1936 On the Continent

beer every evening. The recipe for making beer used here was once the property of the Royal Family. Here all classes of Munich society meet in democratic manner, and if one has not drunk too freely of the beer, one can study for hours the typical habitués to be seen here.
    Naturally Munich has many fine restaurants, perhaps the foremost of all being in the beautiful Preysing Palace near the Feldherrnhalle. It must not be forgotten that Munich was the birthplace of the German cabaret,
Brettl
, although the unique character of this cheery place, where on an improvised stage the foremost German writers and artists perform, has almost disappeared now. The Simplissimus and Serenissimus are also worth a visit, likewise the famous Benz in the Montmartre of Munich, the artists’ quarter, Schwabing. The most celebrated and typical Munich actors are Weisspferdl and H. Vallentin, and when they appear they should be seen at all costs, though their agreeable Bavarian dialect is hard to follow, even for Germans.
Theatres and Excursions in Munich
    There are beautiful walks in the town of Munich, which has 800,000 inhabitants, especially on the banks of the Isar and in the beautifully laid out English garden, where there are many cafés and tea-houses. The Carlton tea-room in the Brienner Strasse is very English in its style. Although the beerhouses are most typical of Munich, the capital of Bavaria also has so many coffee-houses that, thinking of London, I felt quite envious. I specially noticed the great Café Luitpold with its good band.
    For hundreds of years the art of the theatre may be said to have been at the height of its glory in Munich, and the performances at the National Theatre (especially opera), the Residenz Theatre, the Prinzregent Theatre and the Kammerspiele, are to-day amongst the best in Germany. In the Munich Festival Week the best artists in Germany are to be seen at these theatres. I found time to visit Hellabrun, which has 5,000 animals in its Zoo. This is one of the earliest zoological gardens in the world to be established on geographical principles, and I think it is still one of the best and most beautiful.
    Some of the most convenient and worth-while excursions to take are to Nymphenburg with its castle and park, and to Starhemberg with its great Starhemberger Lake in the waters of which King Ludwig II lost his life, and where there are rows of well-organised bathing places. On Munich’s horizon, however, are the Alps, with Garmisch-Partenkirchen,the celebrated sports centre (where the winter Olympiad was held); Mittenwald, the town of the violin makers, Berchtesgaden, where Hitler has his summer house; Reichenhall, which is supposed to be one of the best places for diseases of the respiratory organs.
    Oberammergau, the Passion Play village, is this year quiet and silent, as the next performance of this unique religious festival play will not be for another four years.
    Everyone, however little time he has, must undertake the excursion to the Royal Castles, Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein in the Allgäu, near the town of Füssen, Schloss Linderhof, which stands in grim loneliness in the foothills of the Alps, and Schloss Herrenchiemsee, which stands in its unearthly beauty in the middle of an island in the mountain-encircled Chiemsee. I know that many gibes are made at the extravagance, and some say lack of taste, of these castles, the building of which impoverished the Bavarians. I know that the plans for these little-used buildings emanated from a sick brain, yet no one can deny the powerful impression created by them—romantic fairytales of stone. Ludwig II, the unlucky King of Bavaria, friend and patron of Richard Wagner, had the Royal Castles built. That which Wagner created in his music, the king wished to materialise in these castles, and they are certainly among the proudest and the most unusual buildings of last century.
    With the firm decision to come again and spend a longer and quieter time in Munich, I took the train to Nüremberg. In my bag were some Nymphenburg china which I had bought for my wife, and waterproofs which I had bought for myself and my son. I must remember them when I come to the customs.
The “Medieval” Towns: Nüremberg
    I could have travelled from Munich first to Rothenburg, as this unique little town is easily reached from the München-Würzburger main line, but as I did not want to change, especially in a strange place, I went straight to Nuremberg, and meant