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Published: February 11th 2007
Kiwi on the charge
The Kiwi puts away the steins like a seasoned Bavarian.After spending Christmas in France, on December 29th Bevan and I went on to Munich to spend New Years with some good friends of ours, Blair and Kati. I first met Blair 10 years ago in our first year at Canterbury University, but since then we hadn’t seen much of each other so it was great to catch up with him. After Uni Blair was a newly graduated zoologist and headed to Africa to chase Rhinocerous herds and do some exploring. He found the wildlife to his liking and in particular took a shining to a nice German girl called Kati, following her back to Munich to live for a few years.
So when the invitation came in to visit them in Munich for New Years Eve we didn't require any persuading. After all, Munich is the spiritual home of beer drinking and bratwurst (sausages), both worthy of a visit in themselves, but is also a place rich in history to satisfy my nerdy quest for knowledge. We landed in Munich and Blair picked us up at the airport and took us straight to a bottle store to pick up a range of German beers to rehydrate us after our
Town Hall clocktower in Marienplatz
Halfway up you can see the Glockenspiel, where the mechanical figurines dance at certain times of the day. flight. With beer locked and loaded we headed back to their house for lunch, the first of many bavarian meals of rich meats, tasty cheese and German breads.
After a good catch-up over lunch and beers we headed into town for a bit of sightseeing with Blair and Kati as our guides and interpreters. First stop was the University which is very close to the city centre and there we came across a story which I think is an important one to tell. In the 1920s Munich was the birthplace of the Nazi party so I was pretty keen to see as much of that as I could. However what I didn't know was that the city also had many Germans opposed to the regime, and the University was the base of an underground resistance movement called the White Rose. The White Rose was founded by students Hans and
Sophie Scholl, and they risked their lives distributing thousands of anti-Nazi leaflets around Munich and greater Germany, much to the frustration of the Nazi hierachy. Unfortunately in February 1943 Sophie and Hans were caught distributing more leaflets outside a lecture theatre and they were imprisoned by the Gestapo and ultimately executed
Leaflets from the White Rose
Sophie and Hans Scholl were arrested by the Gestapo for distributing these anti-Nazi leaflets, and these are set in the stone pavement outside the University in their honour. by guillotine along with other members of the group. Their story is the subject of a number of feature films and at the University there are monuments and a museum dedicated to their courage. Today the museum is run by 81 year old Franz Muller, who personally knew the Scholls and was one of the White Rose members who was arrested with them. Fortunately he was saved from execution by his blond hair and blue eyes (the Nazis thought him just a misguided young Aryan and imprisoned him instead) and he was in the museum that day and he happily talked to us about his wartime experiences which was very special treat indeed.
From the University we headed to Odeonsplatz, which is a large square in the centre of Munich that also has a somewhat infamous past. Back in his early days Hitler tried to seize power with an armed coup called the
Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. Their march to seize the Defence Ministry escalated into a gunfight with the local police at Odeonsplatz, with Hitler and Goering being injured and arrested. When he subsequently came to power 10 years later, Hitler glorified Odeonsplatz and would hold torch-lit rallies there.
"Chur Chur Bro"
Bev and Blair give the traditional Kiwi toast at the Hofbrauhaus. Needless to say it was a very eerie experience to be standing there and imagining how it must have been 70 years ago.
We walked on to the Marienplatz square which forms the very heart of Munich. There were plenty of locals about and quite a few of them were even dressed in the traditional Bavarian dress of lederhosen for the gents and brightly coloured "dirndis" outfits for the girls (on the video Kati is wearing a dirndis). The town hall clocktower with its Glockenspiel dancers is the main feature of Marienplatz and at certain times of the day the figurines dance and knights on horseback come out and joust.
By this time we were feeling quite parched so we headed to the legendary Hofbräuhaus beer hall - for as the sign above the door says, "Thirst is worse than homesickness". I have been to my fair share of Irish pubs and Belgian beer bars in my time, but for the quintessential place to consume beer I really can't go far past a Bavarian beer hall. They are purpose built to facillitate the consumption of beer, with big long tables which each have an attentive beer waitress assigned
Prost!
Kati and I charge our Steins at the Hofbrauhaus. to them. But you get the impression that beer halls are more than just the local drinking hole for Bavarians, who go there primarily to socialise rather than as a venue to get hammered (like you might in NZ!). They even have this word "gemüdlichkeit" which doesn't really have an English language equivalent but basically means the atmosphere of enjoying a good beer and good food with good mates and generally enjoying the cheerful drinking experience. While we were there the entire hall would spontaneously burst into German beer drinking songs which everyone joins in on, the most popular (and thankfully simple to remember) being Ein Prosit:
Ein prosit, ein prosit die gemüdlichkeit.
Ein prosit, ein prosit die gemütlichkeit ... EINZ, ZWEI, DREI - SUFFA! (A toast, a toast, that good/cheerful feeling.
A toast, a toast, that good/cheerful feeling … ONE, TWO, THREE - DRINK!) The German word for cheers is "prost", and the local drinking customs require the clinking together of steins and a collective PROST about every 10 minutes or so. Some Germans at our table asked me whether we say "cheers" like the English do, which put me in a quandry as
Ice Ice Baby
Kiwi scopes out the talent at the skating rink. I really didn't want to say that we copied the Poms. With a large slice of poetic licence I told them that in NZ we say
"chur chur bro", as that is like saying cheers twice and calling your drinking partner your brother. That seemed to make sense to them and they loved it, calling a few more "chur chur bro" toasts before the night was through.
The next day Blair and I headed back into town for more of a look around. We stopped by an outdoor skating rink for a mulled wine or two and then continued into town to do some shopping and so on, although that proved to be thirsty work and we retired to another beer hall for the afternoon. The Augustiner beer hall is far less touristy than the Hofbräuhaus, which means that more of the locals tend to go there. Blair and I squeezed into the middle of a long table between two big groups and we quickly downed our first Mass (the big full litre glass steins). I got the Kiwi out for some photos and the effect on the locals was amazing. I thought I was obsessed with the Kiwi
Getting that last drop
The Kiwi goes diving to mop up the dregs in another empty stein. What a little boozer. but the Germans loved it - for an inanimate soft toy, the little fella has this charisma that charms foreigners wherever we go! He was passed all along the table and they had their photos taken with the Kiwi balanced on their heads or drinking from their glasses. The Kiwi was such a hit that even a passing beer waitress had a photo kissing him. They were all keen to meet us and talk about New Zealand, so luckily Blair was there to translate for me. Evidently most of the Kiwis who come to Munich do so during Oktoberfest and are too busy getting hammered to talk much to the locals!
The next day was New Years Eve and Blair and Kati had organised for a group of their friends to come over for dinner and drinks before we all headed out to celebrate. Dinner was to be a traditional Bavarian meal of meats and cheeses all cooked together on a Raclette (see the photos to get a better idea). We three boys were asked to make a traditional NZ dish for dessert, so we rustled up a couple of pavlovas for them. Cooking pavlova isn't easy at the
How you doin?
A beer waitress at the Augustiner beer hall took quite a shining to our furry little hero. best of times but between us we did a pretty good job and our kiwifruit pavs scored some major points with the locals.
After dinner we headed out to a pub for a couple of hours for some drinks and more chur chur bro toasts. Just before midnight everyone piled out onto the street and everywhere you looked people were lighting fireworks to celebrate the new year. We had been asked to a haka all night, so after the countdown Bev, Blair and I launched into an impromptu haka in the middle of the street. Drunken midnight hakas are usually a shambles and I expect this one was no exception, although the locals loved it. With 2007 upon us we were all pretty fired up and we went on to another bar where we continued to toast the new year in and dominated the dance floor. The night ended with the bar closing at 6.30am and we made it back to Blair and Kati's exhausted but happy.
Later that day Bev and I flew back to London and reflected on a great New Years Eve. We had managed to have a good catch-up with some old friends, make
Pav-tastic!
Applying the finishing touches to our pavlovas. The kiwifruit slices added a touch of class. some new friends and above all have a superb time in Munich. It's a city that I will definitely be returning to and out of a field including Athens, Paris and Barcelona, I would even go as far as saying that its my favourite European city so far. Finally a big thanks to Blair and Kati for being such great hosts and ensuring that we had such a great time in Munich!
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David Tripe
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Feldernhalle
The statue in the middle at the front of the Feldernhalle commemorates the death of Graf (Count) Tilly, who was the imperial (Austrian/Bavarian) general who lost a battle (and his life) against the Swedish army at the River Lech (near Augsburg) in 1631. Following their victory, the Swedish army sacked Munich (which explains the relative dearth of older buildings).