Trip report: Germany (Bavaria, Frankfurt).

Partial background: I am a single, childless man. This was a solo trip. I am Jewish but only according to heritage or ancestry. I was born 38 years and 2 weeks after the end of World War II in Europe and after the nazi genocide was supposed to have ended (although there were a few pograms against Jewish survivors in 1946). I wanted to figure out what reaction other Jews have toward other Jews going to Germany. I had absorbed the idea that Germany is a bad country and that I am not supposed to go to Germany or buy German products. I irrationally felt like other Jews would be mortified at me or worse for taking this trip. I skipped Berlin because I wanted to see restored castles and medieval buildings and I didn’t think I would see much of that in Berlin. But for sure if I return to Germany again I will go to Berlin.



Other details: I did not rent a car. Germany has too many local trains, local buses, commuter trains, long distance trains, and high speed long distance trains, to justify renting a car, at least for where I went.



Friday, August 23 to Saturday, August 24, 2024: Flights from Detroit to Munich on Delta left at 6:05pm. I had a lot of trouble sleeping on the plane. The passport stamping official asked for evidence of my return ticket; I was able to find my e-mail from Delta showing both of my flights, after figuring out how to make my device go online with the airport’s wireless internet connection (In London in 2016, I took too long searching through my e-mail looking for evidence of my return flights and they made me wait in a holding cell for almost 4 hours before they finally decided to let me finding the information and let me into the country). The plane arrived at 8:25am local time. I took the train from the airport to Munich Hauptbahnhof, put my stuff in a locker, and walked to the Alte Pinakothek. On the way I stopped to sit on a park bench by one of the other museums and eat some bread I had brought from home in a plastic container. I didn’t eat any restaurant food on this trip. Also I was using a Jansport school backpack to carry much of my stuff, but I overstuffed it and I noticed a tear not more than an inch long on a seem; I decided that if I just happened to see a backpack for sale at a good price, I would buy a replacement backpack. The AltePinakothek had multiple paintings from the workshop of Peter Paul Rubins, some old Dutch Paintings, Christian-themed paintings, just a few sculptures, Then I went to the Pinakothek der Moderne, just because I had time and it was there even though old landscape paintings seem more special than other works. The Pinakothek der Moderne had at least one Salvador Dalí painting, some junk similar to Jackson Pollock, and other stuff that wasn’t worth being in a museum. Then I went back to the train station. I bought a new Quechua backpack that only cost 39.99 euros, at a camping and outdoor store in the mall connected to the train station, put my stuff in the new backpack, and threw the old one away outside the store. I spent 5 nights at Hotel PM-Rooms München Laim, on Elsenheimerstraße 15. It was a private room with a shared kitchen, and I had go down the hall outside the room for the bathroom and shower.



Sunday, August 25th: I joined a group tour from Radius Tours, which started at the Radius Tours office near the Hauptbahnhof. It wasn’t the best tour I have ever done – the guy didn’t talk too smoothly, he didn’t talk enough, he didn’t take us inside any buildings. It was raining lightly. One of the thin metal folding support rods of my umbrella was broken and the umbrella was not working right. Later I spent 7.99 on a new umbrella with a button that made it suddenly pop into being unfolded. Later the new umbrella was stolen or a lost it – It was in a side pocket on the outside of my lightweight day-backpack – somebody could have just grabbed it when I wasn’t looking. Later I spent 4 euros on another umbrella but one that unfolds manually – I wish I wouldn’t waste money like this again. After the tour I went to the Egypt museum. I saw many well-preserved mini-statues, some Hieroglyphics on stone slabs, a few coins but displayed flat; I wish the coins were displayed in a vertical acrylic case like the way some coins that I saw in a museum in Crete were displayed. After the museum, Saint Michaels church, and Frauenkirche – the one with the two towers (I don’t know why just one tower wasn’t sufficient). I realize that entering churches is irrational and sacrilegious, given that I was raised Jewish and they wouldn’t be spiritually meaningful. Then I went inside the Hofbräuhaus am Platzl (a restaurant that sells food and beer originally built in 1589) for no more than about 10 minutes including using the men’s room, just to see the inside. It was raining and only 61º earlier in the day then in the last afternoon the rain stopped but it was only 55º.



Monday, August 26th:

I went to the preserved and reconstructed remains of the Dachau nazi concentration camp, the first nazi camp. I saw the museum, the reconstructed barracks building, went into the crematorium building and saw the ovens where they burned whoever died or was killed in the camp, and some of the religious memorials. This was not one of the 6 nazi gassing places, although just before liberation they built a gas chamber in part of the already existing building that had the crematorium ovens, which would have been able to gas about 150 victims at a time, although the nazis didn’t have a chance to use it. Then I went to the Marionplatz and rode the elevator to the top of the Neue Rathaus. It cost 6.50 euros.



Tuesday, August 27th:

My first stop was the Munich Residenz museum, the former home of the ruling Wittelsbach family. I didn’t know and had not read anywhere, that there is a marked right direction to go through the museum, that after you leave one room, you aren’t allowed to re-enter it, and that you can’t return to the entrance and re-enter. I was doing the audio-guide, but after approximately 1/3 of the rooms – there are at least ninety rooms - I skipped ahead to the nearest men’s room and then the staff wouldn’t let me return to the room after the last one that I had observed and heard the English recorded description of. It is marvelously restored and an artistically decent place. I didn’t see the treasury or attempt to buy another ticket to the museum. Then I went to the Bavarian National Museum. I was there for just under 4 hours and saw some detailed artwork that must have taken much talent and time to make. This is an excellent and under-rated place, although much of the stuff was Christian-themed, which wouldn’t be that meaningful to me as a non-believer. I saw the special exhibit too, with the highly detailed models of ships that had a space to pour a liquid into and drink out of. I missed most of the rest of the 3rd floor. Then the Englisher Garten, a park where I saw a few people surfing on a wave in the river or canal, the Monopteros, a round structure shaped like a Greek temple, and the Chinesischer Turm, a Chinese-style tower next to a beer garten /restaurant with a lot of outdoor seating.



Wednesday, August 28th, 2024:

My first stop was Schloss Nymphemburg, another palace used by the Wittelsbachs. The place has the same “No same day re-entry” rule as the Munich Residenz, but I didn’t have a problem this time because I was able to empty myself more completely before I entered the main part, which is less than half the size of the Munich Residenz. The main part is as big as a royal residence needs to be except lacking a big formal dining room for state dinners and parties. Then I went to the other small buildings on the combination ticket. Then I realized that I might have time for the Lebnachhaus museum, a museum of German art from about the 1800’s to 1930’s and a few more recent works. There was an exhibit made by the Turkish author Orhan Pamuk. Some works were modern crap – an almost plain gray painted canvas, a series of white canvases with streaks of black; works with a jumble of blurry blotches of color. I arrived about 7 minutes after 4pm and left just before closing time at 6pm.



Thursday, August 29th:

It was time to say goodbye to Munich. I took the ICE train to Nuremberg. It showed up only 20 minutes later than originally scheduled. At the train station in Nuremberg, I put my stuff in a locker, paid the 3 euro fee, then realized I needed a shirt from my stuff in cast my tour of the tunnels would be too cold, opened the locker, got the shirt, paid the fee again. I hate myself for wasting 3 euros. I didn’t even end up using the extra shirt. Then I tried going to various places listed in the guidebooks, including the Frauenkirche, a church with a star of David embedded in the floor behind the alterpiece. The building used to be a synagogue. Then the Christians did a pogram against the Jews on December 5th, 1349, killed about 560 Jews, kicked the surviving Jews out, and turned the building it into a church. I saw at least 3 other churches. Then I went into the Albrecht Dürer Haus. There were no works by him. A screen allowed you to see digital photos of some of his works, the rooms of the house were furnished, there was an exhibit of recent tattoos based on Albrecht Dürer’s drawings. One room had original paintings by other painters that were copies or near copies of Albrecht Dürer’s works. I had an advance ticket for a guided tour at 5:15 – “Unscathed by WWII in English – Treasure trove under the castle”. They guide sounded quite knowledgeable. I stayed at Eco Smart Apartments Premium City on Breitscheidstraße 58.



Friday, August 30th:

My first place was the castle (aka Nuremberg Castle, Nürnberger Burg, Imperial Castle of Nuremberg, Kaiserburg Nürnberg). I paid to see the museum, which was well done with many suits of plate armor, old guns, swords, and other weapons, possibly at least one chainmail shirt, at least one model of the castle at some time in the past. Also I saw the well, inside a miniature house so the enemies wouldn’t find the well easily – you can enter it on the hour or half hour, a staff member lowers a chandelier with 4 candles down the well, pours a bit of water down and you hear the silence until the water finally hits the water or stone at the bottom. The well is about 163 feet, 8 inches deep, in an hour they could haul about 52-53 U.S. gallons out. Then I went up to the top level of the Sinwell Tower, which might be only 135 feet to the top of the roof, saw the black and white photos from before and after the bombings on the top level and the views of the town. It has been nicely renovated with a modern glass door at the top of the stairs and modern glass blocking people from falling from the floor down the stairwell. Then I went past part of the castle walls, passed the landscaped garden, although I didn’t look at it too closely. Then walk past various streets, the Weissgerbergasse with some preserved old buildings, and saw the Kettensted (Chain Bridge), the oldest preserved surviving iron chain bridge in Europe, originally built in 1824, going over the Pegnitz river. I couldn’t figure out how to get right next to it.



Saturday, August 31st:

I went to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum / Germanic National Museum. I saw a few (just a few) old clocks including the oldest known spring driven clock, some miniature sundials (I guess people who carried them didn’t really need to know the time but just carried them as a novelty or to show it off), more old guns and metal plate armor, although less plate armor than at the castle, a lot of catholic-themed painting and sculpture, plaques with no words meant to show that somebody had recently died; some old German and Dutch landscape and portrait paintings; some prehistoric artifacts, the two oldest known globes, possibly 3 to 5 times bigger than a basketball, and some detailed carved doors with people doing activities. I saw everything at least briefly. Then I went to the courtroom where the Nuremberg trials were held. I arrived less than an hour before closing time. I probably should not have entered, but I paid the entrance fee just to see the courtroom. I didn’t bother with most of the audio guide; I wouldn’t have had time for much of the audio guide.



Sunday, September 1st: I took the trains to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Switching trains worked out better than I expected. There were a few lockers at the train station but all of them seemed to be broken. I dropped my stuff off at the hotel and then went to the Rothenburg Museum. It occupied me for longer than I expected. It is nice that they had a room about the mistreatment of Jews in the town – there was a pograms against the Jews in 1298 when they killed approximately 450 Jews or about 10% of the town’s population, and more pograms in approximately 1349.Also I went to the covenant Garden and saw the memorial plaque about the 1298 pogram. Then checked into the hotel, then saw the house at the southern end of Plömleinstraße, the one you see in all the pictures of Rothenburg. I have no clue why this house should be so special. Yes it looks characteristically German or Bavaria with wood beams on a the outside on a white background and the house is at the end of a island of buildings where there is a fork in the road. Then the Hand-Georg Baumgarten Night watchman English tour. The substitute did a fine job. My hotel was Gästehaus Alter Keller [a German restaurant is on the first floor, the small hotel is in the floors above it]



Monday, September 2nd: I took the trains to Würzburg. I was able to leave my stuff in a locker and then see the Würzburg Residenz. It has been marvelously restored and rebuilt. I stayed at an apartment turned into a vacation rental, at Haugerkirchgasse 5/2.



Tuesday, September 3rd: I walked ot Festung Marionburg, crossed the Alte Mainbrü (old Main bridge, a pedestrian only bridge). From the Bridge you can see the castle. From there it is an uphill hike to the castle. There were stairs in some places. I saw the art museum in the castle, including the display case with Jewish ritual objects. The museum was bigger than I realized. Then I walked a little, just a little, near the castle, to one viewpoint that I got to by going through a tunnel and up some stairs. Then I went to the Japanese Gardens but it was too much walking but I did it anyway but then I sat on a bench for a at least 20 minutes after I arrived. I walked along just a few paths past some little waterfalls, then I went to the “Museum in Kulturspeicher Würzburg” just because I needed something else to fill some time and it was too early to go back to my hotel. This is a modern art museum, with some landscape and portrait paintings from the 1800’s; sculptures and drawings by Emy Roeder; some decent abstract works from the 20th century and recently; this place was better than other modern art exhibits I remember...



Wednesday, September 4th:

I took the train to Frankfurt am Main. I got on the train at 8:55am. When I arrived, I left my stuff in a locker at the train station. My first stop was the Jewish museum in the former home of the Rothschilds. On the way I walked along Kaiserstraße. The lightweight day backpack I was using had been fraying because it was too light-duty and I had put a heavy bottle of water and too much weight in it; I spent 30 euros on another backpack I happened to see for sale in a store and threw the fraying light-duty back pack away....The museum had more miniature biographies than I made time to read... there was a good amount of English descriptions... Then I picked my stuff up from the locker at the train station, took a train to closer to the hotel, Hotel Royal on Wallstraße 17. After checking in, I went to the Museum Judengasse, an excavated, portion of the former Jewish ghetto or Jewish street, now under a modern roof with labels and descriptions. Jews were only allowed to reside in the Judengasse from 1462-1811.



Thursday, September 5th:

I joined the “Frankfurt on Foot” walking tour. The tour started at 10am and lasted until after 1:30. It was a fine tour, the guide (Hayden) took us to enough places, took us inside a historic big church, to the nazi genocide memorial by the Judengasse museum, and so on. My next major place was the Frankfurt historical museum. I entered just before 3pm. It was open until 6pm. There was a small amount of description of Anne Frank, and her family, the Frank family had lived in Frankfurt for an unknown number of generations before moving to Amsterdam in about 1933-1934; also there was a description of an African guy who was made to be an extra in nazi propaganda films but he survived the was in Germany... mention of a company based in Frankfurt that made Zyklon B gas... I only looked at the first floor good and didn’t have time for the second floor except that I slightly looked at the coins on the 2nd floor... it’s a shame the coins are not displayed in vertical acrylic cases... My next stop was the Goethe Haus, the home of a German author. The house and the attached Romantic museum entertained me until after 8pm (the place was open until 9 on Thursdays) even though I can’t explain exactly what I learned there but there were a good amount of English descriptions.



Friday, September 6th:

My first site was the Städel art museum. It has two floors of old paintings, with some old Dutch landscapes, a few early 20th century works, some catholic themed works, just a few sculptures. The basement level has modern art, but it was mostly crap, unlike the modern art museum in Würzburg, except there was one memorable piece consisting of a white tube supported by 2 to 3 other white tubes, with a face visible by squatting and looking into one end of the horizontal tube. My next stop was the archaeology museum – there was an exhibit consisting of at least 8 display cases with objects and fragments of objects excavated from the sites of nazi concentration camps, with a good amount of English descriptions. The rest of the place had no English descriptions; there were some ancient Greek pottery with red figures on a black background; some Luristan bronzes (from Western Iran, made approximately between 1000 and 650 B.C.), some German descriptions of Ancient Roman worship of Egyptian god(s), a few objects and a lot of description of stuff excavated from the Roman town of Nida in the Northwest suburbs of Frankfurt am Main, and so on. The museum is attached to a former monastery or covenant that has an old catholic-themed fresco painting which is supposed to be the oldest example of something but I forgot why it should be so special. Then I was tired enough that I should have done nothing more extensive but I decided to squeeze in the Palmengarten. I did too much walking but also sat on a bench for at least 20 minutes, by a fountain where I could see the Europaturm (Frankfurt television tower). Only one big greenhouse was open as far as I figured out – the Palmenhaus – originally built in 1869. I went in and saw tall palm trees, and no more than 6 tanks of small exotic fish, in a grotto. I didn’t go in the adjacent botanical gardens.



Saturday, September 7th: The last day of my trip. I took a day trip to Aschaffenburg. I bought the train tickets at the last minute from a machine. First I went to Schloss Johannisberg, originally built in 1605-1614. The extensive museum inside includes 45 old cork models of Roman buildings from Rome, Italy; paintings, catholic robes used by priests, a chapel with a highly detailed catholic-themed work on the wall the worshippers face (an alterpiece?); other rooms had porcelain, some old Dutch landscapes, and so on. My next stop was the Pompejanum (originally built in 1840-1848, rebuilt starting in 1960), a replica of the house of Castor and Pollux in Pompeii in Italy. I had already been to the Pompeii sight; I could have been as happy if I had skipped the Pompejanum and gone to the archaeology museum in Aschaffenburg that I didn’t make time for. There were some marvelous views of the Main River from just outside the Pompejanum.



Sunday, September 8th: My flight back to Detroit left 12:35, only 2 hours later than originally scheduled.

Thank you for your visit report. How do you feel about Germany now?

“ Then I went to the courtroom where the Nuremberg trials were held. I arrived less than an hour before closing time. I probably should not have entered, but I paid the entrance fee just to see the courtroom. I didn’t bother with most of the audio guide; ”

You will never regret that entrance fee!
Thanks for your very detailed, very recent trip report.
I think Germany has stood up to it’s history… Willy Brandt kneeling at the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising monument,
Berlin’s tribute to the Murdered Jews of Europe.q

I didn't start with a negative view of Germany because I see Germany in 2024 and nazi Germany as separate entities with current Germany not being a continuation of Nazi Germany. I only think I am supposed to have a problem with Germany (in 2024). I wanted to feel like visiting Germany in 2024 "should" be similar enough to visiting other parts of Central-Western-South-Northern Europe. For Non-Jews and many Jews it is. Maybe I was mostly right. This isn't part of my trip anxiety but Germany seems to be doing much more to confess to what their ancestors did to Jews (Jews were kicked out of England on July 18, 1290, kicked out of Spain in 1492, Multiple anti-Jewish pograms in France and Spain and possibly other areas, and so on). I wanted to feel like the vast majority of currently living residents of Germany are decent enough people who have no ability to have had anything to do with their ancestors mistreating and killing Jews. My perceptions didn't get worse after my trip. My trip anxiety was specifically about what reaction other Jews would have toward finding out that I went to Germany, the country with the Adolf Hitler dictatorship and that led the nazi genocide in Germany and the countries they invaded in World War II, like maybe other Jews would feel like I was doing something "wrong" by taking this trip, liking other Jews might all be like my mother and would feel like I am supporting a bad country by taking this trip, like other Jews would think me taking this trip was proof that something is wrong with me or that I am a nazi sympathizer or that I have to avoid German products to virtue signal to other Jews that I know that nothing is able to be good or ok about the nazi genocide... a lot of Jews, maybe most, don't have my mom's attitudes or they don't admit it... my mom would be mortified or worse if I bought a German-brand car... I drive a Kia (made in a factory in Mexico owned by a company based in South-Korea ...) ... my dad said my mom wouldn't let them buy a Bosch dishwasher when they remodeled their kitchen... I use a Lamy pen (made in Heidelberg, Germany) ... I don't remember if I have used Faber-Castell products... I don't have any at the moment... My mom claims she wouldn't be comfortable in Germany... this is in addition to her also refusing to ride in a plane,,, she claims that she would feel strange in a city in another country alone... there was psychological baggage associated with this trip which I don't perceive that I have but that I perceive that I am a bad person for not having.... yes this is nuts but reluctantly slightly understandable but still nuts...

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience. It offered a perspective I otherwise would not have had been exposed to.

One thing about reducing a stigma is to expose oneself to it. And I appreciate your open-mindedness to experience the country from the 2024 perspective. And may we never forget.

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