I think we did everything that Salzburg had to offer, so we were up early and on the road by 7:30am. It was only a little over an hour to Munich and luckily we were able to check in early. The weekend we were there, Munich celebrated its 850 year anniversary, so it was over-run by people and the roads were closed to our hotel. We were able to pass through 3 checkpoints and get to our hotel.
We joined the ‘free tour’ which is quite common in larger European cities. College students run tours on a tips only basis. There’s no need to sign up in advance and you can pay as much or as little as you want for the ‘free tour.’ The only downfall of the ‘free tour’ is a few shameless plugs for paying tours and a restaurant here and there. Our tour guide, Patrick, did a great job, was quite the ham, and got a generous 'tip'.
Highlights:
- We saw the current Pope's original Church. The Bavarians are quite proud that the Pope hails from Munich!
- The new Jewish synagoge, which started its construction on November 9, 2003 and completed construction on November 9, 2006. Unfortunately, the monument to the 4,000 Munich Jews that lost their lives is below ground. There's a hallway between the Jewish community center and the synagogue. Originally the plans were to have it above ground, but still today there are threats and armed guards are necessary.
- The tower where Hitler 'hatched' his plan for the Night of Broken Glass, which was the first organized SS effort in plain clothes to persecute the Jews.
- Marianplatz with the huge 'New town hall', which looks more like a big gothic church and tons of beautiful flowers and a show in the clocktower at 11am and 5pm. It's quite the crowd pleaser!
Pictures to follow. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment