Yes! There's free breakfast at the hostel.
It was a compliment thing the recep gave us
She missed out the discount entitled to us for the ISIC card
If you are going on exchange, go get the ISIC card from STA travel
It's definitely worth it, entitles you to lots of discounts WORLDWIDE
Our faces glowed when we saw all the cheese.salami.ham.chocolate sauce!
Had a REALLY FULL breakfast because we were about to embark on a walking tour
We discover this really cool Free Walking tour.
Actually, it isn't really FREE.
It works on a tips basis rather than the conventional way of paying ahead
Our guide was nice and knowledgable.
He was humorous too and really explained a lot on Munich.
That's where I get all those info on city of monks, hilter blah blah.
Covered almost all the major attractions in Munich I'd say.
1st on the list-Glockenspiel
Named as one of the most overrated shows on earth
I look at it otherwise.
I'd say the astronomical clock and anchor clock was much worst
At least glockenspiel played nice music
It's a "show" that takes place at the tower of the New town hall at Marienplatz
Everyday at 12 noon and 5 p.m
I notice something about the European countries.
Like Germany, Austria, Czech and Eastern Europe-they have town halls
I don't see them in Scandinavian countries at least.
I wonder how the Mediterranean ones are like?
Old Town Hall
New Town Hall
Back to Glockenspiel-there are 2 different shows:
1st represents the renowned wedding festival of some royalty
The names are alien to me though haha...
The interesting thing is there's this part where a Bavarian knight fights an Austrian one
Catch the video and you will see the outcome as to who wins.
There's some stint in it. It's a secret.
If you want to know, ask me? haha...
The video is beautiful because it was snowing when the time I was recording.
Blue knight-Bavarian. Red & White knight-Austrian
2nd represents the famous Cooper's Dance
It was in celebration for the end of a bad epidemic of a plague by barrel makers
The Coopers (a tribe or troupe I think) come out of their houses to do the dance every 7 years
The last one was in March 2005.
Interested parties, let's go in 2012!
Apparently there's supposed to be a FINALE for the show
But I didn't catch it because the tour guide says it's not worth waiting 5 mins for it
We had to continue with our tour
If you are interested, go to YOUTUBE and type Glockenspiel. haha..
You can hear the guide's commentary in the background if your ears are sharp enough.
The next stop was the Church of Our Lady.
There's a devil's story behind this Church.
Remember Munich used to be populated with monasteries?
There were lots of churches being built when the Bavarians came
The Master Architect of the Church had made a promise that he will complete the building within 10 years
Halfway through the construction, the devil saw it!
He was like "What? Church again?"
So he decided to play some dirty tricks and halt the construction
But he noticed something different about this church
It didn't have its windows installed yet
So he went to look for the MA of the church and reached an agreement with him
The MA was behind his schedule and the devil promised to help him build the church
Provided that he didn't install any new windows
After the construction was finally completed
The devil went into the church but to his HORROR
He saw a million of windows in the church
He was annoyed and summoned the MA
Didn't you promise that you will not install windows in this church?
The MA took out the contract, brought the devil back to the spot where he left his thumbprint and started explaining
"I didn't breach the contract because I didn't install any new windows. Those windows were already there before we signed the contract. It's just that you didn't notice them!"
Angry, Pissed off, the devil STOMPED his foot and left his footprint right at the entrance.
View from the spot where the devil stood-No windows, ain't there?

Yeah, it's just a story. It's up to us to believe.
But indeed, there's really the footprint and I stood right at that spot.
I couldn't see a SINGLE window!
There's more to this Church of our LADY.
It was left intact and not BOMBED by the Allied forces during WWII
The reason was that it was the tallest building in the City of Munich back then (even till now)
The allied forces used it as a navigation point. SMART. :)
So till today, in order to preserve it as the highest building in Munich's skyline
No new buildings can be made taller than it.
Church of our Lady dominating the skyline of Munich-The 2 onion-shaped like structures

St Peter's Church was up next.
Oldest Church in Munich and they have a bell tower.
After the tour, Kim & I went separate ways
I wanted to go to Da Chau Concentration Camp but she didn't want to
She wanted shopping so we split ways
Ended up I was late for the video so decided to skip
Went to the tower of St Peter's Church myself!
Freaking 306 Steps I'd to climb.
Catch the video and you'll see me panting
## ChinBoon, I was training for Fan Xi Pan! haha.... ##
The view was magnificent honestly.
But it was windy and of course COLD!
They say you can see the Austrian ALPS from the tower
But the sky wasn't clear that afternoon so I guess not.
St Peter's Church
The Magnificent view!
Before the tour break off for break,
We went to the Viktualien Market
It's an open-air market, one of the biggest in Munich
It originated as a flea-market
Food was sold mainly-Cheese!! Pretzels!! Pastries!! Chocolates!!
Simply Irresistible but we only looked.
Went off to look for my BIRKS instead.
Viktualien market
Before we ended the tour, we traced Hitler's route in 1923 when he first tried to stage an upriseInteresting Story- He recruited one of the officers during WWI and made him host of an uprising gathering at the famous Hofbrauhaus. Hitler had held hostage of key military personnel and was planning to use these hostages as a bargaining chip.
That officer being a patriotic German and Drunk, bought those hostages' stories to let them go home to change into their military uniform. In fact, they were trying to ESCAPE.
You must be wondering why didn't Hilter stop the escape?
He was in meeting with the future Nazi's leaders and had entrusted those hostages to him. With the hostages escaped, Hitler was in DEEP SHIT and had to escape! He hid in the beer house for a night and the next morning, he managed to convince crowds of germans with his eloquence to back him to stage an uprise. They paraded through this street which later became the Dodger's Alley. Hilter's bodyguard actually took 11 bullets for HIM along this street! AMAZING!
However, at the corner of that street, Barbed wires, military stoppages were all in place. In the end, Hitler cowardly ran away by himself in the opposite direction, leaving the crowd of protestors to face the military and punishment for decent. Hitler himself found an ambulance and used his pistol to take control of the ambulance and escaped from Munich!
A break from all the reading-Just a typical mischievous pic of me-tongue out for the snow!
In total, 16 Nazis died during that parade but actually 1 of them was a waiter who had just finished work from a cafe nearby and was an innocent victim. But the Nazis used him to inflat the numbers. When Hitler came into power in 1933, he made everyone who passed by the street perpendicular to that alley to salute and shout "Hail Hitler" as respect for the 16 dead Nazis in 1923.
How stupid can that be?! There was even a commemoration plaque.
Whether you forgot or you refuse to do it, you'll be beaten by those soldiers standing guard at the plaque! Imagine-soldiers guarding the street to make sure everyone salute! Of course there were lots of Germans back then who weren't for NAZIS So they tried to dodge that main street and took that dodger's alley!
That's the spot for the plaque

That's how its name came about. However, the Nazis noticed it soon and started sending spies to identify the "dodgers". Today, no more commemoration plaque, instead there's now a golden line along the dodger's alley. It was put in place in memory of those dodgers who silently protested against the Nazis.
Dodger's Alley & the Golden Line
The tour finally ended at the National theatre and the Royal residences of Munich. We had more than enough visits of Royal palaces so we skipped.
National Theatre
After Kim & i split ways, I went to the St Peter's Church like mentioned earlier
Also, I checked out the Olympia Park & the BMW museum!
Last but not least, the Arena-Biggest Football stadium-home to Bayern Munich & another small club
The Olympia Park was INSANELY HUGE
I spent almost 1.5 hours there walking around
There wasn't much ongoing, more or less dead
But I could picture how the place would look like if the Olympics were on
It would be like a fiesta~~
Sunny and bright day....
Kids running around with Ice creams and candies in their hands
Adults and teenagers putting on their respective sports jerseys
Elderly having tickets to matches or competitions in their hands
People from all around the world gathered to support their fellowmen
Flags and Banners of all nations
National songs and music all around~~
Caught people swimming in the Olympic Size POOL!
Saw teenagers playing Indoor soccer!
Olympia Park from afar!
Totally mesmerized by those BMWs.
How I wish I could bring one back
I would spray my name 71 on the car
With all the bodykit and spoiler
Decorate it with all my ManUtd accessories
Made the interior comfortable and cosy like home....
I am dreaming........
It was a long journey to the Arena.
Way out of the city centre
I didn't walk all the way there because it was late
I had to meet Kim back at hostel and can't afford to be late
Took photo from afar though
Seeing it being lit up was really cool though.....
Arena!
Dined at Hofbrauhaus once again
This time, we drank the beers!
I wanted a 1-litre to myself but Kim couldn't down 1-l
So in the end, I shared one with her
The beer was nice! It's a bit sweet yet it had the beer fragrance~~
Had the german sausages~~ woohoo!
Met this group of Spanish students who are studying in Munich
They were engineering students.
Germany is famous for their engineering courses!
Check out the rooftop of the beer house-Bavarian flag
So all the Engineering boys-you know where to go for exchange don't you?
Ended the long day FINALLY & back to sleep....
Auf Wiedersehen München, Hallo Salzburg!


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