Odd Munich

My blog about Elisabeth's and my visit to Munich comes late. Red Baron lived in Bavaria's capital from 1957 to 1966, first as a postgraduate, and later, I had my first job there. Knowing the city quite well, I like to visit the place from time to time, meet old friends, and look at new attractions.

Entrance to the Platzl Hotel

Elisabeth and I stayed at the Platzl, a charming hotel in the city's old part just opposite the infamous Hofbräuhaus.

All in one place: Hofbräuhaus and Hard Rock

As Goethe knew and wrote in Faust: Wer vieles bringt, wird manchem etwas bringen; und jeder geht zufrieden aus dem Haus (Who brings a lot, brings something that will pass: And everyone goes home contentedly).

Despite the strike of the Deutsche Bahn (German Railway), we safely arrived at Munich Hauptbahnhof. We completed the check-in and took our first walk passing the municipal taxation office. During my stay in Munich, I always entered the building head bowed and came out fully bent.

Therefore I had never noticed the inscription high up Moneta Regia (Royal mint) that the Munich citizens translate as money reigns or Money makes the world go round, as Liza Minelli once sang in Cabaret.

We saw a man unloading a fat gander from his bicycle, possibly for a performance, on our way through the city.

Gander looking ...

and attacking

When the animal noticed me taking pictures, it came toward me, protesting and attacking. I escaped just in time, passing the (again infamous due to the Hitler-Putsch in 1923) Feldherrnhalle. We reached the entrance to the Hofgarten, where a jazz band was playing.

The following morning started with a shock. During my stay in about 1000 hotels in a lifetime, I had to repair showers, but here for the first time, the water refused to enter the showerhead. I turned all faucets and nearly destroyed the valves in vain. I called reception. Eventually, a man came to my rescue, showing me how to operate the shower.

For the solution to the mystery, wait until the end.

The Pinakothek der Moderne (museum of modern art) was inaugurated already in 2002, but Elisabeth and I visited the art gallery for the first time. If you love contemporary art or degenerated art, as the Nazis called it, that is the place to see it. Taking pictures was allowed, so I took lots of photos of paintings by German expressionists and abstract painters, but I am not showing them here because of copyright. The only picture presented below is by a French artist who painted it in 1914. The man had well anticipated the mechanical killing of modern warfare.

The handwashing facilities in the restroom of the Pinakothek der Moderne look modern too:

Following lunch and espresso, Elisabeth and I passed the inner court of the university on our way to the Englischer Garten when I stopped and stared, looking at the wall to the right.

Inner court (Lichthof) of  Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian Universität

Those who read my blogs remember that I had written about the Horace citation Dulce et decorum est pro patria more, which was once carved into the marble of the inner court. Now I read the following inscription:

Monument of a pius remembrance to the death of three wars.
They did not succumb in vain to their fate. 1959

Not all those who perished in a war lost their lives in vain! This unexpected inscription is far from the proposal Red Baron remembers and wrote about: Mortui viventes obligant (The living are obliged to the dead).

So far, all efforts to rename the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität to Geschwister-Scholl-Universität have been aborted. Nevertheless, a plate at the entrance commemorates the Weiße Rose (White Rose), reproducing the flyers against the Nazi regime that sister and brother had distributed in the inner court to their fellow students:

Elisabeth and I passed the well-protected US Consulate near the Englischer Garten on our way back to the hotel.

A fortress

The following morning it was raining, and we visited an exhibition called Rembrandt-Tizian-Belloto, the latter better known as Canaletto. There were a few Canalettos and Tizians, but just one Rembrandt painting. 

Photos were not allowed, so here I present a picture of a reproduction at the entrance to the exhibition: Canaletto's view of Dresden with the famous Frauenkirche (Our Lady's) on the left.

Note the bollards crowned by red lights protecting the synagogue against bomb attacks by cars.

The new synagogue in Munich is well protected. We arrived around 11 a.m., but two guards at the entrance told us that the building was already closed for Sabbath.

The closed entrance

So we visited the Jewish Museum nearby. The small and relatively poor public exhibition shows a few cult objects. No photos were allowed, an order I regretted in the case of the special exhibition War 1914/1918, Jews between the fronts.

On two floors, the efforts of the German Jews to show their loyalty to their country were documented. Although the Jews enjoyed equal rights in the Second Reich under the Kaiser in practice, they were not on equal footing in any European countries preceding the Great War. The following photo I took at the entrance to the museum.

German Jewish soldiers are celebrating Hanukkah 1916 - the commemoration of the rededication
 of the Holy Temple - in the snow showing the nine-armed menorah.
The Festival of Lights frequently coincides with the Christmas holiday period,

I am sorry that I cannot document the tragic fate of Hans Bloch, a Jew from Munich, with documents (pictures were not allowed within the exhibition). He and his father fought in the First World War, and young officer Hans was attributed the Eiserne Kreuz First Class, the highest distinction a soldier could get. 

After the war, Hans studied law, got a doctor's degree, and became a lawyer. Somehow, his Jewish origin became forgotten because in 1934, on the 20th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great War, Chancellor Adolf Hitler bestowed a special commemoration medal on Hans Bloch. 

As a Jew, he was no longer allowed to exercise his profession, but as a war veteran, the Nazis did not harm him. When Germany started the Second World War, Hans wanted to fight for his country, but as a Jew, he was not allowed to serve in the German army. When his appeal against this decision was refused, he committed suicide by electrocution in 1942. I never imagined such a tragedy.

Passing the Viktualienmarkt (Munich's famous food market), I saw the following Maibaum (maypole) with a note that shook my knowledge of the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot.

The Bavarian purity decree was not issued on April 23, 1516,
but as early as November 30, 1487

Elisabeth and I had dinner at the Schneider Weisses Brauhaus in the evening. Remember my blog, What's Brewing. At the Brauhaus, they had several wheat beers on tap and some bottled, including TAP5 with the unusual 8,2% alcohol. Here is the complete list:

Red Baron started with TAP7, our original (5,4%), continued with TAP11, our light wheat beer (3,3%), and ended with TAP4, my green (6,2%).

Tap4, Mein Grünes

Standing naked, under stress, waiting for the water, would you have found the nob for activating the shower?

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