Bavaria, July 4 - 18, 2014

Munich was our last—and longest—stop, as it remains one of our favorite cities, which we have visited often.   The Consulate General was Todd’s first Foreign Service post, and a number of friends date from that time, now 50 years in the past.   We were fortunate to find a hotel in Unterhaching, a southeast suburb with good stores and restaurants.  With an S-Bahn station a five-minute walk away, we could be in Marienplatz, the heart of Munich, in less than half an hour.

Sicilian restaurant where we dined in Unterhaching

Marienplatz

"New" Rathaus on Marienplatz

The weather improved later during our visit, but rain dogged us during a three-day excursion to the Allgäu, a vacation area southwest of Munich.   There we were the guests of Joachim and Irene von Feilitzsch, who have a vacation home at the foot of the Alps.  We were able to ride up into the mountains one day before lightning closed the cable car.  The next day was spent touring nearby sights, including Linderhof, our favorite of “mad” King Ludwig II’s castles, for its smaller scale makes it seem more livable despite its Baroque ostentation.   Nonetheless, Ludwig spent few nights there.

 View from balcony at von Feilitzsch vacation home

With Joachim and Irene in the Alps

Linderhof Castle

Dining in Munich was a treat with food varying from Bavarian specialties to haute cuisine.  We went one evening to a  forest gasthof outside the city, where the Bavarian fare was complimented by an herb salad with an extraordinary dressing, the best we had eaten during our travels.  This course was followed by a delicious sorbet made from (Georgia guessed correctly) celery and apples.   Ben and Jerry, take note!

With Dirk and Frauke Müller outside Forsthaus Kasten 

For our Big Night Out, we dined at the Halali, a small upscale game restaurant behind the U.S. Consulate General which Vice Consul Stewart enjoyed when he could afford it.  The food, service, and atmosphere (e.g., chamois horns on the walls) were as good as he remembered.  After dinner we walked to the royal Residenz for a performance of opera selections in the Cuvilliés-Theater, a Baroque jewel seating just a few hundred people.   The young performers, including three Americans, acted as well as sang in an engaging ensemble esprit.  

Royal box at Cuvilliés-Theater

Marienplatz by night

The Cuvilliés-Theater performance was followed a few day later by La Bohème, performed in what the producers claim is Munich’s smallest opera stage, a raised platform in the corner of the grounds of a former monastery.   The 10-piece orchestra was seated under an awning in case of rain, but the action was not restricted to the stage as singers popped up in the audience and an adjoining part of the monastery wall.  While costumes were basic and there were no sets, the singing was excellent, particularly Mimi, an American soprano.

Frauke with La Bohème tickets

As the weather improved, we were able to make further excursions out of town.   Our good friends Dirk and Frauke Müller drove us to see Herrenchiemsee, King Ludwig’s copy of Versailles (his Hall of Mirrors is actually longer than Louis XIV’s) reachable by ferry in the middle of the Chiemsee, a lake southeast of Munich.   The following day more good friends, Peter and Gisela Wild, took us south of Munich to visit the Schäftlarn Monastery, whose beautiful garden rivals its Baroque interior; a museum devoted to Franz Marc; and a house Vassily Kandinsky shared with fellow artist Gabriele Münter before World War I.  (Kandinsky’s art from that period is in a Munich museum, but the house contains furniture painted by Kandinsky in a Bavarian country style.)  Another highlight of that second trip was lunch in a restaurant overlooking the Walchensee, an Alpine lake near the Austrian border, which provided the fish for our meal.

Herrenchiemsee Palace

Schäftlarn Monastery

Walchensee

With Peter and Gisela at Walchensee restaurant

Elmau resort, site of G-7 (or maybe G-8) summit in 2015

We were in Bavaria during the final rounds of the World Cup, when every German’s eyes were focused on telecasts from Brazil.  To say that football fever gripped the country would be an understatement, for the black-red-and gold federal flag flew from homes, cars, and bicycles.  (This was all the more significant in Bavaria, where the state’s white-blue flag is usually more prevalent than the national banner.)  We happened to be in Schweinfurt, in northern Bavaria, visiting our good friends Fritz and Mary Ritzmann the night of the final (Germany vs. Argentina if you were living in a cave) so we watched with our hosts, their five children, Mary’s sister Anna, and her daughter.   When Germany won in overtime, we opened the house doors to hear the celebratory noise coming all the way from downtown Schweinfurt.

Car of German soccer fan

With Ritzmann family for the World Cup final match