Whirlwind Munich

We arrive by train at 7.30 in the morning, sweeping into the city centre at roughly the same rate as the rain. We rub tired eyes, load our bikes with our baggage and retreat to of coffee shop near the station for hot chocolate, cappucino’s and a round of pastries. Then, while we wait for our eyes and the city’s attractions to open, we take a quick tour of the city sights.

Munich is a great place for a flying visit. We have only one overnight stop here before setting off on a long cycle ride to Poland. But although we find enough places of interest to occupy us for weeks, a day or two gives us a flavour of the city. And you don’t need a car to enjoy it (although if you are a fan of the car then don’t miss the city’s excellent BMW museum.) Although it’s the third largest city in Germany, Munich is easily accessible by foot or on bike; and many of the main attractions and places of interest are packed close together.


As in many cities, the main square is a good place to start. Munich’s Marienplatz hosts the Rathaus, the city’s town hall. As the sun comes out, the tourists gather outside it to wait for the bells to chime the hour. When they come, it’s in stereo. Nearby St Peter’s church peals first, building the anticipation across the square. Then the Rathaus delivers, taking up the melody from a tower that stretches high into the clouds. And then, what we’ve all been waiting for; the colourful figures in the clock tower begin to move. In a swirl of red and gold, on foot and on horseback, they dance and love and fight and fall. The crowd chuckles when one of the jousting horseman slumps in his saddle. And then it’s over for another hour; and everyone disperses.


If you fancy another coffee, then the Ratkeller in the Rathaus courtyard provides an atmospheric morning break, but another delight is the nearby food market, the Viktualenmarkt. What once began as a farmer’s market is now a haven for gourmets. The locals are already supping on steins of beer. But it’s too early for us. The Wickes family have a long term cake obsession so we go straight for the erdbeerkuchen (huge slices of strawberry cake.) we also stock up on baguettes and salami. And while we begin our Munich picnic that will last much of the day, we have our family row about which museum to visit. The kids are keen on BMW, Stuart is interested in checking out the Jewish Museum while I wonder if the Deutches Museum might give me an insight into German life. But then we remember a little place we stumbled upon on our way out of the station.


“Whhheeeeeeee!” A small child whizzes past on a tiny wooden chair on four wheels. “Whhooooooh,” another follows. He skids to a halt and grins. Is he old enough to be behind the wheels? He only looks about three. But at Munich’s Kinder und Jugend museum the children are in charge. They even have their own transport in this particular exhibition, which is called Weg Vom Fleck! and is on until November 2011.

This Munich ‘children and young persons’’ museum takes a different theme twice yearly but the philosophy is always the same; “You have to touch and try everything,” says a guide Silke Schuster, explaining the concept of the museum to our children. “It’s the way things work here. It’s the way you learn things. You try it out, and if it doesn’t work you change something.”

Weg Vom Fleck! is all about movement. “How did you come to Munich?” asks Silke. “There are many different ways of getting away from where you stay.” After exploring an ariel view of the city, printed into the carpet they’re standing on, our children grab a wheelie chair each and disappear to drive buses, load container ships, make shoes and build boats. Stuart and I are at a disadvantage in this exhibition, plodding about on two clumsy feet as people less than half our size blast straight past. Some of them are dressed as Nasa engineers, others as explorers. It’s like being in a bizarre, highly charged office. We havr to watch our backs. And our ankles. But we’re soon involved too, helping the children make boats. True to character, ten year old Matthew makes his own version of a cruise ship out of wood, nails and cork. Cameron is no less ambitious, creating an elaborate sailboat with several sails. Hannah is more like me and cobbles together a lolly stick, ten elastic bands and a bit of cloth; declaring it good enough to float. This side of the family were never destined to be engineers. The kids then shoot off to the windmill section (wheeeeeee!) while Stuart and I have a go at trying to squeeze our bottoms into two little wheelie chairs. When it doesn’t work we find two Lufthansa airline seats and relax in those instead.


You could do with a wheelie chair to fly in and out of the posh shops in Munich. There are so many of them on Maximillianstrasse in the city centre. But unless you are seriously loaded, the Jimmy Choo and Luis Vuitton grotto’s of fashion are probably a little beyond your weekend budget. You can resist the temptations of the shoe and handbag by keeping your hands in your pockets and losing yourself for a few hours in the all natural Englischer Garten (English Gardens). This sprawling parkland dotted with little bridges, restaurants and meadows is especially lovely in the sunshine after the rain. The kids say it’s strange to be back on two wheels.

Our hotel for the night is near the station, and we back wander through the Turkish quarter. During the Octoberfest this area can get pretty lively, but today it’s filled with families eating together and shopping for rich dark loaves or aromatic bunches of parsley that rucksacks and carrier bags can barely contain. We stop for some chicken, meatballs and doner kebabs in a canteen style café and the children are entertained by an Alpine display that has a tiny cable car running across it; “Oh, yes, we are in Bavaria now aren’t we?” says Cameron.

Pension Mariandl, our rest stop for the night is also home to a restaurant and piano bar; the Café am Beethovenplatz, which hosts two sessions of live music each day. Now the adults are happy. As we settle down for the evening with a stein or two, on chairs that don’t move, the pianist seems to be enjoying his rendition of ‘Raindrops keep falling on my head’ as much as we are. As the people of Munich spill into the restaurant, snapping shut soggy umbrellas and ordering plates of warming food, we retreat to bed where we drift off to sleep to the sound of the Blue Danube.


For beer lovers, Weihenstephaner, the oldest beer in the world is brewed in Freising a city less than fifty kilometres drive or a short train journey North of Munich. We decide to check it out by bike, and soon bag ourselves a stein of wheat beer and a plate of meatloaf and roast potatoes at the delightful Gasthof Lerner, just out of town. Freising’s brewing tradition goes back 1000 years to the Benedictine monks; the strong beer was developed to help the monks get through the Lenten fast period. Church and tavern still rule today. Brewery tours are a must for the visitor, along with a visit to Freising Cathedral, or the Diocesan museum which is amongst the world’s largest religious museums. The current Pope Benedict XVI has strong connections to the town; he attended the priests’ seminary on Cathedral Hill and was reputed to be one of the most outstanding professors of the institution. He’s still present in a frieze on the wall outside the cathedral that looks down on the city from the hill. He holds out one hand to passing tourists, which our kids are keen to shake. Cameron takes a liking to his bronze stick too, until Matthew exerts some brotherly influence. “You can’t steal from the Pope!”


The children haven’t eaten for at least an hour so it’s off to an Eis Café for ice cream; those elaborate ice cream sculptures that look like full meals and give you your five a day without having to actually eat any. As we head back down the hill on tired feet, I wonder why no one has thought of expanding the use of children’s wheelie chairs to the wider Munich area. It could really catch on, and save a lot of time.