Well, it's been another busy week. Our project is at full tilt now, and with all of the fourth of July weekend activities we've been doing, I've pushed this blog on the back burner for a little too long now. So, here I am making up for it! I'll start with a post about my trip to Munich last weekend, and follow that up with a post about the brief, but numerous, events of last week.
Munich was a great city to see. Though only a few shorts hours from Berlin, it is an entirely different place. Berlin is a very modern, diverse, and large city. Munich, on the other hand, is very traditional and small, more of a town than a city. One thing that unites all Germans though is that they recognize and deal with their history in a very open way. Munich was the birthplace of the third Reich, Hitler's Nazi movement. Instead of pushing this under the rug though, Munich wears it on its sleeve.
But before I get too far into that, I'll take it from the top. We got into Munich Friday, found our way to our hostel to drop off all of our luggage, and then went out to see what the city was all about. In summary, Munich is all about three main things: history, nice cars, and, you guessed it, beer. Beer is literally the life blood of Munich. The most major riots and revolutions in Munich revolved around beer. Munich's town symbol is a beer-brewing monk. Basically, you take the beer out of Munich, and you don't have Munich anymore. As one not typically engaged in the drinking arts, if you will, a lot of this drinking culture was lost on me, but it nonetheless made the city a unique and interesting place. You could, for instance, stumble across swathes of old men in lederhosen, clearly intoxicated, and playing various brass instruments while performing what can only be referred to as a squat dance. God bless tradition, haha.
All craziness aside, Munich's beer halls are truly something to see. If one beer hall were an absolute visitors must see though, it would be the Hofbrauhaus, which literally means the court brew house. The Hofbrauhaus was founded by Wilhelm V, the duke of Bavaria at the time, because he wanted beer brewed in his homeland that was befitting of royalty, and because he was tired of important beer into Munich. Hofbrauhaus was created a solution to that problem, and the beer that was brewed there was to only be drank by the court. Wilhelm's son was not as stingy as he was, though, and decided to open the brewery to the public. The beer created there was so popular that a new and larger brewery and beer hall had to be created (in it's current location in downtown Munich). From there, the rest is mostly history, and to this day Hofbrauhaus is famous for its Weissbier (a lighter, partially wheat based beer), though its other, darker beers are also famous.
Beer isn't just about amusement in Munich though, and has actually saved the city from totally

destruction, as odd as that may sound. In the 30 years war, Sweden managed to occupy Munich, which had been abandoned by Maximilian because he deemed it impossible to defend. The residents of Munich had no protection, and were expecting to be wiped off of the map in what had up to that point been an extremely destructive war. The Swedes, however, were so impressed with the beer and culture of Munich that they decided to have a large party about occupying Munich instead of destroying it. After being paid a tribute of 344 pails of Maiback beer (a dark beer originating from Munich) and taking whatever the people could give them, the Swedes left. Obviously, the Munchens were pretty upset with Maximilian, but being that Munich was largely Catholic, Maximilian explained that while abandoning Munich, he and his troops had been praying for Mary's intervention, and because of this, not beer, that Munich was spared. This explanation was embraced, and Mary's column in the town square of Munich exists to this day in memory of the event. Whether or not Mary intereceded on behalf of Munich, it is clear to see that beer is an important part of Munich's history.
But Munich is more than just beer, and there is some beautiful architecture to behold. I'll give a few of my favorite examples:

This is the famous Glockenspiel. It is built into the Munich town hall, and in its day was one of the coolest things ever. It's basically a giant carousel of xylophone chimes, dancing people, and even a joust. However cool it used to be back in the day though, it is painful to watch now, haha. The joust is actually a cool story because it's based on a famous duel between a German and Frenchman that happened in Munich. Guess who won?? Haha.
Munich's history can be seen all over the city, even on the walls.

For instance, when walking around the city you might realize that for as many churches as your see, you don't see any graveyards. The fact though is that much of the city once was a graveyard, and that many buildings were put directly on top of graves. The only remnants of these graveyards are the tombstones of the wealthy or famous that worked their way into the church walls, and they can be seen in various spots all around Munich.
If you visited Munich today, you wouldn't know it, but the truth is that almost the entire city

was destroyed in WW2 as the Nazi base of operations. While the people of Munich were never allowed to admit or even publicly say that the war was going badly for the Nazis, they knew it was, and began to collect blueprints and schematics for every building in Munich. After the war, with generous private donations and the help of the Marshall Plan, Munich was able to be restored to its past beauty. While a painstaking attention to detail can be seen everywhere, a few particular cases stand out. In the 30 years war, a stray cannonball found itself lodged in the wall of a building next to Saint Peter's Church. When the building was destroyed in a bombing run, the cannonball fell to the ground, and was collected by a local. Years after the war, when the city was finally being reconstructed, this local brought the cannonball back, and with the help of an old photograph, the builders were able to lodge the ball back into its previous position.
Saint Peter Catholic Church in Munich. One of the coolest

things about Munich to me is that every building in the city has its own characteristics, charms, and stories that set it apart. For instance, the tower of this church was extended after its initial creation, which is why there are eight clocks on it instead of a more standard four. There is an old Munchen joke that the reason there are eight clocks is so eight different people can tell the time at once. Pretty classic German humor, haha.
This is a famous maypole. Maypoles actually serve two pretty great functions. Number one: if a guy liked a girl back

in the days of old Munich, he would craft her a maypole and leave it for her somewhere, her garden for instance. If she liked it and was game on the idea, they would start dating. If she wasn't too keen on the relationship idea, though, she was still obligated to buy the guy a case of beer. That's what's known as a win-win. Also, on the larger city sense, if one city managed to steal the maypole of another city, the city who had their maypole stolen was, and still is, obligated to throw a huge part for the robbing city in order to get the maypole back. This may sound like a lot of lore, but not too long ago the Munich police officers managed to steal the giant maypole in the Munich airport. As you might expect, the airport workers threw a huge party for the cops, and the pole was promptly returned to them.
This little path of gold bricks may not look like much, but it is actually extremely important in

what is referred to as the Munich passive resistance. Hitler rose to power in Munich, and as such the city was very Nazi-oriented on the government level. To even say that you didn't think the Nazi's did well in a battle, let alone that you disagreed with them, could get you locked in jail or, even worse, sent to a concentration camp. As a result, many Munchens constantly resorted to passive resistance. While you may see this gold path in Munich today, what you won't see is the blockade that once existed just past the path. When Hitler first tried to rise to power, he was resisted. Even after he rose to power
Basically, Munich was a pretty cool place. I think I enjoyed Prague more, just in terms of general attitude (like I said, not big on the alcohol culture), but Munich is definitely a place worth seeing.