- Set up camp - remarkable what a positive effect a good camp can have. In a lovely green spot, part of a conservation area beside a river - the air was filled with the sound of the water running past and birds singing in the trees.
- Just made the bus into the city for Third Reich walking tour, which was fantastic - went for three hours and was thick with history.
- We saw Hofbrau, the beer hall where Hitler gave his first real speech and began his rise to power - please tell RU I'm thinking of him, he was very interested in this part of my trip! Unfortunately the hall where the Beer Hall Putsch took place has been demolished and is now a Hilton hotel. A bit disappointed, I really wanted to see that.
Hofbrau - start of Hitler's rise to power. It was incredibly moving to be standing at the site where so many terrible things had their beginning.
- Now sitting on one of the Konigsplatz buildings, to the left of where I'm sitting now is where the burning of the books took place, to the right is Hitler’s Munich office, where the Munich Agreement was struck.
The burning of the books took place in front of the doorway at the left of this picture. Nowadays cyclists ride blithely by.
This building, across the road from Hitler's Munich office and the Koningsplatz, still bears the scars of war - large pock marks show where it was hit by bullets during street fighting as the Americans came through Italy to liberate Munich from the Nazis.
- Munich is really humming today – preparations for a classical music concert in Odeonsplatz, which once upon a time was where an SS lookoutwas set up on the stage, and anyone who didn’t offer the Nazi salute on entering the plaza was recorded by the SS and later investigated and often jailed; a huge boules competition in the nearby garden; and in front of the new town hall, a dance concert performed by people in wheelchairs
- Went down a little back alley, Ducker’s Alley, which was where those who wanted to avoid both giving the salute and jail would sneak past the plaza.
- Past the Bavarian Palace, which was the Munich seat of Bavarian kings for hundreds of years, as well as the state Parliament (JH and JF, found myself wondering how their processes differ from ours - how did that bit of work manage to intrude into my brain while I'm on the other side of the world?!)
- Most people wear modern dress, but every now and then someone walks past in lederhosen, or a dirndl, or a beret, as though it's totally normal - and many shops sell these items of clothing. I was hoping to get EB a tiny dirndl but when she gets old enough to understand she will probably be very glad that they are a little out of my price range so I won't be able to embarrass her in this particular way at this particular stage. :)
- Found an oom-pah-pah band quite by accident in the new town hall - you can see a bit of it (and some of the lederhosen I mentioned) here.
- Really looking forward to staying in one place for a couple of nights, and particularly to a big sleep in tomorrow - I've been up between 4am and 5am most mornings, as this is when the sun comes up (at the other end of the day, the sky still has traces of light in it at 10pm).