pretzels for breakfast, a fairytale castle, and the white rose resistance

Munich and Bavaria. Three days in Munich was probably not enough, in particular when we lost an entire day going to and from the Neuchwanstein Castle. Although short, our time here was productive. We saw a good amount of the city, including its beautiful park, enjoyed some good meals and, for the most part, were the beneficiaries of some outstanding July weather.

Hotel Platzl. We stayed at the Hotel Platzl, located in the center of town, next to the original Hofbrauhaus and a few minutes from Marienplatz. This is the first traditional hotel we have stayed at on our trip and, as much as I like the spaciousness, washing machine and freedom of a flat, as Keri says, it is hard to beat fresh towels and someone else making you breakfast. That is true here, where the Fruhstuck is so well done -- a regular European breakfast spread plus a honeycomb, lactose-free cappuccinos, gluten-free bread, and, much to Owen's liking, a pretty good soft pretzel. Our only complaint about the Platzl is the somewhat smallish rooms and bathrooms, made to feel all the more so with the only clothing storage two smallish wardrobed without any shelving or drawers.

Jewish Museum (Munich). We started Sunday with a visit to the Jewish Museum, one of several Jewish community buildings that opened in 2007 in the center of town. The museum building is modern and comfortable, with a very small permanent exhibition commemorating the local Jewish community. Unlike Berlin, whose Jewish population made up close to five percent of the city at one point, there were never more than 12,000 Jews here, a real pittance. In part because of that, there is relatively little to document. The most interesting parts of the museum are Batman and haggadah illustrator Jordan Gorfinkel's Everything's Relative cartoon series and the temporary Say Shibboleth! exhibit, which presents artistic approaches to global trends toward increasing borders, walls and other barriers.

The Munich Requisites. We walked through and around all the must-see items, including the gothically-cool New Town Hall, which includes the Ratskeller restaurant, famous in our family as Keri's grandparents for years owned a Wilmington restaurant of the same name. We walked through all the plazas, the Karlsplatz, the Odeonplatz and the main town square, the Marienplatz. We walked through several churches, including the Frauenkirche, the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Munich and the most recognized landmark for the locals, along with its two towers that, by law, are to be the highest structures in the city. Perhaps more than any of the cities we have visited, Munich really packs so many important buildings into a small space, making it easy to see a lot -- as long as you don't mind navigating the hordes of humans trying to do the same thing.

Third-Reich Walking Tour. We took on Sunday afternoon a three-hour tour of the city focused on Hitler, the Nazis, and their place in Munich's history. Our guide, Mark, was really quite good, providing the right balance of facts, stories, photos and landmarks to keep a large group of people engaged. He really covered a lot, far more than you want to read about here. Mark's general thesis is that Munich, and Germany more broadly, for years has done an inadequate job in coming to grips with what happened here between 1933 and 1945. As Mark describes it, the people who lived here during that time would rather not talk about pretty much anything that happened over that time. As those people have  died, and their children and grandchildren have taken on responsibility, including for how to account for their parents' and grandparents' role in history, we are finally seeing real progress. Whether in the form of the 2007 establishment of three Jewish buildings in the city center, the 2015 founding of a museum on the origins of the Nazis in this city or having plaques or other signposts explaining with some degree of detail of what happened at specific places to give people a sense of the history, progress is being made.

Neuschwanstein Castle. If you don't know the name, Neuschwanstein Castle, you certainly know the image, the iconic romanesque revival castle sitting atop a hill at the edge of the Bavarian Alps. The castle is a little more than a two-hour drive from Munich, generally speaking, and an extremely popular place for day trips from Munich. For reasons neither Keri nor I can recall, we signed up months ago for one of those day trips, despite knowing pretty much nothing about the castle. With the benefit of hindsight, it was not the best use of our time. The day was prolonged with a traffic jam and our time outside the castle was shortened by a steady rain. (I know, I was the guy complaining about heat last week.) And, although the outside of the castle is iconic, that view is not worth a whole day.

The story behind the castle, although interesting, makes you feel worse about the whole enterprise. The castle was built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a tribute to operatic composer and rabid anti-semite Richard Wagner, in particular Lohengrin, a medieval German romance story about a knight of the Holy Grail, the duchess he defends and falls in love with, before it all goes horribly wrong. Story aside, Ludwig, whose life otherwise was a bit of a mess, was obsessed with these medieval romance stories. Not satisfied with buying a set of romance books or commissioning an opera of one such story, he decided to build two castles that were to resemble medieval structures. As a recluse, Ludwig was not planning on sharing these with the public, or really squeezing out any public purpose. They were simply things he wanted to build and live in. Did I mention this was the late 19th Century? The whole thing is really so self-indulgent and profligate that, the more you hear of the story, the worse you feel.

Ludwig's story also has a tragic end -- an involuntary admission into an asylum followed quickly by a suspicious drowning death that, to this day, is the cause of much intrigue in Bavaria. Read the story and hop on-line to see the photos, but don't spend a whole day on this Opera Man.

The English Garden. Tuesday was gorgeous -- high 60's with sun -- so we started out with a walk through only a small bit of the English Garden, a park that starts in the middle of the city and runs nearly to its edge. The park has miles and miles and biking and walking paths, plenty of playgrounds and open grassy areas where, on warmer days, the locals often sunbathe German style. It also has several beer gardens and a couple places where fast running water serves as a wave pool that locals come out to surf. I only regret that I did not make time to run in this great public space.

The White Rose Memorial. Our walking tour guide, Mark, mentioned a group of students who resisted the Nazis, were caught and ultimately killed. The students became known as the White Rose, and there is a memorial to them at the Ludwig Maximillians University which they attended. We sought out the memorial, and found a nice little museum, in addition to a plaque to the group and Sohpie Scholl, one of its members. The one room museum does a good job of telling the group's story, providing background on the group's members and their acts of resistance -- primarily pamphleteering in opposition to various aspects of the Nazi regime. The courage of these young people is remarkable, particularly when set against a much broader community -- including university community -- that saw them as treasonous.

The Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism. In the building that used to serve as the Nazi party headquarters now sits the NS Dokumentationszentrum, which traces the history and consequences of the Nazi party, which always maintained Munich as its base. The museum opened in 2015. It is thorough and thoughtful in its approach, providing not only a detailed history, but anticipating and responding to many of the questions and objections that get raised in an effort to narrow the pool of responsible parties. This museum makes a compelling case about the total integration of the Nazi program within German society -- civil servants, law enforcement, teachers, judges, religious institutions. Most Germans by the mid 1930's had wholly committed themselves to this dictatorship. There is just no way the Nazis could have succeeded without this near-unanimous support.

Munchin' in Munchen. Beyond the really outstanding hotel-breakfasts, we ate well in Munich, having two great Indian food dinners and finding a great ice cream place. The second Indian place, Goa, was remarkably busy for a Monday evening, a testament to the great food. Somehow, we found ourselves in a somewhat lengthy conversation with the proprietor at the end of our meal. He had a warm smile and a heavy accent, the combination of which left my family convinced he was a lovely man. Only after we were a safe distance from the restaurant was it clear they did not understand most of what he was saying, some of which was unduly harsh as to his own people (i.e., 98% of Indians are corrupt) and some just generally harsh (several comments about the spate of rapes of teenage girls in India). It was probably for the best I was the only one who made out was he was saying the moment.

In addition, Keri found at the Gelateria Garda her biggest frozen dessert success to date, a double chocolate sorbet. The coffee gelato was pretty good, as well, among the best we have had. Pictured here is Lauren and her friends, sachertorte and apfelkuche.

Final Thoughts on Munich. I wished we had spent another day or two here, as I would have liked to spend more time in the English Garden and see a few more museums, and explore some more city neighborhoods. I am not sure we will come back here though, for largely the same reasons we will not go back to Berlin. As mentioned above, our hotel is right next to the Hofbrauhaus, best known for its beer, but whose banquet hall also served as the spot where the Nazis unveiled their 25-point plan in 1920. It is no fault of the people who enjoy the Hofbrauhaus today what happened there nearly 100 years ago, and by all rights they should enjoy their beer. Knowing what we know, however, a shadow looms over this place, and probably always will for us.