Things to do in Munich, Gremany.
What's your pleasure? Art and culture, walks through the park, life a la Boheme, beer - Munich has it for the asking. One of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world sits in the middle of conservative Bavaria in southern Germany and has its traces of both cultures.
If you're looking for art and culture, Munich is your city. The city's National Theater is one of the world's premier opera houses. The music is exciting, the singers are first rate and, especially during the summer's Munich Opera Festival, music lovers flock there from all over the world. If you're in Munich on the cheap, regular tickets might be a bit pricey, but join the students if you can pass and perhaps you can pick up a cheap return ticket for the musical experience of a lifetime.
Are you more in the mood for an art museum? Both the Alte Pinakothek and the Neue Pinakothek will keep you busy for weeks at a time. The Alte Pinakothek has an extraordinary collection of Durer, Altdorfer and Reubens and works from the 14th to 18th century, while you're more likely to find 19th century works in the Neue Pinakothek from Caspar David Friedrich and Goya. Not to leave the more recent past behind, the Pinakothek der Moderne was opened in 2002 to display works of the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Germany became a country only in the 19th century and the rulers of pre-unification Bavaria most often stayed in the Residenz. The Residenz Museum has over 100 rooms of the palace and is devoted to its art and furniture over the centuries. With such a huge Palace, the rulers of the land needed a place to keep their valuables. The Schatzkammer, or Treasury, is open to the public for viewing (no free samples) and the precious gems are now part of the treasure of the country rather than that of the royal family.
If a walk through the park is on your agenda after hitting the museums, Munich's huge 900-acre Englischer Garten is well known for its views, scenery and nude sunbathing. The park is adjacent to Munich's Schwabing neighborhood, once the city's center of Bohemian culture and artist colonies and now still has a touch of its former rebellion.
Few tourists to Munich leave the city without visiting one of its many beer gardens. The most famous of these is the Hofbrauhaus. Able to handle over four thousand beer drinkers at one time, the Hofbrauhaus is noisy, usually friendly, and a place to meet other tourists and ordinary workers from all over the world. The Augustinerhaus is usually less noisy than the Hofbrauhaus but another of the many fine German beer gardens that has made Munich famous.
Another less celebrated history of the German beer houses, especially the Hofbrauhaus, is its connection to Hitler and the growth of the Nazi party. The early Nazi Party would meet in the beer halls to rally and to discuss politics. The history of Germany and its Nazi past is part of the political life of Munich that all understand need to be discussed.
Recent migrations of Jews back to Munich and continuing discussions within Germany to reflect and try to understand this past are part of the life of Munich. A trip to the WWII Dachau concentration camp, just outside Munich, can give the tourist a glimpse of a part of Germany that we are still coming to terms with.
From the finest in art and culture to a part of history that still haunts us today, Munich offers the visitor a look into the life of Germany that will stay forever.
