The train from Munich down to Venice is an absolute blast. There are about 24 cars on the train, and throughout the journey we’ll be dropping off cars here and there, some at cities, some at junctions to head another way.
I just took a walk from one end of the train to another and it took about 45 minutes, mainly because I stopped off at two mini parties to meet a group of Aussies and a group of Germans starting their holiday. While I probably should’ve gone to bed at a reasonable hour to be refreshed for Venice, the atmosphere here is too much fun to just lock myself in my cabin.
To back track a little bit, the trains in Germany were unique and cool. The 4 hour journey from Dresden to Nuremburg was really cool because you can actually sit in the front car and watch the journey from over the shoulder of the conductor. It was a cool vantage point that made the journey extra cool. The train from Nuremberg to Munich is an absolute bullet, reaching 300 km per hour/186 mph. The Eurostar and TGV Elyria got near those speeds but were not as smooth as the ICE German train. The weis bier I picked up from the cafe car could sit on my table and you’d barely see a ripple in the water. I’d always heard a bit about the high quality of German engineering and this was a great way to experience it.
Munich far exceeded my expectations. I had heard some mixed reviews on the city, so I was lukewarm on what to expect. The perpetual rain that accompanied me throughout the 8 hours of train rides through Germany had me less than optimistic about the experience. I arrived in the evening and grabbed dinner with a friend. We went to one of the most traditional restaurants in the city and I enjoyed some delicious weinerschnitzel. The combination of the early wake up call in Prague, the long day of travelling, and the beginning of an evening of showers, had me a bit worn out when nightfall hit.
Unfortunately the next morning was a reflection of the weather from the night before, so I was worried Munich wouldn’t even get a fair chance. I tried to ignore the light showers and start seeing the sights. At 11:15, it came time to make a decision, whether to go on a bike tour or not. Mike’s Bike Tour is actually pretty popular in both Munich and Amsterdam. Many of my friends who have experienced it were big fans. So despite the gloomy skies, I decided to set off and hope it was worth the 24 euro pricetag. In most cities, I’ve tried to avoid the offers that feel like a tourist trap. Every city has their double decker tour buses with a guy with a megaphone talking about the city. However, most cities also have unique experiences, you just have to find them.
The bike tour was to be a 4 hour journey. Dave, our tour leader had just moved to Munich from the States after one of his college teammates talked him into testing the German baseball leagues. Dave had a strong passion for the city and the opportunity he had to play ball and lead bike tours and make a living out of it. His excitement over showing off the city really made the tour. We had a group of about 15, mostly Americans and Canadiens and all of them were great to meet and get to know throughout the tour. We made our way through the historical sights, usually biking for 10 minutes, then stopping for 15 to be told about the significance of the monuments and buildings we were seeing.
The highlight was a simple monument, in tribute to a small group of students and a professor that started an informational campaign to expose the Nazis. Some of you may know this story already, but I’ll go through it anyways. They would secretly distribute leaflets throughout campus, which was reminiscent of what I read in Freakonomics about how anti-KKK people would use the most powerful weapon against the group, information. This had the Nazis infuriated as the public was starting to learn how evil they were. One day, though, the group made a fatal mistake. They decided to put leaflets outside of every dorm room so students would wake up and learn more about the Nazis. The problem was that a janitor spotted them, and realizing that they appeared after the dorm was locked down, that the people distributing them must’ve been in the building.
The dorm was locked down and the gestapo showed up to go room to room and find out who was doing this. The pack of about 5 students and the professor all huddled in a room to talk about what to do. The professor told the students he’d take all the blame, since the students were young and had their lives ahead of them. The students refused though. As the students were led out, the professor went to a balcony with a stack of pamphlets and in dramatic fashion flung them over the hundreds of students who were watching the seige. After 4 days of intense interrogation and torture, the students and professor were killed by public beheading.
The city of Munich is full of tributes to the brave souls. Streets and parks are named after each individual. The central monument is simple but effective, it’s a 4 foot high black cube with the inscription of one of the letters they passed around. In tribute, people walk by the cube and place a stone on top. Every two weeks, the stones are removed and the stack is started all over again. It was a really fascinating story to hear told. There’s a movie about it that I plan to watch. I don’t know the name off hand.
It is very interesting to see how much Munich, the place where Hitler started his path to power, is ashamed of their path and has done and said many things to show that they’ll never let it happen again. The Parliament which was leveled during the war, except for the middle section, was rebuilt in all glass to signify a transparent government with no secrets, a novel concept. The German government often ranks very highly in the independent studies on transparency in government.
The tour gave a nice framework for afternoon hiking. The Bavarian lifestyle is quite fun to learn about. The city is full of beer gardens and other outdoor sitting. The second biggest beer garden in the world is where I spent part of my afternoon. A mere 8,000 person capacity with many long picnic tables makes for an outstanding atmosphere. The biggest beer garden in the world is a couple of kilometers away, but a bit out of the way. It fits 15,000 people. Eventually I wandered my way to the train station to take the overnight to Venice.
Phil
