It was another slow-rising morning, but soon we make bacon, eggs and blueberry pancakes. With our crew of 4 showered, dressed, fed and the dishwasher loaded and running, we finally leave the apartment into the great outdoors. We are headed to Marianplatz (Mary’s Square) to begin our Rick Steve’s walking tour. The square has been the center of Munich for over 1000 years. Follow the tour with photos below.
The exit from the Metro gets us right into Marianplatz (Mary’s Square).
Lining one entire side of the square is the impressive facade of the New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus). It has a 280-foot spire and was built between 1867-1908. This hall is famous for its glockenspiel. A carillon in the tower chimes a tune while colorful figurines come out on the balcony to spin and dance. We missed the lunchtime action so we must return later to see it. It rings at 11:00, 12:00 and 5:00pm (we saw it at 5:00).
At the very top of the spire is a statue of a child with outstretched arms, dressed in monk’s garb and holding a book in its left hand. This is the Münchner Kindl, the symbol of Munich.
Dave Moynihan (DM) hears some music so he wanders off through an archway which leads to the Rathaus courtyard and in the hallway is a guy playing a section of the four seasons by Vivaldi on his concertina. What a crazy coincidence - this is the song DM has been practicing on his mandolin for an upcoming gig. Go figure.
Back in the square you can see a golden statue at the top of the column in the center of Marienplatz that honors the square’s namesake, the Virgin Mary. It was sculpted in 1590 and has been a rallying point in the religious wars of the Reformation. Back then, Munich was a bastion of southern-German Catholicism and they fought against the heresies of Martin Luther to the north.
At the four corners of the statue are cherubs that fight against the enemies of civilization: the dragon of war (lower left), the lion of hunger (lower right), the rooster-headed monster of plague and disease (upper left), and the serpent that represents heresy—the Protestants (upper right).
To the right of the New Town Hall is the Old Town Hall (Altes Rathaus). It is a gray pointy building with the green spires. It has the city seal on its bell tower. On it there is the Münchner Kindl (symbolizing the first monks), a castle (representing the first fortifications), and a lion (representing the first ruler—Henry the Lion, who built them). What is amazing is the fact that the Allies bombed Marienplatz and much of Munich during World War II. Most of the buildings had to be rebuilt. The Old Town Hall looks newer now because it was completely destroyed by bombs and had to be rebuilt after the war. The New Town Hall survived the bombs, and it served as the US military headquarters after the Americans occupied Munich in 1945.
Next stop is St. Peter’s Church which is the oldest church in town. St. Peter’s stands on the hill where Munich’s original monks probably settled—perhaps as far back as the ninth century. This church was built in 1368 and replaced the original monastery church. “Old Peter” to locals, is part of the soul of the city. On the outside walls of the church are tombstones plastered onto the wall. They are from the 16th- and 17th-centuries and at that time people were buried in the holy ground around the church. In the Napoleonic age, the cemeteries were dug up and relocated outside the city.
Once inside you see the ceiling painting that looks like it opens up to the heavens and Peter is crucified upside down. The nave is lined with large bronze statues of the of the apostles.
On the left side is a naive with a jewel encrusted skeleton in a box. The Latin inscription says, this is St. Munditia. In the fourth century, she was beheaded by the Romans for her Christian faith. Munich has more relics of saints than any city outside Rome. In 1675, St. Munditia’s remains were given to Munich by the Pope as thanks for the city’s devoted service. Not something you see everyday.
Next we stroll through the Viktualienmarkt. Its main landmark is a blue-and-white striped maypole.
Munich has been a market town since its earliest days when it was a stop on the salt-trade crossroads. By the 1400s, the market was busy with activity. Munich is also known for beer, and by the 15th century more than 30 breweries were active. The beer was brewed by monks, who were licensed to sell it - this is all starting to make sense now!
We stop at the beer garden in the shade of the chestnut trees and order a pretzel and a beer. It’s Sunday and the weather is perfect so we take our time. Ein Prosit Tony!
Next on the route is the modern Jewish Synagogue. In the 1930s, about 10,000 Jews lived in Munich. In 1938, Hitler’s regime tore down a synagogue that was close to this location. By the end of World War II, Munich’s Jewish community was gone. Germany then accepted religious refugees from former Soviet states and the Jewish population has now reached its pre-war size. The new synagogue was built in 2006. There’s also a kindergarten and day school, playground, fine kosher restaurant (at #18), and a bookstore.
An amazing stop is Asam Church (Asamkirche). It was built in 1740 by two brothers. It is small—only thirty feet wide—but it is packed with every architectural technique possible. The Asam brothers were two of Bavaria’s top artisans of the time. This place is a Baroque masterpiece without a doubt.
The Asam Church was built right next to their office so they could showcase their work to potential clients. Now it is a public place of worship.
We walk down the Kaufinger Strasse. This pedestrian-only street leads you through a shopping district with cheap department stores, carnivals of street entertainers, and anything else you can think of. As far back as the 12th century, this was the town’s main commercial street.
Traders from Salzburg and Augsburg would enter the town through Sendlinger Tor. The 1972 Olympics transformed this part of Munich—the whole area around Marienplatz was pedestrianized and the transit system expanded. Approximately 9000 people pass through it every hour.
We take pictures of the wild boar and catfish statues in front of the German Hunting and Fishing Museum - hey, it’s Big D!
We go into St. Michael’s Church and the pipe organ is being played which is a delight to the ears. This is one of the first great Renaissance buildings north of the Alps. Its ornate facade and sloping roofline gets its inspiration from the Gesù Church in Rome—home of the Jesuit order. Jesuits saw themselves as the intellectual defenders of Catholicism. St. Michael’s was built in the late 1500s—at the height of the Protestant Reformation—to serve as the northern outpost of the Jesuits.
Appropriately, the facade of St. Michael’s Church features a statue of St. Michael fighting a demon.
We turn left on Augustiner Strasse, which leads to Munich’s towering, twin-domed cathedral called the Frauenkirche’s domes. They are doing renovations so the tower bases are covered. These two domes are the inspiration for the domed church spires that mark villages all over Bavaria.
We make our way to the glockenspiel and catch the 5:00 pm ringing of the bells and the mechanized dancers. It is humorous to see all the cell phones come up to record the event. It looks like a rock concert.
Now we walk over to the Hofbrauhaus for food and a couple of liters of Bavarian gold. The original brewery was built here in 1583. It was the Wittelsbachs’ personal brewery, to make the “court brew” (Hof Brau). In 1880, the brewery moved out and they created a 5,000-seat, food-and-beer palace. After being bombed in World War II, the Hofbräuhaus was one of the first places to be rebuilt. We find a table and have beers in hand. We order Schweinebraten, Spanferkel and Braumeistersteak and eat everything.
After our meal, we wander over to watch the house band play traditional German music and vie for a better table in the front room. There is a group of Italians up there making a lot of noise. We move twice until we are at a table right next to the band.
We start talking to our new table-mates—a group of Germans that just returned from Detroit. As we are chatting, a very, very large German man in full traditional garb steps on Dave D’s (DD) shoe softly as he goes by and gives him a smile. When the German Giant makes his way back, Dave puffs up his chest and pushes into his very large belly. He doesn’t budge at all - it’s like DD is pushing up against a wall. The giant laughs and puts his tree trunk of a leg on our table and proceeds to lay out a mound of snuff. He points to DD and says, “Do it.” DD doesn’t miss a beat and snorts as much as he can in one nostril and then fills the other—and the surrounding group starts to laugh. There is still a lot more left on his leg when one of the “Detroit” Germans gets up and finishes the final snort off this leg. Now the whole area is laughing hard because this shit is funny. Our Giant gives DD a big bear hug and whispers in his ear, “Welcome to Octoberfest, and enjoy your time.” He waves his hand goodbye and disappears into the crowd. A true bridge is built between the Germans and the Americans. We finish our beers and go into the store to buy some swag. We eventually walk out into the street and begin our search for the Metro.
We decide we are not quite ready to end the night so we head over to The Royal Dolores Munich Pub & Bar in the Rathaus and have one last beer for the road. This place is really low-key—which helps us wind down— and now we are ready to go so we get the U3 and head for home. Another fun beer drinking day in Munich.