Memorial Day Weekend in Munich

This past Memorial Day weekend, we traveled about 2 hours down to Munich. It was raining when we arrived, so we decided to do something indoors. We toured the Bier and Oktoberfest Museum, which gave a little history on the evolution of beer in Germany, as well as the origin of Oktoberfest. We learned that on October 17, 1810 to celebrate the marriage of the Bavarian crown prince Ludwig and princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen, a horse race was held for all of Bavaria. At the end of the 19th century, they began commemorating the wedding with beer tents and amusements booths (the present day Oktoberfest).

Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese

When the weather cleared up a little bit, we toured around Munich and found the Viktualienmarkt, a food market with so many vendors selling fruits, olives, cheese and much more. In the center of the market was a typical German May Pole. The market also has a little beer garden. A true beer garden has a counter for buying beer.....Germans bring in their own food and have a picnic.

Later, we stood in the Marienplatz and watched the Glockenspiel (clock) which is a part of the New Town Hall. At certain times during the day, the Glockenpiel will come to life with a four part routine: the wedding procession, the joust, the coopers' dance and the rooster crowing. It recalls a noble wedding that took place in 1568.

Next we drank beer in the Hofbrauhaus, the world's most famous beer hall. We enjoyed our beer while listening to the live oompah music.

The cabinet where they keep all the beer steins

The next morning we walked up the very narrow staircase to the top of St. Peter's Church to enjoy the spectacular view of the city. We even got to watch the Glockenspiel go off again, but this time, we saw it from above!

Next we toured The Residenz, which is the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs of the House of Wittelsbach. The architecture was incredible and the amount of royal artifacts on display was very impressive!

We ventured out of the city center to visit Olympic Park, the site of the 1972 Olympics. They have transformed the grounds into a modern-day park, complete with an aquarium and concert stage. We went on a day with perfect park weather, and the locals were definitely there enjoying the sun!

On Sunday we left Munich and traveled 30 minutes away to the Dachau Concentration Camp. We switched gears from our upbeat tourist attractions, but the somber site was filled with so much history. Dachau was the first concentration camp that Hitler built, and it served as the model for the future concentration camps, like Auschwitz.

Down the hallway of the Bunker, where "special prisoners" were held.

"Work makes you free"