The Bruner Family Journey: Big Pretzels And Even Bigger Beers

At the Hofbrauhaus in Munich

Munich is a place of dramatic contrasts. Medieval stone buildings stand next to post-modern innovations of steel and glass. The city is a sophisticated and high-powered financial hub, but age-old local folklore and traditions still hold sway. It's a world-class city of art, culture, fashion and design, but at times it feels like a large provincial village. As we walked through the historic quarter, we stopped to see a band from Zimbabwe playing on the street, then strolled past some kind of demonstration where people were waving large Turkish flags. We had bratwurst, pretzels and beer at the Hofbräuhaus, but we also feasted on Persian, Vietnamese and Japanese food. (I also wanted to eat Pakistani, but the kids vetoed that.) A few blocks from Munich's central train station, I witnessed what was perhaps the most glaring contrast of our entire year-long journey: Three Muslim woman walked by covered in black burkas from head to toe, right in front of a "Dancing Bar" with three woman standing out in the street wearing only the skimpiest of lingerie whispering sweet nothings to prospective customers. (I could not get my camera out quickly enough to try to take a picture and I don't think such an effort would have been well received in any event.) Welcome to the capital of Bavaria!

The old...

...and the new

And the old...

And the new

The Jewish Museum

As with many of my prior travels, I spent my first time in Munich (in 1987) moving furiously from one art museum to another (there was a palace or two as well), before taking a swim in the Englischer Garten, one of the largest urban parks in the world (it's bigger than Central Park in NYC) and perhaps the only one that allows nude sunbathing. This time, we went at a more leisurely pace, although we still managed to see quite a bit. We spent several hours in the Jewish Museum, which has several very moving exhibits, including a large interactive map of Munich which shows photographs from the city's past. One of the pictures was of the blood-splattered apartment where some Israeli athletes had been staying at the 1972 Olympics.

Moving from the disturbingly profound to the regally frivolous, we also spent several hours at the Residenz Palace, which housed the monarchs of Bavaria in extremely lavish fashion from 1385 to 1918. Given the astounding number of mirrors on the walls, it seemed they really enjoyed looking at themselves. We also spent an entire morning at the Deutsches Museum, one of the largest science and technology museums in the world. The kids deeply enjoyed the extensive exhibits on aeronautics, shipping, hydraulic engineering, power machinery, electricity, mining (including a replica of a coal mine), and musical instruments. The adults equally enjoyed the large Dunkel Hefeweizens in the airy museum cafeteria.

It's just my taste, but I like more doorways and more ornamentation

Street demonstration with red and blue Turkish flags

Enjoying an aeronautics exhibit at the Deutsches Museum

Bad Urach

After leaving Munich, we headed back into France temporarily, as we had to switch rental cars in Strasbourg. (We saved several hundred dollars in insurance by renting for only a month, but that meant having to pick up a new car when our time was up, and doing so outside of France would have resulted in a large fee.) Our trip to Strasbourg took us through the German state of Baden-Wüttemberg, where we stopped in several charming towns and villages, including Bad Urach, Tübingen, Altensteig and Bad Peterstal.

Due to its location overlooking a valley, Bad Urach became a center of power in the Middle Ages and as the town shifted its focus from military to commercial concerns, it prospered as a center for weaving. It's now a center for tourism, with a pristine market square of old half-timbered houses from the 15th and 16th centuries.

Jeremy and Talia playing in a little park in Bad Urach

Tübingen is a larger town (a small city really), with one of Germany's oldest universities and a lively dining and nightlife scene. The city's old quarter was mostly spared during World War II because of the city's lack of heavy industry. On choosing a place for dinner, we were suspicious of the large, noisy Mexican cantina on the river (it just wouldn't be the same as home) and opted for Italian instead. After dinner, we happened on a large festival with live music and plenty of beer. As we headed back to the car, we took a bunch of pictures of the flowers, steeples and old houses along the river.

Tübingen

Further along the road, we made a short stop in Altensteig, a picturesque village on a hill in the Black Forest about which I have very little to say because we spent only a few minutes there and I didn't find anything interesting about it on the internet. Suffice it to say that it was a really nice place to get out of the car and take a quick "rest."

Altensteig

We stopped for the night in Bad Peterstal, a little town in the Black Forest filled with graceful houses bedecked with flowers. As I was unpacking the car, a couple a few feet above me on the veranda of their house looked down and asked me where I was from and if I was staying at the hotel across the street. "Wow, California, that's so far! Welcome neighbor! We hope you have a nice time here." Either they're really nice or they don't get out much. But seriously, the encounter did highlight something important about our stay in Germany - it may not be as sexy a destination as France or Italy, but the people were very warm and welcoming and went out of their way to make contact. As we drove towards the French border, we were looking forward to spending more time in Germany.