We decided to go exploring a bit in Munich today - our first use of the subway. After yesterday's challenges with the train, we were sure to "walk slowly" as we were trying to figure everything out. I am glad to report we were successful with only one minor miss going the wrong way - which was quickly corrected :). It was on the subway that we met our first new friends. They were an older couple who were already seated when we joined them sitting across. The guy, Dilla, was a jokester - even though he spoke only limited English we were able to communicate - and laugh. He reminded both of us of my dad with his love of a "little" humor.
When in Bavaria - and if you like cars - a stop at the Bavarian MotorWorks (BMW) Museum is a must. This was our destination from the subway ride. It was interesting to learn some of the history and see many of the cars they had on display. We didn't know that originally BMW started as an aircraft engine maker. They were a key supplier in WWI - and afterwards used their strong engineering talent to move into consumer products with motorcycles and cars.
Craig admiring some of the cars.
Concept car with some different features. They expect in the future that cars will become more like mobile living spaces - especially with advances in driverless features. It's hard to see but in the backseat they have a "library" on one side on the floor and under the back seats they are growing some plants to help balance the CO2. Will be interesting to see what concepts become reality in the future.
Some oldies but goodies.
This was my favorite - beautiful.
Doesn't this make Craig look like a giant?! The "door" was in front - such a strange car.
Last night we took a beer and food tour. We signed up for the small group tour - which ended up just being Craig, I and our guide Mark. We had a great time and were able to sample some of the lesser known but locally loved beers from Munich. By the end of the night it felt like we were old friends with Mark. He is just a couple of years older than our son Matt. He moved to Bejing from Oakland, CA, to teach English to children after graduating college - only to discover he really didn't like working with kids - a key requirement for the job he chose :). However it was during his time in Beijing that he developed a love of beer. He met some fellow expats who were brewing their own IPA at the time - and they ended up opening the first craft brewery in Beijing hiring Mark as their business manager. When he decided to leave China, he moved to Berlin and helped to start a beer tour that ended up ranked in the Top 10 by Tripadvisor in 2018. He now is helping a friend to launch a new tour in Munich.
We started at a place called Schneider Weisse which had some great wheat beer and very interesting history. In 1516, to maintain control and also drive demand for the barley grown by the state, Duke Wilhelm IV created the Beer Purity law. This law mandated that beer in Bavaria could only have 3 ingredients - barley, hops and water. It wasn't until years later when yeast was discovered that it was added as a fourth ingredient. Unfortunately this meant that a lot of the beers that were brewed locally - both at monasteries and by families were now illegal and many of those recipes were lost over the years. We hadn't realized the German beer scene used to be much more similar to the diversity you have now in Belgium but this law really changed things. The Schneider family was brewing beer at the time - according to the law - when they discovered that adding wheat to the mix made a really great tasting beer - this was in 1518. When the Duke discovered what they were doing, he ordered most everyone in the family arrested with a very public trial. They were punished severely to serve as an example for everyone else. However, the Duke also decided he actually liked this new wheat beer so he kept the recipe and had the royal brewers make it for him and the royal family - it's good to be king! It was years later when the new ruler allowed one of his royal brewers to take the recipe and begin brewing the beer for export out of Bavaria. Ironically he gave him the site of the original brewery which had been taken from the family back in 1518. Eventually wheat was added as a fifth allowed ingredient in Bavarian beer and it was then that the original Schneider Weisse beer was again available in Munich.
We had some pretzels and spreads with the beer. One of the three was liverwurst - which took me back to my childhood. I forgot that I really enjoy it - but Craig was a bit disgusted :)
This was where we met more new friends - a couple from Hungary who have been traveling around Europe for a few weeks. We were able to talk a bit about our shared travels - and learned this was their favorite bar. Unfortunately the way the table was set up I wasn't able to include Craig in the picture.
Mark then took us through the Hofbrauhaus where we had stopped the other day. We didn't have a beer but he gave us a tour along with some history. What we hadn't realized is the role it had played with Hitler and the Nazi party. Apparently this is where Hitler got his start in Germany - initially as an artist - he would sit in their beer garden and draw / paint. But it is also where he chose to start the Nazi party with many significant speeches. We saw the FestivalHall with tables lined up in front of the stage. This is the room where the Nazi party was founded. Apparently Hitler never stood on the stage to give his speeches but instead would walk up and down the tables in the room to stir up the people. We also saw where the swastikas that had been on the ceilings were painted over with the Bavarian flag - but you can still see the shape. All of this made us see this place differently - and it really was quite disturbing to us. The hatred he had and was intent on spreading was truly evil. We both agreed that particularly after our time in Poland the reality of what he did is much more real to us - a terrible time in the history of this world.
Next up was buying a beer at a local shop which we drank on the street (public drinking in Germany is allowed) while we ate a Doner Kabob. The beer was a Helles - really quite good - reminded us of some of the harvest beers with multiple grains we have had back in the states.
Mark had a different beer at this stop - a Radler which is 50% beer / 50% lemonade made by Hacker Pschorr brewery. A fun story about this brewery - it came about by the merger of two separate breweries - Hacker and Pschorr in 1972. Hacker was founded in 1417 - and is one of six breweries still located within the Munich city limits. Only these six breweries can sell their beer at Oktoberfest.
The original Pschorr was the founder Hacker's son-in-law and bought the brewery from him. He then started a second brewery using his name. When his two sons inherited the estate they divided it up each taking one of the breweries. Through the years the families started fighting as the breweries were handed down through the generations. Pschorr eventually was run by a daughter and became the first female owned brewery. In a modern day Romeo and Juliet, she fell in love with one of the Hackers - they married and also ended up merging the breweries.
Final stop was at another local pub where we tried a dobbelbock - super good. We learned this beer originated in Germany and, according to Mark, even though others duplicate it the process used in Bavaria is unique. We ended up staying after the official tour ended just hanging out with Mark swapping stories and sharing laughs. It was a fun night.
The last new friend, Konrad, is from the restaurant at our hotel. We stopped by to see him on our way back because this was his last night of working during our stay. He is from the Czech Republic and we have had fun getting to know him over the first part of our stay. We also love his taste in music - it leans towards 70's/80's American classics. Actually that is something we have noticed during our travels in Europe - lots of great jazz along with American rock classics which we enjoy.
As with the rest of this trip, it's the people we are meeting along the way who make it special. We feel fortunate to have had the chance to connect with so many different people along the way. They certainly have helped us enjoy the ride.
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