Bye-Bye Bayern--and Deutschland and Europa

Munich, September 22-28

On Friday we drove to Munich. where we had begun our ramble six months earlier. We first stopped near Berchtesgaden to visit a beautiful mountain church and then wended our way via autobahn and back road to Schwangau, south of Munich, where Bavaria’s royal Wittelsbach family spent their summer vacations in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Georgia toured Neuschwanstein, “mad” King Ludwig II’s most famous creation. The weather was magnificent—a perfect farewell to the Alps.


Church at Ramsau an der Ache, Berchtesgadener Land


Neuschwanstein

We were the guests in Munich of Dirk and Frauke Mueller and Peter and Gisela Wild, who had helped us launch our ramble back in April. Under their guidance we once again enjoyed the wonders of Munich, which combines high culture with Oktoberfest, the world’s biggest and best beer festival, already well underway by the time of our arrival.

The city was gloriously bedecked for Oktoberfest, and the downtown area near the Marienplatz was crowded with tourists. Our good friend Irene Kohlhaas, the German ambassador and our next door neighbor in Chisinau, flew in from Paris to bid us farewell at a café across Marienplatz from the Rathaus, where we watched the glockenspiel stage an unscheduled performance. We also toured the Residenz, the Wittelsbachers’ huge downtown palace, which has been magnificently restored. There we were particularly impressed by the Antiquarium, a reception hall housing a royal collection of Greek and Roman statuary. Thanks to Peter Wild’s expert tutelage, we were also able to appreciate the medieval treasures in the Bayerisches Staatsmuseum, the Staatsbibliotek, and the Alte Pinakotek, which has an extraordinary collection of Rubens. We celebrated with the Wilds one evening at the Halali restaurant, dating from the 19th Century and close to the U.S. Consulate General, where Todd occasionally lunched in the 1960’s.


Downtown Munich with Michaelskirche


Neues Rathaus on Marienplatz


Munich lion drinking Löwenbräu


With Irene Kohlhaas at the Glockenspiel Café


Antiquarium at the Residenz


The Wilds at Halali restaurant

The Muellers were kind enough to reserve a table for the four of us at the Winzerer Fähndl tent at Oktoberfest so that we were able to participate with a certain degree of respectability--respectability being as useful at Oktoberfest as . . . (well, you fill it in). We will not comment on the following pictures as they speak, perhaps too eloquently, for themselves. We should point out, however: While there are tourists from all over the world in attendance (we even saw a Scottish contingent in kilts), Oktoberfest remains a quintessentially rural Bavarian festival—as one photo attests. The fun is nonetheless shared by university students, who do their drinking while standing on top of the tables.


Löwenbräu team with Bavaria statue in background


Our tent at Oktoberfest


Weisswurst lunch at Oktoberfest


With Dirk and 1-liter krugs of Paulaner beer


Oktoberfest guest


Students at Oktoberfest

In the spirit of Munich, we split our last full day between the Oktoberfest and a properly refined cultural event in the evening—in this case, a performance of Haydn’s “The Creation” in the Herkulessaal of the Residenz, where we were guests of the Wilds. What a way to end six months in Europe!

The next day, Thursday, September 28, we drove with the Muellers and our four overfilled suitcases to the airport. There we bid a very sad farewell to Valeriu, whom Dirk will return to the used car dealer where he was purchased. It’s amazing how attached one can become to a car. Lufthansa surprised us with an upgrade to business class so we are writing this posting in comfort as we head back to North America. We would have said “home,” but after six months in Europe our concept of “home” has broadened to include both continents.


At airport with Dirk, Frauke, and Valeriu