The 2012 Tonsley Time Team trip was focused on the role of Munich and the surrounding area in the early days of Hitler's rise and power. Munich played a pivotal role in raising first money then profile and support for Hitler from the very beginning. Even thought the 1923 Putsch failed and he was imprisoned for a year, he regained the initiative and within ten years was Chancellor. The non-historical agenda consisted of lashings of beer and sausages. More on this later. Our team was Floody, Claire Bear, Joe, Rupert, Eddie I, Anton, Woolfy, plus new comers Julian and Philly Bell, my father and sister.

Day 1 was about seeing the city. After arrival and check-in, we collected hire bikes and the old gags started again - loosen Floody's seat, drive Ed into the pavement, charge at Joe jousting-style. Some things never change and Woolfy basically never grows up. We headed straight to the Viktualienmarkt, the historic open air market at the heart of the city to take in the atmosphere and get our first beer & sausage (B&S) on board. About this time the challenge for the weekend was established: 100 sausages in 72 hours. And to get off to a flying start, we rapidly picked up round 2 on B&S. With these added stabilisers, we set off to the river for a short tour of the outskirts of the city, and North to the Englischer Garten, the largest city park in Europe. Basking in wonderful sunshine, we followed the river through the open fields, where Claire was suddenly able to confirm the truth in the rumours about naked sunbathers.

We arrived at the Chinesischer Turm, a giant pagoda in the centre of the park and home to one of the best known beer gardens, with a tremendous oom-pah-pah band playing from high inside the pagoda. More beer, though for the life of my I can't recall sausages at this point. The team learned a significant local tradition here: when the bands plays 'Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit der Gemuetlichkeit' everyone raises a glass, slams them together with a smile into each other's eyes and takes a large slug. This helps the landlords make their sales targets, so the band is basically on commission each time this ditty pops up. We headed back to the hotel eventually to change for supper but got sidetracked by Commander Bruce calling for a renewed effort on the sausage front so caught a cool 20+ 'pre-dinner snack' got us in the mood for supper at Zum Straubinger, where we were joined by late arrivals for a local Bavarian meal featuring yet more beer & sausages. A few post-prandials then bed.

We started fairly early on Saturday with a bus trip out of town towards the mountains. (Pit stop -coffee / cake and optional white sausage.) The trip took us to the Austrian border and the town of Berchtesgaden where in 1938 the Nazi party, under Martin Boormann, had built the Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle's Nest, as a gift to Hitler on his 50th birthday. Set on the top of one of the most spectacular mountains with a 360 degree view, this was intended to be a retreat where the Fuehrer could relax and conduct key diplomatic meetings, impressing all. The house itself is attractive but surprisingly low key; more impressive was the effort to build an access road up the side of the mountain. The cost in today's currency is estimated at close to 400m Euros and some ten workers were killed during the 15 months work on the project. For me, the most interesting figure was that Hitler only visited the house ten times, the last being as early as 1940. Thereafter the war planning kept him away, but the Allies had made the house a high priority symbolic target and sent over 390 bombers to destroy it in a single mission but were thwarted by snow and weather. The house is now let out to a restaurant so we had open air lunch at close to 2,000 metres in T-shirts and glorious blue skies.

There was much snoozing on the way back, the wise owls no doubt realising a long night lay ahead. Showered and changed, we reconvened for dinner at the Glockenspiel restaurant, on the 5th floor overlooking Marienplatz, the main city square. We had a great view as the mist came in and dusk fell, and a very enjoyable meal, for once a pretty much a sausage-free affair; the team had again stocked up en route with a warm up 20+, keeping us on track for the goal. After dinner we went underground to the Ratskeller, below the new town hall for drinks and then ducked down a side alley to the famous Jodlerwirt, an upstairs room full of singing locals, who all seemed to want Eddie's kids for reasons unfathomable. Much merriment and competitive singing ensued.

A later start with a Bavarian brunch the next morning Chez Bell - white sausage and wheat beer for the bold; pretzels and coffee for the meek. We then met our guide for a two hour walking tour of the city, to see where Hitler first galvanised his supporters, to hear the story of his failed first bid for power in November 1923, to the Hofbraeuhaus where he began to rebuild support with public rallies, and past the sites of the Gestapo prison and party headquarters. Munich was intended to become the capital of the party, while Berlin was to be the core of a greater 'Germania' and the city was largely redesigned in classic Nazi style to provide a suitable backdrop for this ambition. The architecture is distinctive, but not lovable. By now, the group was breaking up as early travellers headed for the airport, but the stragglers gathered around final beers and crossed the hundred sausage mark with upwards momentum, finally closing the score at 102.

We missed the traditional 'Dick of the Day' award, so I am claiming the writer's prerogative to give this to Floody for his tipsy line to Claire: 'You know, I'm the best thing for you, don't you?' [Ed: I think it was relative to the others on tour, something she, of course, emphatically agreed!]

Champagne moment, a toss up between Eddie knocking over a row of 10 or so chained-up bikes like dominoes (thank you, Woolfy) and Eddie again being asked if he wanted to go upstairs with a gang of pink shirted women at the Jodlerwirt; how he held himself back is anyone's guess but he claims they were old enough to be his mother (the rest of us think he needs to recognise he is no longer 25). Either way, Ed wins...

Special thanks to Insa who allowed us to come to the flat for brunch whilst having her mother and uncle to stay, as well as my family, and on top of this threw a birthday party for 12 kids on the Saturday. True multi-tasking.

As a final thought, writing this a week after the tour ended, it may amaze you to know we have fresh snow settled on the ground and roofs. In under a week, we've gone from 25 degrees to freezing. How lucky we were to sneak in just before autumn finally took hold!

Roll on the next one!

Rupert