Arriving in Munich

In front of the Neues Rathaus (and, unfortunately, some fencing and construction that limited the width of my picture) after our arrival in Munich

Today was largely a travel day. We checked out of our hotel in Berlin and then negotiated the U- and S-Bahns like experienced travelers to get the Hauptbahnhof, where we caught our train to Munich. Famed German efficiency, which has largely been our experience, was not much on display today. The train left over 20 minutes late and, once again, we boarded to find people everywhere but their assigned seats. Ah well. I negotiated with some interlopers in broken German, but for the most part we let them remain in their seats until people started getting off in Leipzig.

On the train to Munich. We're getting good at this!

Although I alternate read and dozed on the 7-some hour trip (we made a lot of stops along the way), we certainly saw some lovely countryside.

After arriving in Munich, my students negotiated a new city and its public transport system like pros. We got checked in to our rooms, and then I took them on two U-Bahns to the Altstadt, or "old town," of Munich.

I was very exited to bring them up from the U-Bahn station into the Marienplatz, eager to see what they thought of this fantastic city. Although all were interested in coming to Munich, I know some of them were wondering why I had added the capital of Bavaria to our itinerary.

It was, to be honest, a fill-in site. Our original plan was to go to Turkey, where both Ephesus and Pergamum fit into our program's purpose ideally. And of course if you are going to Turkey, how can you not go to Istanbul? But with the political instability there, I could not get Turkey approved. As chance had it, I had just returned from the Tabernacle Choir's European tour last summer, and on that tour we had spent several days in Munich, which had served as our base for concerts in Nuremberg, Zurich, and Vienna. On a free day I had discovered the city's museums, and during that stay, I fell in love with the city.

So, as we came up the stairs from the station, I watched my students' eyes grow wide as they looked around the carefully restored and developed area around the platz. The whole traditional center of town is now open only to foot traffic, and more than any other major German city (except for a few notable smaller cities, like the Medieval city of Rothenberg) has been returned to much of its pre-war look.

After telling them somewhat of the history of Munich and pointing out the Mary column, the Rathaus, the Frauenkirche, and other sites in that part of town, we took the group pic at the top of this blog post, and I turned them loose to explore.

I love the night life in a city like this. Rachel and I saw some Jewish musicians playing and selling CD of traditional Kletzmer music, and we saw a number of other musicians and other performance artists.

Next I was eager to take Rachel to a great traditional German restaurant that I had discovered last year, the Augustiner Klosterwirt right next to the Frauenkiche.