Travelsmartplanet

If you’ve ever wondered what the letters BMW mean it’s for Bavarian Motor Works. You can get your fill of everything BMW by touring the BMW museum, located  just outside of Munich.

The blue and white colors and pattern on the car’s emblem are taken right from the Bavarian flag.

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

Tags: Bavarian, Bavarian Motor Works, blue, BMW, car, color, emblem, flag, Munich, Museum, white

Kurt Eisner, a Socialist and a  Jew became the first Republican Premier of Bavaria. In November 1918, at the end of WWI, Eisner, a socialist journalist and statesman, organized the Socialist Revolution which overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy in Bavaria. He declared Bavaria to be a free state and republic on November 8, 1918.

His leadership didn’t last long as he was assassinated in Munich when German nationalist Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley shot him  in the back on February 21, 1919. After his death the in-fighting amongst left wing parties led to the seeds of the National Socialist Party and the rise of Hitler.

In 1989 a memorial was placed on the sidewalk on the ground at the site of his assassination.

Members of the Wittelsbach family are still alive, still own property in the city and are honored by the people of Munich and are invited to events.

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

Tags: Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley, assassinate, family, German, Hitler, honor, left, memorial, monarchy, Munich, national, parties, party, people, property, sidewalk, socialist, state, wing, Wittelsbach

The “English Garden”, really the Englischer Garten in Munich is  known as one of the largest urban public parks in the world. Believe it or not, it was designed by an American physicist, Sir Benjamin Thompson in 1789.

Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, he served as a Lieutenant-Colonel on the British side during the American Revolutionary War for which he received a knighthood from King George III. He later lived in Germany and became Count Rumford.

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

Tags: American, Benjamin, British, Count, Englischer, English, garden, Garten, George, Germany, King, knight, Lieutenant-Colonel, Massachusetts, Munich, park, physicist, revolutionary, Rumford, Thompson, urban, Woburn, world

 Haus der Deutschen Kunst (“House of Aryan Art”) was the Third Reich’s first monumental structure of Nazi architecture and a showcase for  Nazi propaganda. It  opened  July 18, 1937 to highlight what the Third Reich regarded as Germany’s finest art.  Since Hitler thought Modern Art was crap, he intended this as an edifying contrast to it.

Ironically, since, 2002, it has housed the the National Collection of Modern and Contemporary Arts and is called the Pinakothek der Moderne.

Just to make sure we get it, crowning the top of the building are 20 words written in Yiddish such as “meshiginer or nudnick” – all words relating to the fact he was a fool.

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

Tags: architecture, art, collection, Crown, fool, Germany, Haus der Deutschen Kunst, modern, modern contemporary, Munich, Pinakothek, propaganda, Reich, Third, yiddish

From June 1942 to February 1943, Munich was the center of the White Rose, a student resistance movement which was known for an anonymous leaflet and graffiti campaign. The group was in active opposition to dictator Adolf  Hitler’s regime. Six well-known members were arrested and be-headed following a distribution of leaflets in Munich University by Hans and Sophie Scholl.

You can see the black granite monument to the White Rose Movement in the Hofgarten. Their words carved on it say that every human being has the right to live in freedom of their faith and welfare.

www.muenchen.de/int/en/tourism.html

Tags: black, dictator, faith, freedom, Germany, graffiti, granite, Hans, Hofgarten, human, leaflet, monument, Munich, Rose, Scholl, Sophie, student, university, white

Hitler lived in Nuremburg at the Deutscher Hof Hotel. The Cosmos tour passes right by his windows. Look for the arched windows in the center of the front facade.

The city was famous for Nazi Party rallies held here every September from 1933 to 1938.  These were  huge week-long gatherings that brought hundreds of thousands of people to this city to view the nationalistic and militaristic extravaganza.

It’s one of the reasons the city was destroyed.

www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

The Trabant car was pretty much the only one you could buy in the Soviet Bloc of countries. They had a long waiting list. In Hungary you would have to wait about 4 years. If you thought that was bad, if you lived in East Germany it was a 15 to 20 year wait. You might have ordered it, but by the time you received it, your children were ready to drive it. www.cosmos.com/Product.aspx?trip=46050

Tags: Bloc, car, children, countries, drive, East, Germany, Hungary, list, Soviet, Trabant, year

An international idea celebrated in 50 countries, Restaurant Day is a food carnival created by food-loving people setting up one-day restaurants. The idea of the day is to have fun, share new food experiences and meet others in our community. People offer their family cuisine, favorite recipes, desserts or whatever in their backyard or a park.  Prices are very inexpensive.

Check the maps to see if there is one in your city.

Date: Sunday, August 17
http://www.restaurantday.org/

Tags: carnival, city, countries, cuisine, dessert, family, food, map, people, recipe, Restaurant