Laura Tanna
A delightful city of one million three hundred thousand people at the foothills of the snow-covered Alpen Mountain Range lies Munich, the capital of Bavaria, the largest State in the Federal Republic of Germany and home to 12 million of Germany's 82 million inhabitants.
777 AD is the first recorded mention of Munichen-"the home of the monks"-though the city of Munchen, as it is known in Europe, wasn't created until 1158 by Henry the Lion.
In honour of hosting the opening ceremony and the opening match of the World Cup this year, artists crafted 500 life-size lions, individually painted in brilliant colours and scattered whimsically throughout the city, decorating it to raise money later at an auction for a children's charity.
Oktoberfest
With six breweries and an annual average consumption of 42 gallons per person, Munich is best known for its beer and Oktoberfest, when joyous throngs flock to Munich for drinking, dancing, singing and sausages.
Many may not realise that parts of this southern German city where Hitler rose to power in 1933 were totally razed by over 70 air attacks during World War II and that 80 percent of Munich was rebuilt after 1945 in the style of pre-war Germany.
Few of the grey, yellow, green, coral or terra cotta structures rise above four stories, creating a stylish cohesiveness in what is a wonderful place in which to live or visit.
Streets are well marked with signs; maps show principle buildings and landmarks while broad tree-lined avenues and pedestrian zones make Munich an orderly place for walking. People actually go to the street corner, stop and wait for traffic signals.
Maximilian Strasse, Munich's most exclusive boulevard, with designer shops and elegant cafes, hosts expensive hotels such as the Kempinski Hotel vier Jahreszeiten or the nearby famous Bayerischer Hof at Promenadeplatz.
Focal point
Despite that, it is Munich's Old Town which provides the city's focal point with two reconstructed green onion-domed clock towers on the the Cathedral of Our Lady (Frauenkirche), just off the pedestrian shopping area of Neuhauser Strasse where one also finds the Jesuit Church of St. Michael (Michaelskirche).
The church was built at the end of the 16th century as a monument to the Counter-Reformation. Remember, Germany is the home of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, so religion plays a major role in its history.
Another area for walking, boating, feeding the ducks and picnicking is the English Garden (Englischer Garten), reputedly the world's largest public park with almost 1,000 acres, stretching three miles along the River Isar.
It encompassing Munich's most popular beer garden, beside a five-tiered Chinese Tower!
Lest you think Bavarians do nothing but drink, shop or attend one of their many remarkable cathedrals, you should also know that Munich boasts superb art museums.
The Alte Pinakothek, com-missioned by Ludwig I and modelled on the Renaissance palaces of Venice, displays European art from the middle-ages to the early 19th century.
The Rubens collection is said to be the world's finest and with 850 Old Masters this is most impressive, though the Neue Pinakothek across the park is more to my liking, with over 1,000 works, from rococo to Art Nouveau, known in Germany as Jugendstil.
I started with coffee in their outdoor cafbeside a pond and flowing fountain, then saw works by European Impressionists not found in other major galleries—and the German Romantic paintings are magnificent!
I missed Pinakothek der Moderne but understand that four major museums are all sheltered within, including the State Gallery of Modern Art, The New Collection, Architecture Museum and the State Graphic Art Collection.
Instead, I thoroughly enjoyed the Lenbachhaus, a beautiful Floren-tine High Renaissance style villa, once home to artist Franz von Lenbach, now home to not only Romantic artists, including Lenbach and my favourite, Lovis Corinth (1858-1925), but also the internationally acclaimed Der Blaue Reiter or Blue Rider group. That group, mind you, has over 300 works by Wassily Kandinsky.
More like a home than an institution, one can purchase food and drink and then carry them into the charming Italian garden complete with fountain and sit on a bench amongst the flowering shrubs, and sculptures.
Munich holds Germany's largest university with over 84,000 students, but it also plays host to Siemens and is corporate headquarters of the Bavarian Motor Works (that's BMW to you and me).
Four cylinders
Their futuristic building north of the city, purposely built to resemble four cylinders in the engine of one of their impressive motor cars, rises across from the equally futuristic Olympic Village with its stunning suspension roofs swooping across the skyline.
This today houses all manner of sports for public use and is marred only by the tragic murders of 11 Israeli athletes by Islamic terrorists in 1972, remembered there still.
Nearby, one can visit Dachau, once a lovely village and summer castle, now a memorial to the tens of thousands who died in the first Nazi concentration camp sited here within two months of Adolf Hitler taking power in 1933.
Massed debris from Munich's bombed, destroyed buildings today create a grass covered hill beyond the Olympic Village, a lookout point beside a man-made lake where swans glide peacefully past a caffor visitors to enjoy the area's awesome vitality.
Most of Munich's 350 hotels are in the medium to lower priced range and can be reserved through www.muenchen-tourist.de the official Munich Tourist Office website with all kinds of useful information.
We stayed at Le Meridien Hotel, booked over the Internet, with excellent modern rooms, conveniently opposite the train station.
We made the mistake of taking a taxi from the airport 17.5 miles away, paying US $100. Our 45-minute return by air-conditioned train cost only US$10 each.
On the train, the concierge recommended Yum Thai Kitchen & Bar (Tel: 089 25 23 06 60 www.yum-thai.de) which was excellent and close to Schrannenhalle, a warehouse converted into a covered area for food and entertainment.
For orientation I took a three-hour Gray Line Sightseeing tour (sightseeing@autobusoberbayern.de or www.autobusoberbayern.de Tel 0700 28786877), leaving near the Bahnhof railroad station, commentary in English, Spanish and German, for US $25 which included a guided visit to Nymphenburg.
Nymphenburg is, the longest palace in Europe on the city's outskirts, with a richness of Baroque architecture and interior design to stagger even the most jaded.
