In the Land of Wurst, Lederhosen and Beer





Original part of Munich: notice the coocoo clock



 Turns out, not all of Germany is the same. Yes, like most countries, each region is different. Right now I'm in Barvaria, where wurst. lederhosen and beer dominate. It is interesting that the stereotypes that we think of Germany are really only concentrated in the southernmost part. Fun fact: Bavaria wanted to split from Germany and become its own country, but one man prevented this from occuring. This man was Adolf Hitler, and he wanted to keep the birthplace of the Nazi movement in Germany. I'm embarrassed to admit how little I knew about Munich until I got to my hostel too early to check in and went on the free tour to kill some time. The tour was not a waste of time at all.

Just like my previous Madrid/Barcelona connection to Chicago/New York, there is also a great contrast between Munich and Berlin. Munich is the older, conservative, Catholic, more subtle city with a lot of national pride for Barvaria. Berlin is the younger, liberal, Protestant, flashy city that everyone runs to visit for the history. At least, this is the dynamic that my tour guide, Ozzie, established for us. I'm going to keep my judgements open for right now. I really enjoy Munich, but there are still some things about the place that nag at me. The way Munich treats its past is much more assumed and seems a little repressed. I suppose it is difficult to deal with the past filled with Nazism, but it is a little eery how you would have to know where to look for memorials (most commonly on the ground) in order to find and appreciate them.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

Aside from that, Munich is everything I supposed Germany to be. Traditional clothing gets its own department in department stores, it is a Bavarian constitutional right to have a liter of beer at work and not be fired for it, pork sausage and pretzels are everywhere you turn, and beer halls are the most popular place to be no matter what time of day. It is actually a wonder, and an ongoing debate between three of my Aussie friends and me, about how southern Germany isn't obese. They think it's because they shiver off all the weight; I counter that shivering doesn't help Chicago, and it isn't even that cold here.

Beer Hall!