Munich mini blog

I had never been to Munich before but recently spent five days there and  really enjoyed the stay.  The TGV from Paris, with lunch served on board, was on time, the weather was good and the city looked very welcoming as we made our way to the Hotel Europa on Dachaustrasse. It is a medium sized modern hotel,  with very comfortable rooms, an extensive breakfast buffet and prices in the 100 euros range. We chose rooms on the inner leafy courtyard, which were perfectly quiet,  and we quickly understood why the hotel is always so heavily booked. One evening we sipped schnappes in the bar, as well as trying the drink that we were told was the rage in Munich this summer, Hugo, a version of Pims with lots of mint leaves,  which is drunk through a straw.

Munich is an affluent city, with a lot of upmarket shops, and particularly good men’s stores, such as Hirmer, with five floors devoted to high quality masculine clothing. Oktoberfest had not long since finished and there was still a lot of the traditional Bavarian menswear on display – beautiful lederhosen, embroidered waistcoats and elegant jackets and shoes specially designed for this special festivity. Also the attractive dirndls worn by the fairer sex – again many of them intricately embroidered and decorated with handmade lace, a dress which the waitresses wear on an everyday basis in the traditional restaurants.

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We visited the main food market, Viktualmarkt, which fills a very large square in the centre of the city and is divided into sections according to the produce sold. I have never seen so many wurst and charcuterie shops or such wonderful picture-perfect cepes. In fact we actually stayed in one evening with my grandson and his girlfriend and cooked up a huge dish of them with garlic spaetzle followed inevitably by some tempting pastries which we had not been able to resist either at the market .

We visited a lot of restaurants, and even more cake shops, and got a very good idea of the range of cuisines you can sample in Munich. Spacious taverns, such as the Lowenbrau Keller, mostly owned by breweries, dispensing huge plates of meat and sausage served with various sorts of red cabbage and sauerkraut, and even huger quantities of the local beers, which are really first-class. Turkish family restaurants serving kebabs and tradtional meat ball dishes ; Currywurst outlets with large plates of chips and curry sauce ; and probably the largest and noisiest pizzeria I have ever visited in my life, L’Osteria, serving a wide range of unusual and delicious, but absolutely enormous pizzas at knock-out prices.   I couldn’t even finish half a one and the eager customers were still queuing up outside when we left after 10 pm !   The building had previously been the home of a rich merchant and the decor of the restaurant was flamboyant and highly unusual : the room where we were seated on comfortable velvet banquettes had an ornately decorated ceiling and an intricate chandelier. We also visited the two most famous patisseries in Munich : Dallmayr where we had tea and cakes, including their famous Sachertorte, and Cafe Luitpold where, on top of a selection of layer cakes, we bought a delicious almond tart and a Stollen to take back to Paris.

We were too early for the famous Christmas markets but we could see the food stores were already gearing up for the event.

There is an impressive Museum of Modern Art  located amidst a variety of other museums on a wide avenue very much like Constitution Avenue in Washington D.C.  and on the day we were there we were lucky enough to fall on a presentation by a local dramatic society and choir  of a new work on immigration which was very poignant.  The Olympic Park is also worth a visit and is an example of what can be done with Olympic venues after the Games– this one is full of people walking, running, swimming, playing tennis etc. etc. and is a hive of activity. On a much more serious note we also visited the site of the Dachau concentration camp just outside Munich, where the entrance gate carries the infamous sign « Arbeit macht frei ». It was a very sobering experience, but something that every visitor to Munich should do so that the memory of those terrible days is kept alive.