We had great conversation and headed back tired. It was raining and we took a couple of goofy pictures and I even found a funny sign on the way home. It was around 10 and we said goodbye to Katie who was getting the night train to Paris. I hope to meet up with her again, she was awesome. I had a good night of sleep but woke up early.
The three of us roommates headed to the free walking tour in the morning and met up with a Quebecian, Francais. It was a very nice tour and I learned a lot about the city like the old town hall is newer then the new town hall. The glockenspiel is #2 most disappointing tourist attractions in Europe. I found it amusing because my guide was making fun of it in the best possible way. Not much happens; it tells the story of the wedding, has a joist go around twice, once for show, the second time to show the winner. Then they have the jester thrusting which is inappropriate as people would send their kids to him while they were getting drunk. He would even put paint on their noses…lead paint. Also, there are barrel makers dancing around, this is because during the Plague people stopped going out and so they stopped drinking beer. These barrel makers were losing their jobs and to try to get people to go out again they would go into the streets and dance. Somehow this worked, but of course the plague was not over and the barrel makers were the largest group to die of the plague…
We went all around and I learned some new things. It was a bit disappointing because I felt like the guide (sadly, name Stacey) was trying way too hard and forcing a joking manner. Anyway, this joking was to such an extreme that I could not tell the real parts versus her just trying to be funny – as a guide, this is not such a good thing.
King Ludwig got married and gave a field to his wife. She was not so impressed until he said that they should have the wedding there. It was an amazing wedding and the next year people were still talking about it. They decided to host another party and even bring in agricultural venders. As the party grew they left out the venders and began to use local items such as beer. It is because of Ludwig I that we have Oktoberfest. One interesting fact is that Munich has a population of 1.7 million people; during Oktoberfest that number rises to 6 – 7 million. I found that incredible. Ludwig II came into the throne at the age of 18 and wound up building castles with all of the money. People were not pleased with him and even though he was off of his rocker a bit – but he seemed to be an eccentric man who had the rumors start up as a way to get him off of the throne. He died mysteriously in 4 feet of water with his psychologist (he was an excellent swimmer). The end.
There was lots more that I learned but I am a bit too tired to really write about it now (sorry). We did place this church which is beautiful.
It had a funny sign outside of it. They say men are tempted to do the devil’s work when they have their hands in their pockets so it is not allowed in here.
When you enter the church this is the first thing you see.
It is beautiful though, very elaborate.
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