Day 172: Munich, Day 2
36yearsago.com
Vienna 1971—A Student Journal
A year of music, study, travel, sightseeing &
friends.
Day
172 — Munich, Day 2
21-January-1972
(Freitag–Fri.)
TRANSCRIPT
Munich
Morning went to a ballet rehearsal. Really good and
interesting. I think I can even say I learned
something from this backstage experience. Enjoyable
and enlightening.
Afterwards: Ate. Went down to Deutsche Museum, a
fantastically large and basically technical museum.
Seeing the technology and the presentation of the
exhibits was fascinating. The best part was the
Planetarium, from which I was inspired to think about
the use of a planetarium module for a complete
involvement in multimedia works. I know it would
work—really well. I wonder if this dream will ever
come through.
After that, took a train and hitched a ride to the
American “center” (Army) where Guy [college student
and friend] was in the hospital. He looked like he
was ready to go and everything seemed well. It was
nice to see him. Felt sorry, because of the vacation
time he was missing.
After doing some busy chores, met everyone at the
opera (National Theater). Somewhat expensive, but
saw Simon
Boccanegra. It was an excellent and
enjoyable performance in all respects.
After that, we to the Hofbraü Haus—the famous beer
hall where Hitler stood on the table and gave his
speech. Atmosphere-wise, it was a little
disappointing but our group made up for it.
On the way back, it was snowing in the plaza by the
Rathaus. I left my mark in Munich. In gigantic
letters, wrote—“John was here” and drew a French
Horn.
Well, it was a fantastic time with the group. Had a
good time. Met my friends and saw some of Munich.
What more could I ask for?
REFLECTIONS
Another full day in Munich. Wow!
Backstage
at the ballet. I’m back
with my friends from Montclair State and I have an
opportunity to see a ballet rehearsal and go
backstage because of their itinerary. I really enjoy
ballet. I would never have been able to see this as a
normal tourist. That’s one advantage to higher-ed
tours of other countries. They schedule a lot of arts
& events to see. Thanks, Dr. S.
Guy
in the U.S. Army hospital. A good
friend of mine from Montclair, Guy, was part of the
Montclair madrigal choir. Something happened, maybe a
stomach virus, and he ended up in the U.S. Army
hospital in Germany. Some of us went to visit him.
It’s a shame that he spent his time in a bed instead
of sightseeing. At least he was ok. After college, I
played with Guy (a fine oboe player) in a woodwind
quintet for fun. I remember playing Barber’s
Summer
Music. The good
old days.
Deutsche
Museum. I enjoy
museums, I enjoy technology. Voila, I have both at
the Deutsche Museum and seemed to enjoy it. That I
mention the planetarium and it’s multimedia
possibilities is interesting. At this time in my
studies, I was becoming more and more interested in
the use of multimedia and technology in music
performance and composition. Obviously, my musique
concrete and electronic music interests piqued this.
Contemporary music in that decade was influenced by
contemporary multimedia events
(“happenings&rdquo
and performances. Professor
Kaufmann’s work is sometimes in this genre.
Opera
at the National Theater. A Verdi
opera, Simon
Boccanegra, at night
rounds out the cultural part of the day. As always,
enjoyable and an excellent performance.
Hofbräuhaus.
With
friends, I visit the famous Hofbräuhaus. It was a
real beer hall, had that Hitler connection, and was a
tourist haven. Still it’s cool to be in such a
pop-culture-historical place. Here is something I
vaguely remember. Someone, maybe a tourist we were
talking to, said it was a “tradition” to take a
Hofbräuhaus beer mug with you. Well, I bought two
souvenir mugs and was possibly thinking to take a mug
on the table—“tradition.” I think I chickened
out—there were these two very large guards at the
door.
Update: Look what I found on the Internet. The
Hofbräuhaus is considered the #1 tourist attraction
in Munich. They serve beer in 1-liter glasses. Here
is a comment that a reader said was from on an
article in a German paper.
“An
American was fined 1,260 for stealing two glasses
from the Hofbräuhaus this week. Stealing glasses is a
sport here. Everyone does it. But if a security guard
challenges you on the way out, don't put up a fight.
That's what this guy did and he got himself arrested
and banged up for 4 weeks before being brought to
trial and fined.”
Holy cow,
it is a “tradition.” DON’T DO IT.
Another great day with old friends in Munich.
John
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