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| The New City Hall |
After a stay of about a month in Switzerland we were ready for a brief
tour of Europe. We had bought Eurail passes in India which allowed us 14 days’
unlimited travel over any of the European railways, including the high speed
French Train a Grande Vitesse (TGVs), in 1 Class. Unlike today, in 1987 TGV
used to run between very few stations. We had a service from Paris to Geneva
and back. For other places one had to use reasonably fast inter-city express trains
of various countries
Our first target was Munich in Germany – a journey of around 7 hours. We
did it in day-time. Interestingly for us the train passed through a place in
Switzerland named Winterthur. I was reminded of my second brother who used to
have a pen-friend in this town back in mid-1940s. His name was Kurt Senft. The
concept of establishing friendships with persons living elsewhere, even abroad,
through letters has apparently died down. With the advancement of information
technology none probably ever writes letters, particularly hand-written ones.
But in those days pen-friendship was promoted not only by parents but
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| My wife in the trai at Winterthur station |
also by
schools. And there used to be ads in the newspapers of individuals seeking
pen-friends from distant towns and countries. My brother was very good at
writing letters and he used to write long ones to Kurt. As luck would have it,
a few years later, in 1952-53, he happened to be in Frankfurt when he seems to
have nipped across to Winterthur to meet his pen-friend. He described to us his
joyous meeting with Kurt in one of his interesting letters.
We reached Munich by late afternoon. It was a pretty big station and
plumb in the middle of a huge foyer we came across a large assemblage of
Indian-looking men and women. Eventually, it turned out that they were Sri
Lankan Tamils who were there to seek
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| Another view of New City Hall |
refuge. Perhaps, the crackdown on LTTE Tamils
had started in right earnest and they had fled from Sri Lanka to seek refuge in
Germany. Surprisingly, as I write this, Munich has again been forced to accept
large number of refugees (called migrants by Europeans), this time, however,
from the Middle-East, especially from Syria with the ISIS occupying large parts
of the country.
In Munich our lodgings had been fixed in a pension, a term not really heard very much these days. Used generally
in the Continent of Europe, pensions
are kind of guest houses run by a families in their respective residences, a
structure that could be a heritage one or an ordinary one. These also provide
breakfast and other meals,
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| Frauenkirsche, the cathedral dedicated to St. Mary |
depending on the requisitions of the guests. They
provide an alternative to hotels and other lodgings to cut costs. Our elderly
landlady was a little sticky about payment of rent. She wanted the entire amount
in advance. Perhaps she had been cheated earlier. Our booking was in a pension in an ordinary house and
included breakfast which meant a morning cup of tea/coffee bread and butter
with eggs. In England these are known as B&B (bread & breakfast)
joints. In our later trips to Europe we found that the frugal breakfasts have
yielded place to lavish spreads, almost in as good a scale as those of hotels.
Known in German as Munchen, Munich is the capital of the province of
Bavaria and is the third biggest city of Germany after Berlin and Hamburg.
Located on the banks of River Isar it is a more than a millennium old city.
Deriving its name from monks, Munich had been a centre of Counter-Reformation
movements. It
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| At the Nymphenburg Palace |
has been a centre of arts, culture and science since the 19th
Century as well. Later, it became a place of prominence as the Nazi Party was
founded here. There is much in the city for those who are interested in the
city’s recent history. Around 80% of it was destroyed in the air attacks during
World War II. Lots of tourists come to compare various parts of the city with
the old photographs and figure out the changes. All that was not possible for
us in our 48 hours stay besides the shoe-string that we were tied to.
It was a dark and murky evening when we set off for Marienplatz – a
square that has been named after St. Mary. It is the main square in the city
that has been in existence since the 12th Century. It is dominated
by the New City Hall (neues Rathaus) and huge grounds
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| The Palace gardens |
in front of it has mostly
tourist milling around to see and hear the musical tower clock. It was built
between 1867 and 1908. Built in Gothic Revival Architectural Style it is a
massive construction of around 10000 square metres with about 400 rooms. The
basement has a restaurant and the ground floor has some business houses and
tourist information Centre. The tower – all of its 85 metres – can be accessed
by an elevator. The clock on the tower plays music at specific timings with
what is known as Rathaus-Glockenspiel. At those times the concentration of
tourists on the open spaces is to be seen to be believed. The grounds in front
were used centuries beck to host sporting tournaments. A Marian Column, erected
in 17th Century is located in the Centre. It was erected in
commemoration of end of the Swedish occupation in the 17th Century.
Another beautiful structure in Marienplatz is the church that is known
as Frauenkirche – the Cathedral of Our Dear Lady. It serves as the cathedral of
Archdiocese of Munich. It is no less a landmark
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| One more view of New City Hall |
than the New City Hall. With
its 99 metres tall twin towers, or more appropriately the spires, it is visible
from practically all locations in Munich. It was built in 20 years from 1468 to
1488. Though a gothic structure, the towers are, however, not in the same
style. Scarcity of funds did not allow Gothic embellishments and eventually
they were capped by the two domes, modelled on the Dome of the Rock in
Jerusalem.
A few miles away from where we were located is the Nymphenburg Palace. A
palace built by the members of the House of Savoy who ruled over Bavaria,
Nymphenburg Palace (palace of the nymphs) is so extensive that it is impossible
to cover it in a day. The attractive baroque architecture along with extensive
well-laid out gardens, parks and lakes with fountains, it is indeed kind of a
paradise – fit indeed for
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| Two of us on the Palace grounds |
nymphs. The Palace and several pavilions were
designed by Italian architects over a few decades as and when additions were
made to the original structure. There is so much to see especially of the
affluent and opulent Duchy which never seems to have shrunk from displaying its
wealth. It is a veritable feast for the eyes.
Munich
is known for its museums, especially the Deutsches Museum which is reputed to
be the world’s largest of science and technology. But we just didn’t have time
as we had to leave for our next stop, Vienna
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