What’s right about Bavaria
Posted April 15, 2008 on 2:56 pm | In the category Uncategorized, Germany | by Mackenzie BrothersMy bother and I recently returned from a lengthy stay in Germany’s most engaging city, Munich, and decided it was time to admit that the citizens of Bavaria have made a wise decision. They have decided to go along with the tourist ploy that Berlin is the city to visit if you are going to make a brief sojourn into that nasty country that only one generation ago came close to wiping out European civilization. For European cities that become apples of tourist organizers’ eyes pay a heavy, sometimes fatal, price for paving their streets with the gold left behind by the hordes. For 8 months of the year, Florence and Venice, surely two of the world’s most splendid cities, cease to exist under the conditions that once made them so splendid, as they are overwhelmed with tourists anxious to have their pictures taken in front of nude David or a yodeling gondolier or two. Really big cities, like New York, Paris or London, not to mention gigantic ones like Shanghai or Tokyo, and even somewhat isolated cities like Stockholm, Vancouver and Helsinki, can brush aside the potential carnage by offering more space than the tourists can fill. But middle size cities like Munich, full of the cultural monuments that tourists crave and sitting right on the main road of the grand tour, run the danger of sinking like Venice.
And so Munich and Bavaria, the beautiful “free state” of which it is the capital, have made a deal that convinces the rest of the world to come in once a year for a couple of weeks in late September and early October and spend its money like drunken sailors, in fact spend their weeks like that as well, and then depart deliriously happy having had a time they can hardly remember. The coffers of Munich bulge at the seams, the countryside round about counts up the spillage from the overflow, and the local citizenry returns to going about its business, having limited the damage to the 17 days of the Oktoberfest, which most of them never visit unless it’s on business, while suggesting that Berlin would be a better place to visit the rest of the year. And off they go. Meanwhile we Münchners and our Upper- and Lower-Bavarian relatives and friends spend the splendid spring, summer and autumn evenings in beer gardens and quiet corners that other places can only dream about, quaffing a liter of Augustiner, Spatenbräu or Paulaner that other breweries , content to spend their money on marketing some kind of liquid that one could not give way under the chestnut trees of Bavaria, cannot even begin to try to copy. So pass the word - be sure to visit Europe’s most wonderful city, but be sure to do it during the Oktoberfest and don’t bother visiting the Hirschgarten, Taxisgarten, or even the Hofbräuhausgarten am Wiener Platz - the other one am Platzl you should definitely visit - because all you’ll find there are boring locals.
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So - the Bruders Mackenzie have apparently taken dual citizenship - splitting time between Canada’s West coast and Bavaria’s not so secret gem. As the owner of Oktoberfest mugs from ten years’ of Fests, I attest to the mind-numbing quality of the event and in fact found that the last Sunday morning of the event was the time to go - the Australians would all be in jail or the Krankenhaus, the Americans would all be sleeping it off at the exits, and the Canadians would be cleaning up the trash.
Comment by jeff — April 18, 2008 #
Munich, is the crown jewel of Bavaria (perhaps even of Germany). Munich is one of the most liveable cities in Germany (much more so than Berlin). Bavarians are known as laid back, down to earth folks, who just want to relax in the Hirschgarten and not be bother by \”Pruessiche Dummkoepfe\”. Although Oktoberfest is fun to attend, it has become much more of a tourist attraction, rather than a party for locals. I would say that the end of Lent celebrations in February (Fasching), are a better representation of Bavarian\’s \”festlichkeit\”. Fasching could be compared to carnival, that northern Germans celebrate, but it has a very distinctive Bavarian feel to it. Bavarian beer (which is served at Fasching) is also much, much better (which one can buy in Portland Oregon), that its northern brethren\’s. Bavarian beer could be compared to a very fine wine from France, Italy or the Willamette valley in Oregon. Northern German beer could be compared to wine you get in a box, or drink from a brown bag. The Summers in Munich are glorious, the beer gardens are full, people swimming in the Isar or sun tanning at the Starnberger See (only 27km from downtown Munich) or swimming at the Dante Bad. As fun as Oktoberfest is, Munich has much more to offer. It is truly one of the great cities of the World (along with Portland, Oregon).
Comment by preacherbbb — April 20, 2008 #
well, been to Portland and lived in Munich - to paraphrase a Texas Senator, now deceased, Portland is no Munich. Nice town though.
Munich: A public transport system better than any in the world - a vegetable market better than any in the world - real bicycle lanes - an honest to God opera, a burial ground in Bogenhausen with Rainer Fassbinder’s remains - a bar on Clemenstrasse where people continue to salute his memory - great restaurants, three or even four generations drinking and eating together at biergartens - a world class vegetable market, an airport that works, and 45 minutes to the mountains. Munich Oh Munich….
Comment by jeff — April 20, 2008 #
Jeff you just described, Portland Oregon-minus the Fassbinder and Opera references. Portland does have an Opera, but no where near the caliber of Munich\’s. I\’m sure the afore mentioned Texas senator was referring to Portland, Maine, and not Portland, Oregon. Texans are not known for their geographical prowess.
Comment by preacherbbb — April 21, 2008 #