munich: the beginning

i am actually enjoying the snow...yikes!




i have to say that i was not all the excited to leave the warmth (literally and figuratively) of italy and traverse into the cold terrain of munich. we took a night train from florence to munich and as we were chugging along, i saw a patch of snow on the ground, and my heart sank. that being said, i LOVE munich, cold and all!

when we first arrived here, i was groggy and freezing , after only sleeping for an hour and a half on the train and not wearing proper clothes for the winter. but once we got inside the house and i looked outside at the snow falling softly and quietly, i felt a sense of peace. obviously it helps that i was indoors in a warm apartment, but still, i knew i would not be as miserable as i had first anticipated.

we are staying with annette´s cousin holgar and his girlfriend, isabel. their hospitality and company has been so incredible. first off, they gave us their bed (without a doubt the most comfortable bed i have slept on this trip), which is incredibly kind. our first morning here we were fed an incredible breakfast of eggs, coffee, and amazing bavarian pastries. did you know that the bavarians put butter on their soft pretzels? i normally don´t like butter on bread, but this is actually quite tasty. they have also gone out of their way to show us around the city and make sure that we are taken care of when we are on our own.

the first night we were here, annette´s 2nd cousin yanik came over. he and holgar made these amazing spinach knödles (dumplings) that were doused in butter. it was seriously incredible digesting that amount of fatty liquid in one gulp. my belly was (is) quite content. the next day, annette and i took a 3rd reich tour that discussed how hitler and the nazi party came to power. i am such a history junkie so being on this tour and hearing about, as well as seeing, the places where important history began, was really quite powerful. we were walking around while it was snowing and i still didn´t care that it was so cold, that is how transfixed i was.

annette´s cousin, holgar (right), and her 2nd cousin, yanik, preparing the spinat knödle (i love reading and saying german words!). they are so fun in the mouth, much like the food.

the spinat knödle, doused in butter and parmesan cheese...ambrosial!

this is where our 3rd reich tour started, at the marienplatz. the building there was a sight to see. it is the neo-gothic neues rathaus (new town hall). as you walk around munich, you see many buildings in this neo-gothic style of architecture.

before hitler got into politics and became a mass murderer, he was a struggling artist. a couple of times he applied to art school and was rejected. this tree and building were in a courtyard outside a hostel where he lived for a while. our tour guide said that hitler painted a watercolor postcard of this view.


this balcony is where hitler´s office used to be in munich, before the nazi party´s base moved to berlin. now this building is a music school for high schoolers.

this hall is where the nazi party useed to meet and discuss their propaganda and political agendas. this is also where hitler first started truly rising to power within the party and eventually became president of the nazi party. one way that he ensured that the nazi party would have power was by eliminating other political groups from having power. he particularly despised the communists. one day he sent out red invitations with the communist logo advertising a communist party meeting with free beer in this hall (to ensure that he would get lots of participants). over 700 communists came and hitler went on a rampage denouncing the stupidity of the communists. the members of the communist party of course became enraged (especially with alcohol in their systems) and started throwing things at hitler. he then nodded his head at one of his henchmen, who then instructed the muscle to attack the communists and throw them out. this confirmed hitler´s leadership in the nazi party because he was able to prove that the nazi party was a party of action, not just talk. the communists were many of the people that made up the population of the concentration camps. what a creep.

this is the door that led to a beer hall where hitler first attended a nazi party meeting, which was originally the german labor party. he did so, not out of interest, but because he was spying for the german army. apparently while at a meeting, he got incensed because a man wanted bavaria to secede from germany and become part of austria. hitler believed that munich should be the place where the revolution started, not an area that should become part of another country. he then made a passionate, albeit not articulate speech, that shamed the man, but also got him noticed by the members of the party. from here he gains serious power and the rest, as they say, is history. now this door leads into a storage room of the apple store (computers, not the fruit).