BRATKARTOFFELN

We visited Munich this summer on our way to Zagreb. A friend of Debeli lives there for a couple of years now so we decided to kill two birds with one stone: visit her and a capital of Bavaria as well. I had a bunch of stuff planned to visit, but we did only two of that. Nevertheless, I’m satisfied. We really liked having our friends as guides, so we enjoyed their company and suggestions.

Munich is huge! And loud! Comparing to Oslo. Living in the center here means you’re downtown in 20 minutes. If you wish to go to the city center of Munich and you live in ‘’the center’’ that means twice as much walking.

Bavaria’s capital lays is located on the River Isar, north of the Bavarian Alps, and it counts over two and a half million inhabitants in the wider urban area. We probably met them all those couple of days 🙂

The first inhabitants of Munich were the monks of the Benedictine order, and they had a monastery at the place that was later to become the Old Town of Munich. That’s why the monk is depicted on the city’s coat of arms.

At first Munich was the main city on the road used for selling and transportation of salt, but during the time of King Ludwig I in the 19th century the city was cultural and artistic center. Today most of us recognizes Munich just for the beer. And maybe a BMW.

Rathaus
Victuals Market

At first I was planing on visiting all the galleries in the museum district, but after negotiating discussing, and remembering quite difficult visit to Milan, we agreed upon just two things: Neue Pinakotek and Dachau. What must be done must be done.

The New Pinakotek is located in the Kunstareal artistic quarter, next to the Old and Modern Pinakothek, and the main focus of the gallery is on the art of 18th and 19th century.

The museum was opened in 1981 but it was founded by former Bavarian king Ludwig I way before. Ludwig was a huge collector of romantic paintings, Greek landscapes and works of the Munich art school. At the beginning of the 20th century, the museum director, Hugo von Tschudi, bought some of the most significant works of Impressionism and Post-impressionism. That was what attracted us after all.

Marino Marini, Miracolo, 1959
John Constable, A view to a Dedham valley, 1815
Friedrich Overbeck, Italy and Germany, 1828
Bertel Torvaldsen, Adonis, 1808
Caspar David Friedrich, Riesengebirge in the fog, 1819

Neue Pinakotek is a home to four artworks of Van Gogh’s that he painted between 1884 and 1890, but, actually, we came just for the Sunflowers. It’s a cliche, I know, but what can I do when I love it <3

Sunflowers were painted in the summer of 1888 during Van Gogh’s stay in Arles, where he worked with Paul Gauguin. These ones in Munich are not the only sunflowers Vincent painted. They are one of the few studies he’s, but I think this version of a twelve yellowish flowers on a turquoise background are really his masterpiece on the subject.

Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, 1888

On the banks of the Isar River, where surfers practice, there’s a palace named after King Maximilian II of Bavaria, who was responsible for the construction of Maximilianeum in 1857, which serves as the seat of the Bavarian parliament since 1949.

River Isar

Maximilianeum

The English Garden (Englischer Garten) was built by the electoral prince Karl Theodor. He wasn’t the most beloved person in the country at the time because of his attempts to replace the part of Bavaria in the Austrian Netherlands. He then wanted to make himself up by destroying a part of the city walls to build a beautiful city garden.

The work was trusted to Sir Benjamin Thompson, the American Brit of many talents, who served as Defense Minister for Karl. The construction started in 1789, but the park was first used by Thompson soldiers, but three years later it was open to the public.

We visited the park accompanied by our hosts with the intention to eat something more than just a beer.

In fact, the whole visit to Munich was about the food. Sausages, beer and pretzels, like we had a chance to try in ‘’Hitlers brewery’’ or in a form of a small sandwich sold at a kiosk named Brezelina. Cute, right?


The legend says it that the first pretzel was made by an Italian abbot, but the Germans were the ones that made them perfect. A mixture of baking soda and water in the baking process is what gives them a distinctive and recognizable taste, and the size is what sets them apart from all the other pretenders. Just like the place where we tried the first pretzel.

Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, a huge pub in the center, was built in the 17th century, and it was a place where Mozart, Lenin and Hitler spend their time. This last one had it’s meeting on the third floor of the building. Almost the entire place was demolished in a bomb attack during the World War II, but a couple of the years after, the brewery was opened one again. We had couple of the beers at the brewery that was so loud that you can’t even hear your friends but the atmosphere was fantastic. Everybody sitting at a huge tables together, eating, drinking, singing….

I’m not much of a beer person, but I can have a beer or two…especially if it’s a wheat one that I discovered in Munich. At least it was cheaper than anything else. 🙂

What I already knew was that Germans are masters in baking sweet products. Italians are good, but a real German backerei is a heaven to me.

I would sweeten my morning with biscuits from a local bakery and during the day we would eat what the locals eat: potato and meat in various forms.

I did find a sea food chain that I decovered couple a years ago but the main feast was the last supper that our hosts took us.

Still, the ending sugar was the last dinner that hosts took us to our local inn. We were honored with the pork products and fed ourselves with the hams in the pork. What a feast! Simple!

Görreshof Wirtshaus
Fried steak in mustard and horseradish coat, pork knuckle, viel with spetzles, bratkartoffeln, schnitzel, veggies
Kaiserschmarrn

 

MINKEN

Minhen smo posjetili ovo ljeto na putu prema Zagrebu. Debelova prijateljica živi već nekoliko godina u Njemačkoj, od čega oko dvije godine u Minhenu, pa smo odlučili ubit dvije muhe jednim udarcem: glavni bavarski grad i prijateljsko druženje. Od velikih planova koje sam imala u namjeri posjetiti brdo stvari, spala baba na dva zuba, pa sam obavila samo dvoje s popisa. U biti, više smo se prepustili prijateljima i njihovom iskustvu tako da su nam oni bili vodiči po gradu.

Minhen je ogroman. I bučan. U usporedbi s Oslom živjeti u centru grada znači da do njega možeš hodati 40 minuta. U Oslu bi to značilo 15.

Glavni i najnapučeniji grad Bavarske, smješten na rijeci Isar sjeverno od bavarskih Alpi broji preko dva i pol milijuna stanovnika u širem gradskom području. Mi smo ih valjda sve susreli u tih par dana boravka 🙂

 

Rathaus

Prvi stanovnici Minhena bili su benediktinski opati koji su naseljavali samostan gdje je kasnije nastao stari dio grada. Uostalom, samo ime grada dolazi od staronjemačke riječi ”od opata” tako da gradski grb ima svećenika u prikazu.

Minhen je isprva bio glavno sjedište na cesti kojom se prevozila i prodavala sol, da bi u vrijeme kralja Ludviga I grad bio središte kulture i umjetnosti, ali većini je Minhen ipak poznat samo po pivi. I eventualno BMWu  🙂

Sisata Julia u Minkenu

Moja prvotna želja bila je posjetiti sve Pinakoteke u muzejskoj četvrti, ali nakon pregovaranja i dogovaranja, te prisjećanja ekstremno napornog posjeta Milanu, konsenzus je dobiven posjetom Novoj Pinakoteki. I Dachau. Što se mora, mora se.

Nova Pinakoteka nalazi se u umjetničkoj četvrti “Kunstareal”, pored Stare i Moderne Pinakoteke, a glavni fokus galerije je na djelima 18. i 19. stoljeća.

Muzej je otvoren 1981., a osnovao ga je bivši bavarski kralj, Ludwig I., 1853. koji je bio veliki kolekcionar romantičarskih slika, grčkih krajolika i djela minhenske škole. Početkom 20.stoljeća tadašnji ravnatelj muzeja, Hugo von Tschudi kupio je neka od najznačajnijih djela impresionizma i postimpresionizma. To nas je i privuklo, uostalom.

Carl Rottmann, Grčki krajolik, 1838 – 1859
Bertel Thorvaldsen, Venera, Mars i Vulkan, 1810
Edouard Manet, Monet slika na brodu, 1874

Neue Pinakotek udomljuje četiri Van Goghova djela nastala u razdoblju između 1884. i 1890., no mi smo zapravo došli zbog suncokreta. Klišej, znam, ali kad ga volim <3

Sonnenblumen je naslikao u ljeto 1888. za vrijeme svog boravka u Arlesu, gdje je radio zajedno s Paulom Gaugainom. Suncokreti u Minhenu nisu jedini koje je Vincent naslikao, ali su jedni od dvije serija suncokreta od kojih svaka ima nekoliko verzija, no mislim da je ova verzija od dvanaest zagasito žutih suncokreta na tirkiznoj pozadini uistinu nešto posebno.

Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, 1888

Na obali rijeke Isar, gdje surferi iskušavaju svoje snage, nalazi se Maximilianeum, palača nazvana po kralju Maksimilijanu II od Bavarske koji je bio glavni i odgovoran za izgradnju palače 1857. koja od 1949. godine služi kao sjedište bavarskog parlamenta.

Engleski vrt (Englischer Garten) dao je izgraditi izborni princ Karl Theodor, vladar koji je u Bavarskoj bio i ostao omražen zbog svojeg pokušaja zamjene dijela Bavarske za Austrijsku Nizozemsku. Dotični se pokušao dodvoriti stanovnicima grada transformacijom Minhena pa je porušio dio gradskih zidina (bistro) da bi izgradio raskošni gradski vrt (solidno)

Zadatak je povjeren siru Benjaminu Thompsonu, američkom Britancu brojnih talenata, koji je Karlu služio kao ministar obrane. Gradnja je krenula 1789. godine, ali je park isprva služio Thompsonovim vojnicima, da bi ga se tri godine kasnije otvorilo za javnost.

Mi smo park posjetili u pratnji svog domaćina s namjerom da prizalogajimo nešto konkretno jer nam jedan tekući obrok nije bio dovoljan.

U biti, cijeli posjet Minhenu se sveo na hranu na kraju. Kobasice, pivo i pereci! Ooooogromni kakve smo imali prilike probati u Hićinoj pivnici (kako ju je nazvala naša domaćica) ili mali u obliku sendviča kakve smo otkrili na kiosku specijaliziranom samo za perece. Ili brezle kako ih zovu Nijemci. Tad i tamo odlučila sam, ako budemo imali žensko dijete, nazvat ju: Brezelina

Možda je prvi perec napravio talijanski opat, ali Nijemci su ih usavršili. Mješavina sode bikarbone i vode ono je što perecima daje poseban i prepoznatljiv okus, a veličina je ono što ih izdvaja od svih ostalih pereca. Baš kao i mjesto gdje smo kušali prve perece.

Hofbräuhaus am Platzl, ogromna pivnica u samom centru grada sagrađena još u 17. stoljeću, bila je mjesto gdje su zalazili Mozart, Lenjin i Hitler koji je na trećem katu zgrade održavao sastanke sa svojom strankom. Gotovo cijela pivnica stradala je u bombaškom napadu u Drugom svjetskom ratu, ali desetak godina nakon rata pivnica je zasjala u punom sjaju. Ko i mi. Nakon par piva 🙂
A kad smo već kod pive, ovo, za neke, božanstveno piće pilo se svako malo. Iako mi je gin draži, da bih držala korak s ovim pivopijama, zakvačila sam se za pšeničnu pivu koja mi je bolje legla iako sam bila vječito napuhana. Milina.

Ujutro bi se sladila slasticama iz pekare u ulazu. Svaka čast Talijanima, ali Nijemci su vrhunski majstori u pripremanju slatkih pekarskih proizvoda. Ostavila bih pola dnevne zarade u lokalnom bekeraju, kod tete koja priča Hrvatski 🙂

Uz brdo mesine što smo potamanili, uspjela sam se ogrepsti i za ribu iz Nordsea, njemačkog lanca koji prodaje pečenu i prženu morsku hranu

Ipak, šećer za kraj bila je posljednja večera na koju su nas odveli domaćini u svoju lokalnu pivnicu. Kraljevski smo se počastili svinjskim proizvodima i svinjski smo se zasladili carskim drobljencom. Koja gozba! Prost!

Zelenjava
Kaiserschmarrn

 

Sretni i debeli pamtit ćemo Minken!

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