36 Years Ago

36 Years Ago, Vienna 1971—A Student Journal

Day 172: Munich, Day 2

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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&rdquoWinking 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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