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German Roots Trip 2003 - Contents

SEEKING OUR GERMAN ROOTS

Chapter VIII

May 31-June 2, 2003

MUNICH

Saturday, May 31

To Munich

It was a relaxing 2-hour train ride back to Munich, retracing the route we followed three days prior. We shared a seat with a young woman, just returning from an Italian backpacking trip. She had one of the biggest packs I've ever seen. A Munich resident, she had nothing good to say about the weather in Germany. According to her, the only way to find good weather was to get south of the Alps, and that is what she had done.

This time, we rode the train all the way to the huge Munich train station. After hearing about Munich's cold and rainy weather from our fellow train passenger, we were surprised to find it was almost hot when we emerged from the train station. As in our other city stays, we had booked a hotel that was not too long a hike from the station, and once again, we trundled our bags the four or six blocks to the "Hotel Italia" which was in an area that looked just borderline respectable. But, there were lots of other tourist hotels all around us. As we headed for the hotel, we passed stores selling computer components, and oh yes, a few sex shops! On the other hand, the National Theater which presents opera and drama is just around the corner, so it was an interesting mix of attractions, to say the least!

Coming from Mittenwald and the Alpenhof pension, the Hotel Italia was a definite step down in comfort and class. Another elevator with one-person, one-suitcase capacity, a very small room with beat-up furniture and while ostensibly a no-smoking room, there sure must have been lots of smoking rooms around us. The smoke seeped under the door and was hard to ignore. Our view? Pretty much of roofs and the fire escape.

Earlier, Karen and I had discussed our options on this short visit to Munich--we could go to the famous Beer Hall, but that got no votes. We could take a sightseeing tour; again, no takers. OR, we could go to see one of the world's finest collections of Old Masters from the 14th to the 18th century at the "Alte Pinakothek," Munich's most important art museum--this option was unanimously approved!

Not wanting to waste any more time in our dumpy, stuffy hotel room, we walked a few blocks to the city trolley line, mastered the ticket-dispensing machine and paid a Euro each to ride a mile or so to the museum's entrance. We had enough time left in the afternoon for about a 90-minute tour of this very impressive museum, one of the largest in Europe. They had wonderful audio guides which gave a good background of almost any painting in the place, plus detailed guidebooks were liberally sprinkled throughout each gallery--and English versions were always available. And, on this warm and muggy day, the fact that the museum was air conditioned (to keep the Old Masters comfy, no doubt) was another plus.

A guidebook had this to say about the Alte Pinakothek:

"Munich’s art museum houses one of the most important collections in Europe on two floors of a large neo-classical building. Nearly 1,000 paintings are on display featuring the work of the greatest European artists from the 14th to the 18th centuries. Highlights include works by Dutch and Flemish masters, as well as the Italian masters such as Botticelli and Titian. The gallery is massive, consisting of dozens of rooms, and requires a great deal of time to explore thoroughly. Its collection derives from accumulations made by several early electors palatine of Bavaria. The building in which it is now housed is a reconstruction of the 19th-century gallery, by Leo von Klenze, which was destroyed in World War II. It opened in 1957."

 

Our ninety minutes didn't quite allow for a "thorough exploration" of the museum, but we were dazzled by what we did manage to see. This museum appeared to have cornered the market on Rubens paintings.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640)
Self-Portrait without a Hat. c.1639.

Rubens and Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower C. 1609

One absolutely gigantic painting by Rubens, "The Last Judgement" done in 1616 was the inspiration for building this museum. They literally designed the museum to fit the size of the painting, and also made its gallery the centerpiece of the building.

Peter Paul Rubens
The Great Last Judgement 1617, approximately 20 feet high, 15 feet wide.

We also enjoyed seeing works by Dürer, Rembrandt, the Brueghels, and other old masters. (To our edification, we learned there were TWO Brueghels, and their paintings were markedly different.)

Jan Brueghel (1568 - 1625)
Large Fish Market 1603

And, the "other" Bruegel. Rather different style, isn't it?

Pieter Bruegel (1525 - 1569)
The Land of Cockaigne 1566

In the museum's gift shop, Karen found a little book of German folk tales for children--which had been translated from German to English by Mark Twain. She gleefully added this to her Mark Twain collection.

It was about 5 p.m. when we returned to our hotel and started a search for a restaurant (Oh! Herr Seidler! Where are you when we need you and your gourmet dinners?) We made a circuit of the blocks near our hotel, finding only bars or restaurants that said "closed." Finally, we found a nearby deli that was about to close, snatched their last tomato-and-cheese sandwiches and a couple chocolate-covered doughnuts, and took it back to our room. A light supper, but enough. One odd pastry we have seen in several bakeries during our trip: an "American"--a very weird-looking item. It is rather flat, and covered with white frosting. We can't figure out why it's called an "American" because we've never seen anything like it anywhere in America! And, it never looked as good as the German kuchen so we never bought one either.

We tried to catch up a bit on the world's condition by watching the news on our little TV, then, satisfied that nothing major had occurred in the past three TV-free weeks that would impact us, we went down to the hotel's breakfast room. All dark and deserted in the evening, but in one corner, there was a computer with free Internet access for hotel guests. This was the Hotel Italia's one saving grace. No one else seemed to want to use the Internet, so we had a good time, e-mailing Glenn and others, and also trying to rearrange our overnight stay in Frankfurt tomorrow.

Our original plan was to fly to the Frankfort airport, then take the underground system into the city and stay there overnight. But we now were having second thoughts about another day of hauling those heavy suitcases (now full of rocks!) in and out of another big German city. Both Karen and I have seen some of Frankfurt--now we decided that was sufficient. So, with the help of that nice Deutsche Bahn hotel reservation website we found the "NH Airport Hotel," a 4-star hotel right at the airport, with free shuttle and a very cheap weekend rate. The Internet and websites such as the Deutsche Bahn have really made it amazingly simple to make and/or change plans quickly during this trip. A wonderful resource.

The weather today in Munich was not quite so dramatic as in Mittenwald, but it followed the same pattern: very warm in midday, humid in the afternoon, then developed a thunderstorm in late afternoon. But, the rain showers were brief and helped to cool the air. Nevertheless, we definitely did not need those warm down comforters on our hotel beds! We wondered whether they have a warm weather bedding--surely Germans get just as warm under those comforters as we have been!

Karen's e-mail to Glenn and Mark (obviously, we never did master the German computer keyboard layout!) --

Date: Sat, 31 May 2003
Subject: New hotel res in Frankfurt

Hi -
We have just cleverlz changed our hotel reservation to one close to the airport rather than close to the train station. We will now be stazing at the "NH-Airport" hotel in Kelsterbach, just 1.5 km from the airport, and promising a free shuttle. Dad, we will still plan to call zou about 11 am zour time tomorrow from Frankfurt. See zou soon!

Love, Karen & Barb

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