Thursday, August 4. After breakfast at the hotel, we took a streetcar to Karlsplatz and stopped at the Leica store. again. All we could get was a new shoulder strap for the camera. Then we spent over an hour browsing in the largest department store on the Stachus. The toys were unbelievably intricate and detailed, but did not look very durable. The modern German furniture was beautiful and very expensive. We took our few purchases back to the hotel where we had lunch.
Then we set out to do some sightseeing.
This was our first visit on our own to a large German
city, and we really had no idea what to see in the
little time available. We took a streetcar to the
Maximilianeium (1874), a grand palace right in the city.
It now houses the Parliament and is not open to the public. We went back to the PX.
bought some toys for the boys, and took the military bus
back to McGraw Kassern.
It was just a coincidence,that
the Eucharistic Congress was being held in Munich that
week, but we decided to take advantage of it. We picked
up the car and headed for the Theresenwiese, site of the
Congress. The Theresienwiese is the hugh public park
where the Oktoberfest is held each fall. Traffic was
bumper to bumper but we finally got there. Darrell then
got a chance to use his Sid Cesar German to ask
directions and find an excellent parking place. We
wandered through some of the halls and tents. Darrell
had the impression that most of the middle-aged German women bore a
remarkable resemblance to his mother's sisters, both in appearance and mannerisms. We saw the
altar set up for the world's first "Mega-Mass," to be led by Cardinal Spellman the next
morning with a million people in attendance.
There were plenty of food vendors there to provide our lunch. We tried to find some bratwurst at the food stands, but all they had were wieners. They did not understand the word “bratwurst” as a specific type of sausage since in German it means any “fried sausage.” The Germans also ate the weiners and bread separately instead of making hot dogs like Americans would. We finally left and drove back to the hotel.
We had heard glowing reports about
Munich’s Hofbräuhaus and planned to eat there and stay
to hear some good, old-fashioned drinking songs. It was
raining but we took the streetcar anyway. We found the
Hofbräuhaus but it was almost like a gigantic European
barn. It was unbelievably jammed with people. There were
no individual tables, only long tables and benches.
Every seat was taken and there were thousands of people
milling in the aisles. We finally gave up and went back
into the rain. We wondered around trying to find another
place to eat but without much luck. We finally went into
a very nice looking place right off Marienplatz, across
from the Rathaus. There was a supposedly
English-speaking waiter who was not much help. Darrell
had his first taste of the very dark German beer (after
ordering it twice and getting light beer the first
time). All in all, it was an unpleasant meal.
When we finished eating, we tried to catch a taxi across the street. It was still raining , though, and the Germans were litterally knocking each other down in close combat every time a cab drove up. We knew we could not compete. We finally caught the streetcar to Rotkreuzplatz and found half a dozen cabs waiting there. We took one the three blocks to the hotel and the driver was furious about having given up his place in the taxi line for such a short trip. We were very glad to see that evening end. |
