Munich, Germany: a beautiful city with some sordid history

Depending on your age, the city of Munich, Germany may invoke memories of World War II or the 1972 Summer Olympic Games.

I grew up loving the Olympics and studying the history of the games. For me, Munich invoked thoughts of the terrorism of the '72 Games. My visit changed my viewpoint.

I knew that Munich was one of the major cities of Germany. I didn't know that it sits in the state of Bavaria and is home to the original Oktoberfest.

In fact, our guide Alex informed us that no other place in Germany celebrates the famous beer festival. It was also the headquarters of the Nazi regime and its leader Adolf Hitler.

We were reminded of the various sides of Munich as we toured around.

We saw beauty such as the Nymphenburg Palace. It was built by Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria, as a gift to his wife Henriette upon the birth of their son Maximilian.

The garden behind the main palace building is full of sculptures of Greek gods such as Poseidon and Venus. The palace, as it stands today, is not the same one built by Ferdinand.

Once Maximilian was old enough, he was sent to spend time at the French court. He was enamored with the beauty of the royal palace at Versailles. When he returned to Munich, he had the palace altered to look more like the French palace.

This summer palace had smaller "houses," which were more like mini-palaces, built for visiting dignitaries. I asked if we could stay in one of them instead of our hotel. No was the answer. They are now used as offices by various Munich businesses.

After our tour of the palace, we were taken on a driving tour of the city. Our city guide, Cassandra, told us about the various buildings as we passed by them. She told us that many of the buildings had been commandeered by the Nazis during WWII.

As we passed by a building that wasn't all that impressive, she told us it was Hitler's personal headquarters. It was eerie sitting in a bus casually driving by the former offices of a man who had done so much damage to Europe.

After the driving tour, we stopped by Munich's famous Glockenspiel which displays a jousting match between a French knight and a Bavarian knight. The Glockenspiel sits atop city hall, which was built in the late 1800s.

The building sits in a very busy town square. Everyone stops what they are doing to watch the mechanical knights fight each other and cheer on the Bavarian knight.

I was later shown a photo taken during WWII of the same city hall but with a red Nazi flag flying from below the Glockenspiel. Once again, the beauty of the city was met with the harsh reality of its sad history.

On a lighter note, we were given an opportunity to visit two places in Munich that were of particular interest to our group. First was BMW World, which was located right across the street from the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium).

The stadium, which resembles a large tent, was built for the 1972 games. I had hoped to pay a visit to the stadium but instead had to settle for looking at new BMW cars and motorcycles up close.

The second place our group was looking forward to seeing was the Hofbräuhaus München, which basically translates into Munich Brew-house. This three-floor beer hall dates back to the 16th century and provides traditional Bavarian food and drinks.

We were also treated to live polka music and dancing. The two dances we were treated to were very different from each other and interesting.

The first dance was by a couple. The girl would spin without stopping around the man as he kicked up his legs and slapped his feet. The second dance was just the man. He swung a whip around to music.

It was extremely loud and a little scary. One of my students, Andrew, made friends with the accordion player Max, and not only took a photo with him but got his autograph on a T-shirt after the performance.

My few days in Munich gave me a sense of the rich and varied history of this city. While it has been darkened by two well-known tragedies, this city continues to rise above the ashes.

If you ever plan a trip to Europe, I suggest visiting Munich and taking time to see the different sides to this city. It will be time well spent.