What's new in Germany

Munich celebrates its 850th anniversary this year with a series of cultural events (theater, cabaret, concerts, exhibitions, tours, and so on), mostly on weekends in June and July. Munich's new Jewish Museum features a small but well-done exhibit on Jewish life, and its City Museum will reopen with shiny new exhibits after an extensive renovation. The charming new Beer and Oktoberfest Museum is located in a brightly lit, but creaky house with low ceilings (the oldest in the city center) and covers the history of Munich's breweries and the origins of Oktoberfest, its famous annual keg fest. The renovated and now futuristic -- rather than frumpy -- BMW Museum has reopened. And just outside Munich, at Dachau, a new visitors' center/cafe opens in 2008.

Rick Steves