4: To the Alpine Museum: A peak experience
Thursday October 26, 2017
This was probably the last nice day for a while, cold and wet has been predicted. All the more reason to get on our bikes. We rode to Munich's Alpine Museum, ten kilometers round trip. It is an excellent museum and I wonder why I have never been there before. It is certainly worth visiting. It is run by the German Alpine Association and was established in 1911. More about the museum here. The current exhibition is titled "Hoch Hinaus! Wege und Hütten in den Alpen" - freely translated as "To the Top! Trails and Huts in the Alps".
On our way to the museum we stopped off at the post office. It's sort of like a Trojan horse. From the outside you have no idea what is on the inside. Inside of the nice old pre-war building are the post office's modernized facilities. You can do banking there as well as the other things that post offices offer - although I don't think many people send letters by snail mail anymore. Lots of packages to and from Amazon though.
This was probably the last nice day for a while, cold and wet has been predicted. All the more reason to get on our bikes. We rode to Munich's Alpine Museum, ten kilometers round trip. It is an excellent museum and I wonder why I have never been there before. It is certainly worth visiting. It is run by the German Alpine Association and was established in 1911. More about the museum here. The current exhibition is titled "Hoch Hinaus! Wege und Hütten in den Alpen" - freely translated as "To the Top! Trails and Huts in the Alps".
On our way to the museum we stopped off at the post office. It's sort of like a Trojan horse. From the outside you have no idea what is on the inside. Inside of the nice old pre-war building are the post office's modernized facilities. You can do banking there as well as the other things that post offices offer - although I don't think many people send letters by snail mail anymore. Lots of packages to and from Amazon though.
Old building with modernized post office. The Deutsche Post also offers banking services.
After getting my package off at the post office we headed west. We crossed through the English Garden to reach the bike path along the Isar River, an enjoyable way to cycle through Munich with only short stretches on roads with traffic.
View to the Mnopteros on our ride through the English Garden
People enjoying the late October sun
Looking north to the Maximilian Bridge on the Isar with a view to some nice buildings from around 1900
Looking south we see the Deutsches Museum, the world's largest museum of science and technology.
On the right is St. Luke's Church (St. Lukas or Lukaskirche), the largest Protestant church in Munich. It was built in 1893–1896.
The Alpine Museum is situated on an island in the Isar. Before we went inside we looked at the outdoor part of the exhibition, a reconstructed Alpine hut as well as some interesting geological displays, a bronze sculpture and some big rocks for kids to practice bouldering on. It was all so very well done, I was already impressed.
On the museum's grounds - Bavarian mountain climber from bygone days
The Höllentalanger Hut, built in 1893-4, was taken from its original location and reconstructed here for the Alpine Museum's exhibition on huts and trails in the Alps.
The huts provided protection from the elements, but the interiors were very spartan.
Eating area with rustic Bavarian furnishings
Selfie from outside looking in
The entrance to the museum, outdoor seating for the cafè and under the stairs a tiny library with books on subjects related to hiking and the mountains
After wandering around in the garden and taking pictures we went inside. Time for coffee and cake in its very nice little café. There weren't many tables, and there weren't many customers either, just one woman with a toddler. The variety of homemade cake was another highlight.
The café was very small and very friendly.
The cake was excellent, cherry with almond topping.
Now for the museum. I loved it. Here is a translation of a description of the Trails and Huts exhibition that I found in the Internet:
The exhibition asks what is special about Alpine trails and huts. It traces the emergence of the tourism infrastructure and shows the development from the accommodations in the early 1870s to the "mountain hotels" at the turn of the century. It shows the conscious reduction of comfort in the 1920s as well as the latest solutions for a contemporary approach to Alpine accommodation today. Amongst the exhibits are furnishings and utensils from the huts as well as documents, paintings, photographs and models of the sections of the Alpine clubs.
Here is a small sampling of the exhibits to give you an idea.
The exhibition asks what is special about Alpine trails and huts. It traces the emergence of the tourism infrastructure and shows the development from the accommodations in the early 1870s to the "mountain hotels" at the turn of the century. It shows the conscious reduction of comfort in the 1920s as well as the latest solutions for a contemporary approach to Alpine accommodation today. Amongst the exhibits are furnishings and utensils from the huts as well as documents, paintings, photographs and models of the sections of the Alpine clubs.
Here is a small sampling of the exhibits to give you an idea.
I loved this exhibition and its variety. It captured the feeling of drama that accompanied mountain climbing, especially in the 19th century before better trails and more comfortable lodging were available.
Part of the exhibition shows everyday furnishings as found in the huts. The pictures of the cows were on the beams of one of the huts, showing the farmer with his cows and their names.
There is the farmer Sepp with Lisl, Ilge, Thusnelda, Bläss, Lina, Gretl, Basle ...
The drawings and paintings conveyed the feeling of man and the mountain.
A blueprint - a work of art in itself - showing details for the construction of furnishings of the hut
Drama of the mountain
This is the Zugspitz, Germany's highest peak.
One last impression from our visit to Munich's Alpine Museum:
This plaque with an edelweiss in the center is in the garden: "Against intolerance and hate, a reminder to all mountaineers."
In many ways, Germany today tries not to repress or deny its past but to face it and learn from it.
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