Rachel: The next morning we woke up to pretty miserables conditions in Munich. Thick cloud had descended on the city and it didn't get above 3 degrees all day. Nevertheless, we rugged up and trudged across the deserted stadium grounds to the train station and headed into the city.
We emerged at Marianplatz in the centre of the city. It is well known for its striking (meaning ugly) gothic style town hall with it's big clock and glockenspiel which plays 3 times a day. We walked the length of the very long mall, picking Matt up a much needed scarf along the way.
By this time we had had enough of the cold so we headed to the Hofbräuhaus, the famous beer hall in Munich. While celebrated as a famous place for Bavarians to gather, enjoy the Oompa bands, drink Hofbräu beer and eat scrumptious food, it also has a dark past of housing many meetings lead by Hitler while the NSDAP (Nazi Party) was still in its infancy.
It didn't take long for these thoughts to disappear as we finally secured a free table (the place was packed when we arrived), bounced away to the traditional Bavarian band and soaked in the jovial atmosphere. We ordered schnitzel, wurst and sauerkraut and washed it down with the establishment's most well known drink - the Hofbräu Original - that comes in a 1L stein. It's not for the faint hearted.
When we finally plucked up the courage to leave the warm and inviting hall we were met with worsening weather conditions outside. We made the decision to call it a day. It was a wise one as it started raining on our walk back from the train station to the car. That, and it was -3 degrees. Not the best sightseeing conditions.
The next day, although feeling a little guilty that we hadn't done Munich justice, we jumped on the autobahn and headed to Nürnberg, known to us as Nuremberg.
Matt: The reason we headed to Nurnberg is that it’s well known for a number of things that happened there between 1933 and 1946. Firstly, and most obviously if you look at a map of Nurnberg, was that it was chosen by Adolf Hitler as the site of the Nazi Party Rally Grounds, or Reichsparteitagsgelände in German. Most footage you’ve ever seen of massive Nazi rallies, with Hitler speaking to seemingly millions of people, or thousands of people in uniform goose-stepping past Hitler was filmed in Nurnberg on the massive 11 square kilometre complex in the South-East of the city. It was here that we headed when we arrived in Nurnberg, to the “Documentation Zentrum” (museum) inside the largest of the buildings built on the site, the Kongresshalle. Modelled after the Colosseum in Rome it was never finished, but is still an imposing structure.
The Documentation centre was an outstanding museum, telling the story of the Nazi’s rise to power out of Bavaria, of the rallies held on the site, of the “Nurnberg laws” which was really the beginning of governmental anti-semitism in Germany, and of the Nurnberg trials held after the war by the allies in which twelve Nazi party leaders were sentenced to death for war crimes and crimes against humanity - the first time that such a trial has taken place.
We moved from room to room, reading the exhibits, looking at artefacts and original documents, and watched sections of filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will”, from which most of the best-known footage of the Nazi Party rallies comes. As a side-note, Leni Riefenstahl is a very interesting person well worth reading more about - in her propaganda films she invented new techniques in filming that have been used in many, many internationally known films and sporting broadcasts ever since, and yet her involvement in the Nazi Party virtually stopped her from working ever again from the end of the war until her death in 2006. The English magazine The Economist wrote that Triumph of the Will "sealed her reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century". All told, we spent over three hours in the museum. It was fascinating, and not just for me….
Rachel: I had a very interesting reaction to the museum, which dramatically changed as we went from room to room following the course of history. Naturally I already knew a fair bit about the war but I always find hearing and reading about it so confronting. I never fail to be shocked by the atrocities that happened. This time however, as we learnt about the rise of the Nazi Party, the increase in Hitler’s popularity, his appointment as Chancellor and his claim as Furher in the first few rooms, I felt anger. Anger like I had never experienced.
In a huff I planted myself on a chair in one of the rooms surrounded by photos and videos of Hitler’s chanting supporters and fumed. I kept asking myself over and over again how all of this was allowed to happen. Why did no one stop it in those early days? Why did these people line the streets, screaming his name? Why could no one foresee what unlimited power could do to a man? Why was there no one to say no, to keep a check on what was happening? Watching and hearing about how people rallied behind their new leader, heralding him as ‘the chosen one’ and the one who would save Germany, made me sick to the stomach.
As we were only in room number 3 of 19 I knew we were in for a long and emotional journey. It was then that Matt sat down beside me and explained how helpless the German people had felt. They had been left damaged and bankrupt from WWI and were hungry for leadership. Hungry for some direction and eager to follow anyone who promised a brighter future. There were no signs of what horrible events were to unfold. Hitler had offered them hope. I can understand how important that is. My anger slowly began to subside and I prepared myself for the rest of our visit.
The next rooms concentrated on the Nurnberg Rallies and the successful propaganda campaigns. Here I felt awe - Hitler and his team would have thrived in the showbiz industry. Following this were the concentration camps and Holocaust. Tears flowed as I read, not for the first time, just how many lives were lost and effected. The visit ended with the Nurnberg trials where we could actually watch the footage of the trials. Here I felt that justice had, in some small way, been done and a relief that people were finally being held accountable for the role they played. Talk about an emotional day!
Matt: After the documentation centre, we took a bike ride around the rally grounds. Most of the infrastructure that was built during the 1930’s was destroyed during the war, blown up by the Allies afterwards or demolished in the years since, but the area most in-tact (after the Kongresshalle) is the Zeppelin Field, where many of the rallies took place. It’s most famous for being the site of Nazi architect Albert Speer’s “Cathedral of Light” - a lighting design technique where hundreds of spotlights are placed around a field and pointed directly upwards to simulate walls of light, creating a massive, imaginary building. If you ever watch Triumph of the Will, you’ll see that the effect is very, very intimidating. Those Nazis sure did know how to make scary happen. The Zeppelin Field is also famous in historical documentaries for footage taken by American troops of them blowing up the massive Swastika built on the roof.
When we arrived at the Zeppelin Field we discovered it looks a lot different to the way it did in the 1930’s. The field itself has been converted into several football pitches (it’s very big) and the road across the front has been converted into the starting line for the annual Norisring motorsport race. People now sit and watch the race on the stands that Hitler and other Nazi officials used to make speeches to the tens of thousands of people who attended the rallies. It’s come a long way since “The Cathedral of Light”.
It was getting dark by the time we left the Zeppelin Field, so we rode back to our car and drove to a campsite at an indoor tennis hall a few kilometres down the road. It was a cold night, but we kept the heater on, and woke up perky and ready to head to Regensberg.
Rachel: A short autobahn trip later and we were pulling into a camping park right on the river in Regensberg. It was Friday morning and we were staying for the weekend to visit Mirja, my friend Marni's host sister in Dachau when my German class went on exchange in 2004. Mirja was also Veri's best friend so I spent a lot of time with her while I was in Germany. Mirja now lives in Regensberg while she is studying medicine.
Matt and I unloaded the bikes and rode for 10 minutes along the Danube river to Mirja's apartment. Mirja then took us on a walking tour of the old city, the majority of which is pedestrian only. It is a beautiful place and the streets were surprisingly busy with many people out and about.
That night we enjoyed a meal in at Mirja's and wonderful conversation. It was so great to catch up and just chat. At around 10:30 we went to ride home and discovered that somebody had stolen the lights on our bikes. We dismissed the idea of taking the dark river route and stuck to the footpaths along well lit streets. Luckily we had brought our rain jackets which block the wind as it was 0 degrees out. I couldn't feel my fingers by the time we got back despite them being protected by my Florentine gloves (which have had quite the workout so far!).
We spent a quiet Saturday morning at the campsite and were visited by Mirja after she finished work at 2. We unhooked the van and drove to Walhalla, a giant Partheon like looking building built by King Ludwig I high on a hill in the middle of nowhere overlooking the Danube. It was such a strange sight and seemed so out of place. We took the opportunity to soak up the sun and sat on the giant steps and chatted for ages.
After munching down another delish home cooked meal at Mirja’s, we headed out for a night on the town in Regensberg. We settled into a cosy table at a bar and chatted with Mirja, one of her housemates and two of her friends. It was pretty much the same as back home, including Jet and many recognisable others blasting through the speakers, except for the growing pile of coats on the coat rack and the sever lack of ‘classy’ girls dressed up in the tiniest dresses they can find. We caught the last bus back to the campsite and, thanks to the cheap cocktails, had a wonderfully deep sleep.
The next day Mirja popped by the campsite again and we drove the van out to Kelheim. There we met up with her boyfriend Matthias (who lives in Kelheim) and we set off on a picturesque 5km walk. Our first stint was an uphill climb to the Befreiungshalle, another colossal monument built by King Ludwig I in the middle of nowhere. From there we hiked through the woods and emerged on the northern side of the Danube. A short boat crossing later for a meagre 1 euro each saw us on the other side at Kloster Weltenberg, Bavaria’s oldest monastery (620AD) and the oldest monastery brewery in the world, operating since 1050. We settled ourselves into a table in the beer garden and had a wonderful lunch. I had roast pork (with crackling!) for the first time in three months and almost died!
Feeling a tad sleepy from the walk, a full tummy and sitting in the warm sun we caught a boat back along the Danube, through a beautiful gorge, and arrived back at Kelheim. There we said goodbye to Mirja and Matthias, and hit the road. We made it to the lakeside town of Prien am Chiemsee and settled down in a free Stellplatz at the local boat club.
And that’s it for our epic post on our time in Bavarian cities.
