On April 23rd, Saint George’s day, I had a city tour of Munich. St. George’s day also happens to be the day of bavarian beer…and so free beer flows from the beer fountain here in Munich.
That’s right, free beer. I had only a group of seven that day, but six out of seven came with me at the end of the tour to enjoy a free beer with me. We had a great time. In fact, I had several beers and made a couple German friends while I was there. They took my picture & were taking pics of themselves there too.
I’m just saying I’ll try to update later today. I’ve got Salzburg pics from last week…as well as a few others. Been to Neuschwanstein a lot lately, it’s been busy, but not overly so.
Soon my friend Minna will visit…and then Steve. Petra might got back to Hong Kong for a few weeks…and I might go over there for a couple weeks myself. Who knows.
Tequila? It’s not good with cereal, don’t even think it.
[Listening to: Joke About Jamaica – The Hold Steady – Stay Positive (4:35)]
Petra and I had a limited budget and limited amount of time for our barely spring vacation, and so we spent a few days In Dresden (which has a lot more as far as sightseeing), and only one day in Leipzig.
We arrived in the evening of March 16th, so we basically had dinner and hit the hotel. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, which is DIRECTLY across the street from the train station, making it just about the ideal location. However, the windows seemed to be about as thin as physically possible, so the noise from the street was quite substantial and also there was a very clear draft from the windows which are directly over the bed. We had stayed at the Hilton in Dresden, so it was a clear step down.
Anyways, so we really had just one full day to see Leipzig and so we got up and out as early as we could. We had done out research on things to see mainly using Fodors Germany and Wikipedia. I love my Fodors Germany and our copy is very much showing it at this stage.
The first thing on our list to see was the Battle of the Nations Monument (Völkerschlachtdenkmal), which is supposedly the largest monument in Europe (although I would be interested in how they qualify this statement). It was the only thing on the list that was outside of the downtown area, so we thought we’d take care of it right away. After a short tram ride, we were there in maybe 15 minutes. I think the pictures speak for themselves:
We went all the way to the top and it was pretty cool. Before researching this trip, neither of had ever heard of the Battle of Nations. My current excuse is that modern history and specifically battles and wars are not my thing. End results and the stories around them are more my cup of tea…also, like I said, modern history is always last on my list.
The second thing on the list I wasn’t so sure about since Fodors mentioned that everything was in German only. It was the Stasi museum, which is basically about how closely the DDR watched over its citizens. The building served as the Stasi (secret police) headquarters in Leipzig until 1989. It’s an interesting museum, free, and definitely worth a look. However, I will say that the entire museum appears to have been done as a class project for a class of 6th graders.
Next up was St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche). This is best known as the Johann Sebastian Bach church, if you couldn’t tell from the large statue out front, the fact that he’s IN the stained glass windows, the small museum of his instruments, or that everyone inside is hovered around the altar snapping photos of his grave.
The old city all (Rathaus) was built in 1556, houses the city museum, and is definitely worth a visit. We spent a couple hours in there and it was excellent. Also, relatively cheap…especially for how well it was done.
The Church of St. Nicholas (Nikolaikirche) came next on our list, which was absolutely beautiful, and possibly the only church I’ve seen that invites visitors up and around the altar area. It has been a protestant church since 1539. I love the palm tree effect.
Now, since we were visiting on St. Patrick’s Day, of course we stopped for a couple pints of Guinness before our journey home to Munich. If you plan on visiting Leipzig, I highly recommend it as a one or one and a half day stop doing something along the same lines as I posted above…including the beer.
As many visitors to Munich seem to be interested in flea markets and beer, it’s that time of year again. Last year I wrote a bit about it and posted a couple of pictures, which you can see here.
This year it’s running from, well, yesterday (April 17th) until May 3rd. So…although I’m really not sure if I’ll go at all this year or not, if you’re new to town or just want to check it out, it’s going on right now and it’s free…so might as well. Maybe I’ll go just to find something to eat that I don’t have to cook myself. Pasta daily gets to be a bit boring, I’m told.
….Just talked to my wife, Hong Kong/China seems to be going well for her.
This last week I’ve had it pretty lazy, just a few city tours and smoked beers.
Next week is a little more active…trips to Neuschwanstein and Salzburg…the end of this month looks very busy with Neuschwanstein, but now the tours have an extra hour (the tour starts at 9:30am rather than 10:30am), so that helps a lot. Probably going to get into shape pretty quick here.
Yesterday I had the feared Neuschwanstein Easter-weekend Saturday tour. It was beautiful weather and not bad, actually. Except of course for the three girls from Hong Kong, but that’s a long story.
Petra leaves for Hong Kong & China tomorrow. *sniffle*
So, I’ll try to keep busy with tours and maybe attempt to get Brendan to head out for a beer later in the week. We work too much.
Happy Easter everybody.
[Listening to: Delirious (1983) – Eddie Murphy – (49:02)]
Today I’m sitting here with all the windows open, sweating a bit, soaking up the sun. It’s a beautiful day in Munich. Last week I had a couple tours to Salzburg and had similar days there (a little colder than today, but not much). In the winter I tend to hibernate indoors reading books while the tourists are running through their sights. However, with the beautiful weather…I tend to just walk around most of the time. On recent tours I hiked up the Kapuzinerberg for a great view over the city as well as a good place to just enjoy the weather in peace. Here are some pics from last week.
With this first one, can anyone tell me what type of tree this is?
For lunch, I’ve gone to a new place called Frauenberger’s burger corner. Frauenberger’s isn’t anything new, but their burger corner which is self-serve with a great terrace area on Linzer gasse, is a great location. Their burgers are 5 euros each and are pretty damn big. Below I have pics first of Frauenberger’s burger corner which I’ll be eating lunch at quite often I figure. (please read the edit below the pictures)
EDIT: I had one very negative experience here…but after a few e-mails to the management, it seems to have been an isolated incident and I’m willing to give it another shot.
Last month we went to Dresden (& then Leipzig, more on that later). At the time, for whatever reason, I was quick in posting the pictures from our trip to photobucket and facebook, but felt too busy to post them here. So today, since I have the day off, I thought I would get back to that and give a few thoughts on the trip.
Dresden was much different than I expected. What did I expect? To be honest, everyone talks about East Germany like it’s a bunch of run-down former factories used as squats, cold war era housing complexes that make Einstürzende Neubauten sound like a great idea, and according to news reports, no jobs.
Now, I’ve been to East Germany before, but only really to Berlin. In Berlin there certainly is some of what I mentioned above, however there is a bit of everything there…like any major city really. With Dresden (& Leipzig), I thought I’d see a little more of what those news reports go on about….but the fact is, I just didn’t see it. Dresden is a modern city, to be sure, but some things have been restored quite beautifully. The biggest surprise was the sheer cost of Dresden. Coming from Munich, which is always ranked as Germany’s most expensive city, I thought Dresden would be slightly cheaper. Dresden was very expensive.
Why don’t we make some comparisons, I’ve picked three top choices:
Munich
The Residenz in Munich: (massive palace downtown Munich) costs €6 which includes an audio guide, €9 combined with Treasury
Alte Pinakothek (large art gallery, world-class): €9, €5 on Sundays
Munich city museum (MASSIVE city museum): €4, FREE on Sundays
Dresden
Residenzschloss Dresden: €12 for the “historic green vault” and €6 for the “new green vault.” These are basically two sections of their treasury.
Zwinger “Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister” (major art gallery): €10
Dresden city museum (rather small, really): €4
Conclusion: We went on a Sunday, which is usually the day we do museums as churches are a bit awkward on Sundays, and nothing else is open. If we went to the three sights in Munich, our total cost would be (per person) €14. If we went to the three sights in Dresden, our total cost would be (per person) €32. In my opinion these are very comparable sights…and as you can see, over double the cost in Dresden.
With all that said, we had a great time in Dresden and saw a lot of beautiful things (which you can’t take pictures of, they’re evil like that). However, what is meant to be the highlight (according to the city’s tourist board), the Frauenkirche, I found to be pretty…but soul-less…worth about 5 minutes of your time.
Now, what you’ve all been waiting for, the pictures:
There is a lot to see in Dresden, but it can be done in just a couple days if you plan ahead. The city has a very new feeling to it, but the area around the Frauenkirche and the river is very nice.
If any of you have questions about Dresden, we’ve now seen and done about everything there…so ask away!
[Listening to: Bad Blood Better – Bob Mould – Life And Times (3:46)]
I had a tiny group the other day in Salzburg. During the tour around town, EVERYONE (even the Brazilians) took their jackets off and I was even overheating. After the hour 1/2 around with them I decided to go around and take a few pictures before finding a bench, soaking up the sun, and reading. Spring must have really hit because a week ago I wouldn’t have even considered for a second spending the full 3 hours OUTSIDE…I freeze too easily.
Anyways, here are the pics I took:
The Do Re Mi steps…
[Listening to: Bed – Jim Gaffigan – King Baby (4:37)]
This post is basically just to say that we’re back from Dresden & Leipzig, had a great time, saw what we wanted to see, and I’m back home in Munich. Today I had a tour to Neuschwanstein…decent weather, but not sunny. Spring breakers seem to be coming in hordes & tons of chinese lately. More later.
Oh, and my finger hurts like hell, I have no idea why.
Well, yesterday I had my last tour for the week and now I have a whole week off. Petra and I are going up to Dresden for a few days and maybe to Leipzig too…still working that out. According to my trusty Fodor’s book, there doesn’t appear to be that much in Dresden (or Leipzig for that matter), so we might be able to fit everything into just a couple days…but I’ll have the full run-down of what we saw when I’m back next week.
Dresden and Leipzig have always been on the to-do list, but I’ve never had the budget of most of the people on my tours and so it’s one city at a time usually. Anyways, it’ll be a nice relaxing Saturday for sure, looking forward to the hot-tub!
[Listening to: Paean To The Enlightenment – Good Riddance – Bound By Ties Of Blood And Aff (1:27)]
I’ve taken a few pics randomly down in Salzburg…this first one is of Untersberg from the Europark shopping mall at the edge of town.
This second one is in the same direction, while I was waiting at the bus stop, heading back to meet up with my group.
Finally this last one is of a Smart car that they have in the mall right now. I had never actually sat in one and played around with all the features, so this gave me the chance. I’m about 6’2″, and that’s about as tall as you can be for this car, but was quite comfortable at my height…so should be good enough for most people. It feels like a go cart and the spedometer only goes to 140kph…so isn’t much faster than a go cart either.
[Listening to: Scotty Doesn’t Know (The Secon – Lustra – What You Need & What You Get (3:02)]
Today Petra and I were grocery shopping at a normal German grocery store called “PLUS”. We discovered possibly the most racist food product I’ve seen in a while…
[Listening to: America Fuck Yeah – Team America World Police – Motion Picture Soundtrack (2:08)]
I’ve been mainly going back and forth between Neuschwanstein and Salzburg in the rain mixed randomly with a lil snow. When I go to Salzburg I’ve been doing the same thing every time which is visiting the mall (Europark) and I sit on one of the many benches reading for part of the time, then wander over to Nordsee and get a “Maxi-mix box” which is shrimp, fish, and potato wedges. It’s a great lunch for €4.45.
I’m not a big fan of winter and lately it’s really starting to annoy me that everyone on the tours seems to be a WAY over the top winter person (or they’re from Singapore and can’t help it, they’ve never seen snow). Not that we have much snow as it rains more often than snows throughout the winter here in Bavaria, but not everyone has dealt with real winters like a Minnesotan.
Anyone looking for a scanner? I’m giving away a visioneer 4400 USB scanner, 42-bit 600x1200dpi. I’ll post it on toytown later, but if you want it first, e-mail me.
[Listening to: Kiss The Girl – Kepi Ghoulie – Valentine’s 2009 (2:52)]
I use google maps all the time. The idea of google sightseeing is entertaining at least in a passive sense. As long as I don’t have to search out new ideas for what to look at and can just look at the RSS reader every once in a while and go “oh, that’s interesting…”, then I’m happy.
I was looking at it recently and noticed the “top 10 rudest place names in Britain”. Now, I’ve never been to any of those, but at the bottom it mentions a place a little closer to home. It links to an older article on Fucking, Austria.
As many of you may know, I’ve been there a few times now when we’ve had guests, and think it’s a wonderful photo opportunity. We usually do Burghausen, Fucking, and Altötting in one day, it’s a great day trip (you need a car to do it).
Anyways, here’s a few pictures from our trips there:
My brother, Petra, and I:
no more Fucking, Austria *sniffle*:
(sorry if you’re easily offended, it’s supposed to be funny)
[Listening to: Last Caress – NOFX – 45 or 46 Songs… (1:31)]
Yesterday I had a decent size group to Salzburg and today I had a good size group to Neuschwanstein, so the numbers are looking good lately. As with everybody these days, we’re worried a little bit by competition which isn’t even in the same league as far as value and knowledge. The word free is not always a good thing.
Anyways, today there was a bump in the road when the train came in 10 minutes late so that the bus wasn’t there…and we missed the connection. However, we managed to get a bus to take us there only 30 minutes late, so it worked out, just not nearly as smooth as I’d like. I have mixed feelings about today’s tour, it was good and bad. I really enjoyed explaining modern German history to a guy from Singapore, he had good questions, but wasn’t able to stump me. The canadian guy sitting nearby complimented me on how well I explained things…apparently he is studying history at University and thought I did well…good to hear. I enjoy talking about history and explaining these things…it helps me get through the day sometimes.
Tomorrow I’ve got an easy day with just a Munich Highlights walk. I think I’ll have the Singaporeans again.
[Listening to: Meet Me By The River’s Edge – The Gaslight Anthem – The ’59 Sound (3:19)]
I keep getting the same questions, so here’s a few answers to common questions:
(some of these are general questions not just winter-only)
Yes, Neuschwanstein is open, it only closes three days a year…Christmas day, 2nd Christmas day, and New Years day. However, the bridge that you most likely want to take photos from is closed between Nov 15 and April 15th, in general (nothing set in stone, if there’s decent weather for long enough, things open). Right now, for example, you have to climb over three large barricades if you want to attempt to get to the bridge. The castle is open and is still definitely worth it, but I’d recommend coming back in the summer.
Yes, the Dachau memorial is open, they’re even open on Christmas.
Yes, Radius tours go year round, no matter what the weather.
Yes, I’ve done the tour in what Germans would call a blizzard. However, please understand that I’m from Minnesota and have a completely different idea of what a blizzard is than these whiners. Weather nearly never affects the tour timing at all.
No, I don’t think Ludwig II was crazy.
Sundays are the best days for museums in Munich as many of the museums are only 1 euro for entry and the city museum is free on Sundays.
NO stores are open on Sundays except if it is IN the main trainstation (Hauptbahnhof) or the airport.
If you haven’t gotten your seats reserved for Oktoberfest 2009 by now, you’re probably NOT going to get them. Good luck fighting for them with the rest of us.
Here’s a goofy picture of myself, Brendan, and Rick Steves.
[Listening to: Designed by Satan – The Vandals – Hollywood Potato Chip (2:32)]
