Looking at a two-day tour, one of the days would be the city centre where we already are. Start at the Kaufinger Straße at Karlstor (at the subway exit), and wander down the pedestrian zone. Have a look at the stores with all of the traditional Bavarian products until you get to the Asamkirche (Asam Church). Plan to spend half an hour in there, it is the most grotesque display of wealth I have ever seen. I mean it is beautiful, but it is so beautiful that it is almost impossible to enjoy in good conscience. Maybe it’s just me, but anyway, it is free and it is absolutely incredible. After you head out of the Asamkirche, you can follow the street around to the Frauenkirche. Head in there, but make sure not to tell your students the story of the Devil’s footprint before you get there. It is much more impactful to be told it in whispered tones of a church story, hunched in a semi-circle, directly on the spot of the footprint, with the simply unbelievable sight of a naturally lit, ostensibly windowless building opening up before you. After this, take the students to the Alter Peter (Old Peter’s Church) and have them climb the tower. It’s a long climb, but then you get to stand on the roof of the church up the top of the tower and see all of Munich around you. I’ve actually started with the second half of the day, because the first half of the day that I’m going to recommend is Dachau Concentration camp. Personally, I’ve not been to Dachau but I am very familiar with it as I majored in German at University and within that I undertook Studies of the Holocaust as a semester subject. I have spoken at length with the tourist information office about Dachau tours for students. They recommend taking at least 2 teachers in case students break down and need to leave. My guide said that students must be 14 to enter, and must be 17 to enter certain areas of the camp, but there are also 12+ tours available by booking. The 17+ areas contain video footage of the camp. In my university studies, I have seen footage taken by Allied Forces of the liberation and clean-up of some concentration camps. It is indescribable in words, I’m not going to try, but I remember it effects. I don’t say this to sensationalize, it is an appropriate warning. - Prepare your students for what they are about to experience. - Allow them to opt out if they think they cannot handle it. - If it is at all possible, visit by yourself before you take others so that you know how you personally will react. - Do not do Dachau as the last activity of the day. - Plan something very entertaining and distracting for the rest of the day. - Tours to Dachau are only held on Mondays and Saturdays. On the second day, head back to Kaufinger Straße and visit the Residenz (The former residence of the Wittelsback Family in Munich). Make sure you are out of there in time to catch the Glockenspiel at 11 or 12 o’clock. After that you can go to the Münchener Sadtmuseum (Museum of the history of the city of Munich) and then you can drop the students at the Viktualenmarkt and give them an hour or so free time before heading to the Hauptbahnhof and going home. If you have more time, consider BMW World and/or the Olympic Village tour. You can include abseiling down the roof of the Olympic stadium in the tour if you have the time and the money and while you are there you can go up Olympic Tower, from which you can see all of Munich and on a good day, right through to the Bavarian Alps. If you have a ridiculous amount of time, say a week, spend a day in the Deutsches Museum (German Museum of Science) and you will still only see a quarter to a third of it. Normally one would buy a three-day or a week pass to this museum alone. You could also do a day trip out to Nauschwanstein Castle, the Fantasia Castle made by Mad King Ludwig the Second at the bottom of the Bavarian Alps. You could also try a Segway tour, or if you are there with adult students there is a Munich Beer and Brewery Tour, which is very popular.
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