wrapping up
Although 4 days was sufficient to see most of the sites of Munich and take the pulse of this vibrant city, I would have liked more time to get under its skin.
I did not for example pick up on its independence drive. In one sense this is not surprising as the Bavarians are a proud people and Germany has only been first united since 1871.
Germany is a fascinating country for what it has undergone. Neil McGregor in his excellent book Germany: Memories of a Nation refers to the Siegestor, the victory arch in Munich built in the 1840s to celebrate the valour in the Revolutionary and Napeolonic Wars.
It was badly damaged in World War Two and they replaced the classical architecture of triumph at the top with a plinth which says “Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace.”
Unlike the Arc de Triomphe there is no triumphalism but a sense of guilt and failure. Facing up to the past and sheer hard work has transformed the country from the rubble of 1954 to the powerful economic power it is today. Many Brexiteers voiced concerns of a federal Europe dominated by Germany but one senses that Germany is so ashamed that the Nazi dream of a new order of world dominance is a nightmare soonest forgotten.
Nor it just hard work. The emphasis on manufacture rather than financial services, the creativity of their engineering and a national drive for success reflected in the sporting achievements of the national soccer team and Bayern are speedily apparent to the most critical and cynical of visitor.
I did expect more bierkeller heartiness, thigh-slapping and lederhosen but Munich is a modern, dynamic city moving forward all the time. Construction is everywhere and I was also struck by the number of gays I saw. All that is needed to square the circle are freemasons and gypsies in proliferation.
The next time I visit I would combine it with a trip to Salzburg which only an hour and a bit away by car. Austria, though a close neighbour, did not pay any reparations nor assuage its guilt for its role in World War 2. Its position was always it was occupied though very much voluntarily. East Germany did not go through the guilt process either and the reunification at parity between the Deutschmark and Ostmark created that great German phobia of inflation. As ever, the Germans took a seismic event in their stride. Brexit would ein doddle for them.