in the world. Everyone seems to ride a bike in Munich, regardless of age or gender. I went on Mike's Bike Tour when I was in Munich a few years ago and thought it was fantastic, so even at the steep cost of €24, it was well worth it to go again and have Laura do it.

From the TRYP hotel, we walked the 20 minutes to the Marienplatz. The beginning part of the walk, near the Hauptbahnhof, is not the nicest part of town. Just a lot of hotels, hostels, Doner Kebap shops (really, they're just gyros), and sex shops. But once you reach Karlsplatz, the main street becomes pedestrian-only, and it's a very nice walk past lots of shops, street markets, etc. until you reach the Marienplatz. It's probably more pleasant on a normal weekend, but this weekend it was so crowded. It was just after 11:00am when we reached the Marienplatz, and we knew that one of the main attractions (whether deserved or not) of the Marienplatz is the chimes of the Glockenspiel, which involves a display of a victorious Bavarian jouster. This Glockenspiel showing takes place every day at 11:00am, noon, and 5:00pm in the clock tower of the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall). The Neues Rathaus is Gothic/Medieval style building, which was built in the early 19th century. Not only were there tourists in the Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel, but there were also plenty of locals joining the festivities for Munich's 850th Birthday. Many of them were dressed in the traditional Bavarian attire. I'm still in search of some reasonably priced lederhosen. Then I could fit in if I ever make it back for Oktoberfest, but unfortunately it's quite pricey. After dodging a marching band that was passing through to the main square (there were lots of these bands all weekend), we tried to get over to the tower of the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall), where the bike tour meets. This turned out to be quite a challenge because of the enormous crowd there for the big festival (there was a stage setup, music, etc), so it's a good thing we left early.

When we showed up for Mike's Bike Tour just before 11:30am, we were greeted by a friendly and familiar face. Adam, a very entertaining South African who has been leading these tours in Munich for about 7 years, was our guide. It didn't take me long to figure out that he was the same guide I had a few years back when I did the tour. I knew this was a good thing because he was a good story teller and had such a fun personality. Oddly enough, this would be the last tour he leads through Munich, as he told us he was moving back to South Africa next week. There were actually about 60 people who showed up for the tour, so we had to split up into three groups, but I made sure Laura and I went in Adam's direction.

The tour began with a 15 minute brief overview of the city of Munich, pointing out the sites in and around the Marienplatz. On the tower of the Altes Rathaus, Adam pointed out the coat of arms for the city of Munich through the years. The coat of arms symbolizes Monks, the founders of the city and from which Munich, or München (which means "Monks" in English), gets it's name. Also on the coat of arms is a wall, which represents the wall that used to surround the city. Bavarians associate themselves first with Bavaria, and second with Germany. If given the choice, Adam believes that most people from Munich would prefer it if the wall went back up. Bavaria was actually it's own kingdom until it joined Germany in 1918. Bavaria, and especially Munich, is known for it's one liter beers and the traditional Biergarten's. Interesting to me, when Bavaria agreed to become a part of larger Germany, it insisted that it be allowed to maintain its beer purity laws.

Munich is Germany's third-largest city, with about 1.35 million people, behind only Berlin and Hamburg. It was also heavily damaged during World War II. Nearly all the buildings in the center of town were destroyed, so unlike most cities in Europe, there is not a lot of old architecture in Munich. However, most of the buildings that were re-built after the war were built to resemble what the city looked like before the war. I find this interesting, and if I didn't know any better I probably would have thought many of the buildings were hundreds of years old. After explaining the coat of arms, Adam then pointed out two churches just off the main square. The first one was the Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Ghost), which has apparently been re-built several times throughout the years, mainly due to fires. The next one was the Peterskirche (St Peter's Church), which is Munich's oldest church, from the 12th century. Only parts of the church actually look old though, as it also has gone through re-building, expansion, and renovations of its own throughout the years. Finally, before heading off to pick up our bike's, Adam explained a bit about the Glockenspiel that people gather in the Marienplatz to see three times a day, describing it as the "second most overrated attraction in Europe, second only to the entire country of France."









There was a short walk toward the Mike's Bike Tours office, where we picked out our bikes. These were some sweet city cruisers, the Harley Davidson of bicycles, equipped with a nice bell to get people out of the way, and pedal breaks good for skidding out on the bike paths. Laura seemed satisfied with the first one she picked out, but I thought she'd be unhappy with it. Considering our butt's would be on these bike's for the next 4 hours, Adam told us it was very important to find the right bike and make sure you bond with it. So I found Laura a different one, which she was much happier with. My silver bike was nice, but I must admit, I was a little jealous that she had such a cool one - a brand new teal-colored bike, decorated with Hawaiian flowers.












After a quick bicycle safety and rules of the Munich bike roads demonstration, we were on our way. The first stop was to the famous Hofbräuhaus Beer Hall. This is a stop for most tourists in Munich, and also frequented by the locals, who combined drink between 15,000 to 30,000 liters of beer per day there. It is a typical Bavarian beer hall which serves the famous beer brand, Hofbräu. The word "Hof" in German has to do with the royal family, so for years the Hofbräu beer was only served to royalty. Now it is one of the most popular beer brands in Bavaria, and also exported outside of Germany. The Hofbräuhaus is huge, with three levels, many private rooms, and a big hall upstairs where there is nightly entertainment along with a buffet dinner. Downstairs is just a big open beer hall with Bavarian music being played all day as the locals and tourists guzzle down liters of beer, and the outdoor courtyard in the back of the building is another Biergarten. The tour just took us by the Hofbräuhaus to show us where it is and tell a bit about it, but we would return later to have dinner and take part in the beer drinking festivities. Apparently the Nazi's held political rallies in this building as well, and if you know where to look you can find faint swastika's on the ceiling, although we did not see them.












The next stop was the Max-Joseph-Platz, site of the National Theatre, sitting between the Marienplatz and the Odeonsplatz. It was a bit difficult to ride our bikes to this square, because of the large crowds for the festival. Adam told us this was the busiest he'd seen the city since Oktoberfest, and because of that I wasn't able to photograph some of the buildings - so a few of the pictures here I pulled out from my previous trip to Munich when it was not so busy, the one of this plaza being one of those. Speaking of Oktoberfest, Adam explained a little about the history of the holiday that has now become world-famous. It actually has nothing to do with celebrating the month of October, and most of the two week festival takes place at the end of September, beginning on the second-to-last Saturday of September and ending the first week of October. Oktoberfest began on October 12, 1810, to celebrate the wedding of the future King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Representatives from all over Bavaria met outside the city gates, celebrating with a week of horse racing. The party was apparently so much fun that they've decided to celebrate it every year since. Today, thousands of people gather daily during the festival, consuming millions of liters of beer and thousands of sausages. Most probably have no idea what they are celebrating, and by the end of it are lucky to know their own name. The festivities begin with the "Grand Entry of the Oktoberfest Landlords and Breweries," a parade that ends around noon with the ceremonial drinking of the first keg, as the Lord Mayor of Munich shouts "O'zapft is!" ("it's tapped!").

So, back to the Max-Joseph-Platz. The main attraction to this square is the National Theatre, which is decorated by a gold mosaic on the front. Like all gold figures in this city, it faces west for the sun to reflect on the mosaic as it sets. The plaza is named after King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, the father and predecessor to King Ludwig I. In the center of the square is a statue of Max Joseph, who built the theater so he could bring opera to the people of Munich. Adam tried to convince the group that Max Joseph invented the "high five," because of the way he is holding his right hand up in the statue. On the north side of the square is the Munich Residenz, which Laura and I would visit on Sunday. The outside of this huge palace was covered in scaffolding, and it's tough to get a good picture anyway, but one thing I was impressed with is that they covered the scaffolding with an enormous print of what the building would have actually looked like without the scaffolding. A nice touch.

Next up was the Odeonsplatz. Because of the crowds in this square, which also had a stage and music setup, we had to leave our bikes in the courtyard of the Residenz around the corner and walk over to hear Adam's description of this area. The most prominent structure in the Odeonsplatz is the Felderrnhalle, or Field Marshall's Hall. This Italian-style monument, modeled after Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, was built between 1841 and 1844 by Friedrich von Gärtner, on the request of King Ludwig I. It is a symbol honoring the Bavarian Army. At the entrance are two Bavarian Lions, which are another symbol and protector of the city. Throughout the city are statues and symbols of lions, and in the Odeonsplatz are a couple of other lion statues that the locals touch the foot of for good luck when they walk by. This square is also known for a confrontation between the Bavarian State Police and an illegally organized march of Adolf Hitler followers on November 9, 1923, resulting in 16 marchers shot and killed, and others wounded. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to prison as a result of this, a failed attempt by the Nazis to take over the Bavarian State.












The other dominating building in this square is the Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan (Catholic Theatine Church St. Cajetan), built between 1663 and 1690. Adam told us this was founded by Ferdinand Maria, who was apparently having a tough time producing a son to be his heir. The story says that, after having several daughters, he promised God he would build him a church if he would just help him produce a son. Suddenly, Max Emanuel was born in 1662, and the church was built as a gesture of thanks. This church was designed by Italian architect Agostino Barelli, built in an Italian high-baroque style after the San Andrea del Valle in Rome. His successor, Enrico Zuccalli, added two towers that were not originally planed and then finished with the 225 foot dome in 1690. The inside is decorated with some impressive sculpture on the ceiling. However, like most of the buildings in Munich, this church was destroyed during World War II. While opponents generally tried to avoid destruction of places of worship, the technology was not quite the same back then as it is today. It is believed that only one out of every eight bombs actually hit their intended target. One such miss, grazed the dome of this church, causing the delicate structure of the dome to collapse. Therefore, as impressive as it looks inside, it is not the original sculpture - it's a re-creation constructed with molds.

From the Odeonsplatz, we rode through the Residenz courtyard before arriving at the Staatskanzlei, the Governor's offices and former Bavarian Army Museum. When Staatskanzlei was re-built, it was built with an all-glass exterior, symbolizing the fact that the government no longer has anything to hide from the people of Bavaria. On the columns on the front side of the building, you can still see bullet holes on the columns which were left unpatched as a reminder of what happened here. Across from the Staatskanzlei is the Hofgarten, or the Royal Garden with a temple in the middle. This garden does not allow bicycles, so we had to walk our bikes through here.









From the Hofgarten, Adam led us over toward the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany's second-largest university with 44,000 students, where he told some more interesting stories. Before we got there, though, our tour had a slight delay. A guy on the tour, who was actually the oldest guy in the group among mostly people in their 20's, pulled a rather childish move as he decided to show off his skills of skidding his bicycle. The problem was that he did this right next to two Munich police officers who walking through the park. They weren't too thrilled with it, stopped him, took down his information, etc. until Adam circled back and sorted things out so he could re-join the tour.

We stopped at a memorial to The White Rose, a non-violent resistance group to the Nazis, which consisted of a number of students from the University of Munich and their philosophy professor. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign between June 1942 and February 1943, that called for active opposition to the Nazi regime. During this time, they distributed leaflets throughout Germany with anti-Nazi text. On February 18, 1943, a couple of the core members of The White Rose, Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans, brought a suitcase full of leaflets to the university and quickly dropped stacks of the copies in the empty corridors for students to find when they left lecture rooms. Just before the class break, the Scholl's noticed that some of the copies remained in the suitcase and decided they also needed to be distributed. So they returned to the atrium and climbed the stairs to the top floor, and Sophie flung the last remaining leaflets into the air. This was observed by custodian, John-Jakob Schmid, who called the police. The core members of the group, Sophie and Hans Scholl, along with three other students (including their sister Inge Scholl) and a professor, were convicted and executed by beheading in 1943. These courageous members of The White Rose are honored in Germany as heroes for opposing the Third Reich in the face of deadly danger. Therefore, there is a memorial to them behind the university in the Hofgarten. But the more interesting memorial to me is on the other side of the university, along Ludwigstraße. Built into the cobblestone sidewalk are copies of the leaflets, displayed where they would have landed when Sophie Scholl tossed them out the front of the building. Because we were running behind schedule, Adam did not take us past the leaflet memorial on this tour. However, I remembered where they were from the last time, so I took Laura by to see it the next day.

The university is also right by the Sigestor ("Victory Gate"). The gate was commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, designed by Friedrich von Gärtner and completed in 1852. It lies at the intersection of Leopoldstraße and the Ludwigstraße, dividing the two Munich districts of Maxvorstadt and Schwabing. The gate was originally dedicated to the to the glory of the Bavarian Army, but today is a monument and reminder to peace. Like most structures in the area, this one was heavily damaged during World War II, but has been partially reconstructed and repaired.









The next stop was at another memorial located on the edge of the English Garden, this time transported here from a different city. It was a piece of the Berlin Wall, which Adam said after years of leading this tour, he only recently discovered - so this was not part of the tour the last time. He told us stories about how people would attempt to climb the wall to escape Eastern Europe, and also pointed out the fact that for some reason the grafiti (you can still see the outline of a smiley face) was scrubbed off the wall before being placed there. We didn't spend too much time there, though, because Adam really wanted to get us to the Biergarten to enjoy some of the local specialty.












From the Berlin Wall Memorial, we road through the beautiful Englischer Garten, or "English Garden." This is a beautiful garden and my favorite part of the city. Now that I've done the touristy stuff in Munich, if I ever went back, I think I would want to just sit and enjoy this park (or the many other parks in Munich - there are so many!) for an entire afternoon. Unfortunately, we didn't have that kind of time on this excursion, nor was the weather the best for this type of activity. It had been 80 degrees the week before, but it cooled down to the 60's and cloudy for the weekend, though thankfully the rain held off for us.

The English Garden was founded in 1789 by Benjamin Thompson, and covers an area of 3.7 square kilometers, making it one of the world's largest urban public parks. Once royal hunting grounds, this park is larger than New York's Central Park and London's Hyde Park. The English Garden gets it's name because it was designed in a similar fashion to other parks in England. Meandering throughout the park is the Eisbach ("Ice Brook"), a man-made river that stems from the larger Isar River. There are so many sections of the park, including a nude section, but Adam assured us that it was a "blessing in disguise" that it was too chilly to see that on this day. There are nearly 600 kilometers of walking, biking, and horse paths in the English Garden, and we rode on some of these through parts of the park, before landing at the famous Chinese Tower Biergarten, the "Chinesischer Turm." With 7,000 seats, this is the second-largest beer garden in Munich, centered around a 25 meter high wooden structure in the shape of a Chinese temple. It was built from 1789 to 1790, but in 1944 it burned down from the bombing, and was rebuilt in 1952.

This is a wonderful place to sit and enjoy the local Bavarian music played by a band in the tower, have lunch, and of course guzzle down liters of Hofbräu. All Mike's Bike Tours stop for about 45 minutes at this site, a good time to rest and refuel for the second part of the trip. After locking up our bikes, Adam explained to us the different beers served and the ordering process. The most popular beer to get is the Helles, a pale lager that is generally served in the large liter stein all over Munich. They also serve Dunkeles (a darker beer), Weißbier (wheat beer, which Adam recommends if you enjoy drinking a loaf of bread), and Radler (often referred to in Germany as the "Biker Brew," it is a 50-50 blend of Helles and sparkling lemonade). During special occasions, you can also get a specialty beer in Munich, with about 13% alcohol - seems a bit dangerous to hop on a bike after that! The beer choice was a "no-brainer" for me. I obviously went for the liter of Helles, while Laura apparently prefers to drink a loaf of bread and got a half-liter of Weißbier. The beer was fantastic, and we also snacked on a huge pretzel as we sat and enjoyed the music and conversation with some of the other members of our tour group. The owner of the tour company, Mike, even stopped by to say hi since he was in the park with his family.

Following the pit stop at the Biergarten, Adam warned the men to be careful, since the testosterone levels may be high after a liter of beer, but told the women to feel free to be as crazy as they wanted. Then we rode back through the English Garden to another very interesting site. Just on the edge of the park is a place where people gather daily to surf. Yes, I know this sounds funny considering Munich is nowhere near the ocean, but it's a man-made surf spot right in the heart of Munich, near the source of the ice cold Eisbach River. Before the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the city decided they needed to pump the water through the Eisbach River, to keep the formerly slow-moving river from going stagnant. They thought if they kept the river moving, this would make the city look more beautiful. When this happened, the water created a wave at a bridge near the Haus der Kunst art museum, and a Californian actually figured out a way to force the wave to break even higher and more cleanly, by attaching ropes to the bridge that trail submerged planks, creating two large "U"-shapes. So now exists a standing wave about one meter high, which has turned into a popular surfing spot. The water is cold, so they all wear wet suits, and it is very shallow, so only very experienced surfers go there. Since it is a standing wave, it can be surfed for as long as the surfer can keep their balance. I guess just standing on the board gets boring for an experienced surfer, so these guys showed off some tricks, doing 360-jumps on the waves. This is all done, despite signs clearly saying, "Surfing is Forbidden." Adam actually said he surfs there about 5 times per week, early in the morning. Every day at 7:00am, the police come by, just wave and say hi, and do nothing about it. So really, the sign is just there to keep the city from being held liable. Nonetheless, it's very interesting to watch some talented surfers, in the middle of a major city that is nowhere near the ocean, in Germany.

From there, we rode over to the Friedensengel, the Angel of Peace Monument which commemorates the 25 years of peace that followed the war of 1870-1871. Another gold monument, it faces west to reflect the sunlight at sunset. We then road on a bike path next to the Isar River, where Adam pointed out some popular "beach" destinations on the riverbank and a couple more buildings. He said the nudists like to have BBQ's at this beach, so hopefully the right weaners end up on the grill. He also told us about the Duetsches Museum, which was clin site. This actually sounded like an interesting place to visit if we had time. It is one of the world's most comprehensive science and technology museums, which Adam says is more impressive than the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. Finally, he pointed out the Volksbad, the first public indoor swimming pool of Munich. From there, we headed back toward the center of town to return our bikes, end the tour, and pay. Another fantastic bike tour given by Adam, his last one ever.

After the bike tour was over, we called Michael, an IBM colleague who lives in Munich. He was nearby, so we met him in front of the Hofbräuhaus, an easy landmark, and walked around the city a bit. It was nice to meet with a local who could give us other tips about the city, and he walked us to a less visited area that we never would have otherwise seen. On the way, we passed by the Maximilianeum, the Bavarian Parliament building, which we could only see from a distance during the bike tour. Then we went around a park and into another square where, of course, there was another nice Biergarten that we stopped in to catch up over a beer. Visiting the beer gardens in Munich is just the thing to do, especially on a nice day. We actually got our only rain of the weekend while sitting there, but luckily it didn't last long and we were underneath a tree that blocked us from getting wet.

After a couple hours, Michael had to go meet some other friends, so he walked us back to the Hofbräuhaus, where we decided to stay and hang out. The plan earlier in the day was to go back to the hotel to relax for a bit and shower, but since we were already there we figured we might as well just stay and then go in a bit earlier. We were also starving. It was tough to find a table in the large beer hall on the first floor, so we went to the quieter upstairs balcony to have dinner, before returning to the first floor beer hall. The traditional Bavarian beer halls and gardens have very long tables, so wherever you can find a seat, you go and sit next to strangers. There was a Euro2008 game going on, so the crowd was even larger than normal, to see the game. We found two spots on the end of one table and sat down. The beer hall gets pretty loud with people starting chants or songs together all the time. We didn't understand the people we sat with, but they still welcomed us to cheers with them and clank our beers together about every five minutes. After a little bit, I saw another table open up, so we changed locations. Shortly thereafter, a family from Peru, who was here on business sat down with us. They were very nice people, and we chatted with them for awhile. They were interested to hear how I had spent a couple months in their country, and it gave me the opportunity to speak some Spanish. After a few hours in the Hofbräuhaus, and about one liter more than I probably needed, we headed back to the subway and rode back toward the hotel, calling it a night.









Sunday morning, we weren't in a big rush, so that was a nice change. We took our time to wake up, and went down to the hotel lobby for a big German breakfast that was included in our stay. We also made a couple of sandwiches to go, so we could take them with us for a picnic in the park later on. After breakfast, we checked out, left our bags at the front desk, and headed off for a day of sightseeing. Our first stop was to the Olympiapark, built for the 1972 Summer Olympics that were hosted by Munich, which at the time was in West Germany. This was the second Olympics held in Germany, after the 1936 games in Berlin. Intended to present a new, democratic and optimistic Germany to the world, the official motto of this Olympics was "The Happy Games." However, it is probably best-known today as the Olympics ruined by the killings of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists, in an event known as the "Munich Massacre."

The Olympiapark is quite a bit outside central Munich, so we walked to the Marienplatz and took the subway from there. The Olympic Park far exceeded our expectations. I have visited the sites of the last two Summer Olympics, Sydney and Athens, and both are now ghost towns. We walked all around the area, and I was really impressed at how well kept up the park is, and the fact that it is actually used for something. They may not host a lot of sporting events, but the park was built with a lake in the middle of lots of green space. There are lots of people that go out to enjoy the biking/walking/running trails, the grassy areas to play games and have picnics, etc. The main stadium, Olympiastadion, is actually still frequently used. It hosts the highest number of staged national and international competitions in Germany, was a site for the 2006 World Cup, and hosts many cultural events and concerts today. It was originally constructed to hold 80,000 people, but that number was reduced to just 69,000 in the 1990's due to security concerns (they just don't have huge stadiums in Europe like we have in the US). Until Allianz Arena was opened in Munich in 2005, Olympiastadion was also the home of FC Bayern München, from the German professional soccer league, the Bundesliga. For some reason, this was the only building at the park with an entrance fee. Figuring it was a waste to pay a few euros just to see the inside of an empty stadium, we passed on that. We did see the inside of the Olympia-Schwimmhalle, the swimming and diving stadium, which is now a public swimming pool and had several people using the facility while we were there. The architecture at this Olympic site was very interesting and considered rather bold at the time, with odd tent-like shapes and glass siding and roofs. We walked around the lake to see all the sites and the endless green space surrounding the venues. Also on the other side of the lake was a hill you can hike up to get 360-degree views of the Olympic Village and the city of Munich. Laura was only into going up half way, so I ran up and down the rest to get a couple pictures. From there, I could see inside the Olympiastadion that we missed out on before. After that, we completed the circle around the lake, and exited the park on the other side. Although we never did find where the torch was held, we did find a neat wall that had all the medal winners from each event engraved into it. There was also an aquarium on the site, as well as the Olympiaturm, the Olympic Tower. Standing 290 meters high, this is the tallest building in the city, and one we had seen several times from afar as we drove through Munich.

From the Olympiapark, we walked over to the BMW Museum that is next to the park. The museum, which is free to walk through, is also right next to the BMW Headquarters and 3-series manufacturing plant. We wandered through for a few minutes, but what I really would have liked to have done is go on the plant tour. I actually went on the 6 and 7-series tour in Dingolfing a few years ago and was very impressed by it, so I would like for Laura to see the plant as well. Unfortunately, though, you can only take the tour during production hours during the week, which will be tough for us to make it to. After cooling off in the nice air conditioned BMW museum for a few minutes, we headed back to the subway and took it to the university so I could show Laura the White Rose leaflets, before walking to the Munich Residenz.

The Munich Residenz is part of our yearly pass for entrance into most castles and palaces in Bavaria, and we heard it was great, so we figured this would be the one museum activity we'd do in Munich. As is similar with the other Residenz buildings we've seen in other cities, the outside of the building is not all that impressive - just a huge rectangular building, with a courtyard inside - but the treasures on the inside are what people visit for. It is the former royal residence of the Bavarian Dukes, Electors, and Kings, and the largest downtown palace in Germany. The Residenz originated as a small moated castle built in 1385. It was gradually expanded by the Wittelsbach rulers, who used it as their residence and seat of government until 1918. In 1920, the Residenz was opened to the public as a museum. The complex contains 10 courtyards and the museum displays 130 rooms. In 1944, the Residenz was bombed during the war, reducing 23,000 square meters of roofing to just 50. Works of art were removed to safety, and they say most of it survived the bombing - but I'm not sure I believe that - and in 1945 they began reconstruction. Although impressive, Laura and I just weren't all that into it. I think it was because of a combination of the following: we know it was destroyed and aren't sure how much of it was really original; we've been to so many castles and palaces lately, they're all starting to blend in - I actually thought, from what we saw, the rooms in the Kempten Residenz were every bit as impressive; we were tired, hungry, and grumpy; and finally, we somehow managed to get lost right from the beginning, going through the palace the wrong direction. At one point, a security guard stopped us and told us we couldn't go the wrong way, so we just walked back through the way we came and decided we had enough. I don't think we missed that many rooms since we had already walked around for over an hour, but it's possible that we missed the most elaborate rooms. Oh well, by then we were really over it. The tour was a self-guided tour with an audio guide, so you could go at your own pace and skip over things without any problem. Our pass included the Treasury, also part of the Residenz building, with a collection of jewels, crowns, swords, and other treasures dating back to the 14th century. We took a quick walk through there, but didn't look too in-depth at anything.










After the Residenz, we were at a bit of a cross-road. It was about 3:00pm, and our train didn't leave the main station until 5:30pm. So we had too much time to just sit and do nothing, but if we were going to do anything else we'd have to rush. We still hadn't eaten our sandwiches that we made earlier in the day, so my vote was to hop on the subway toward the English Garden, and enjoy a picnic over there. It took some talking into, but Laura finally agreed. It turned out to be an hour and a half well spent, and I got to visit my favorite spot in Munich again. We found the Chinese Tower and ate our lunch there. A big batch of french fries to go along with our sandwiches put a smile on Laura's face, and of course we had to at least get one beer while at the Biergarten, so we split one.










After a short visit to the English Garden, we took the subway back to the main station. I left Laura there to sit on a bench and relax, while I ran back to the nearby hotel and picked up our bags. Then we walked over to the platform and boarded our train, this time direct back to Kempten. It was another very nice, but exhausting weekend.


Next Up: Laura goes back to New York for 8 days for work. I will be touring a few places and visiting some friends on my own to pass the time until she gets back.