Munich Home Exchange and Munich City

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Munich City and Home Exchange

Another holiday and another home exchange!  This time we have exchanged with a family from Munich.  Our apartment is funky, modern and in the center of Pasing, a 1-minute walk to the train station. 

We have arrived during the festival ‘Fashing’.  This festival involves dressing up from the young to the old, enjoying music and dancing.  ‘Fashing’ is a celebration before Ash Wednesday and Lent when people start fasting before Easter, so there is also lots of food. 

To learn about the city of Munich we began with a walking tour of the city, our tour guide was from Dunedin so we understood his accent without any problems. 

Our tour began at New Town Hall where we watched the 11am Rathaus-Glockenspiel which was finished in 1908.  The Glockenspiel re-enacts two stories from the 16^th century with 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures. The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V (who also founded the world famousHofbräuhaus) to Renata of Lorraine. In honour of the happy couple there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria (in white and blue) and Lothringen (in red and white). The Bavarian knightwins every time, of course.

This is then followed by the bottom half and second story: Schäfflertanz (the coopers' dance). According to myth, 1517 was a year of plague in Munich. The coopers are said to have danced through the streets to "bring fresh vitality to fearful dispositions." The coopers remained loyal to the duke, and their dance came to symbolize perseverance and loyalty to authority through difficult times. By tradition, the dance is performed in Munich every seven years. This was described in 1700 as "an age-old custom", but the current dance was defined only in 1871. The dance can be seen during Fasching (German Carnival): the next one is in 2019.

Our tour also took us to Our Church of Our Lady Munich ‘Frauenkirche’, which has a legend about the devil helping to build the church.  The legend says he even left a footprint when he stamped his foot because the builder of the cathedral had outwitted him. 

We also stopped by the National Theater, learned about the King Lugwig II and the origins of Oktoberfest, Hitlers beer hall, visited the royal residence, Church of St Peter and the Hofbrauhaus beer house. 

Not so many photo’s today because it was so cold, but still a full and fun day out in Munich.