The Professional Tourist

For some reason, I like the idea of launching a BMW one series off of a massive ramp.

Apparently others do too.

Munich’s spring festival has started here in Munich and will be running until April 27th. The city advertises it as the “kleine Schwester des Oktoberfestes” (little sister of the Oktoberfest), but anyone who has been there will say differently.

The festival itself is mostly known by the locals for the opening weekend flea market which is the biggest of the region, held just the one time a year, the first Saturday of the festival. The rest of the spring festival is rather normal for a bavarian volksfest and very small in comparison to the Oktoberfest. That being said, the comments you mostly hear from those visiting the Frühlingsfest is that it was a lot of kids (15-20 year old kids) and certainly not what they expected. From my experience I think that’s at least partly true, although all age groups are represented. I don’t believe the phrase “little sister of the Oktoberfest” is deserved, however, as it just isn’t the same atmosphere at all and isn’t even representative of similar festivals to the Oktoberfest.

If you happen to be in Munich during the spring festival, then by all means, have an evening out at the Theresienwiese (oktoberfest grounds) for the Frühlingsfest. Personally I prefer the normal Bavarian volksfests and even the actual Oktoberfest more so than the spring festival, although you take what you can get, I suppose.

For a list of volksfests around the area happening all spring/summer/fall, check this site out.

Here’s some pictures from the spring festival 2007:

My former favorite döner place is finally open again!  For those visiting Munich on a budget, döner is your friend.  There are a few döner places that I visit fairly often, but the one I’ve been craving for over a year, “Ali baba” is finally open again.  They renovated the entire building including the helvetia hotel above it…which took well over a year.  Now it’s back and the döner is as good as ever…same workers, same mostly turkish customers.

The place makes their own bread, has spices on the tables, and has all fresh vegies.  Next time you’re near the main train station in Munich, stop by and try one…you will be damn impressed.

It’s on Schiller str, a 1 minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) of Munich. 

This is what a tour guide lives off of:

So, I was doing my usual thing as far as tours last December and a guy took my business card, as hundreds do a year, and I didn’t think much of it as time goes by fast as you’re going back and forth amongst Germany & Austria’s greatest sights.  Last week I was contacted to be a guest writer for his website/blog on travel.  This being right up my alley, I went for it.  Anyways, here’s the link.  I have a few articles already posted there, but you should expect to see more from me there as it will be an outlet for things that for whatever reason don’t fit here.

In other news, Petra and I went bowling last Sunday and it was a lot of fun…so we plan on going bowling maybe once a month, mas o menos.  Here’s a pic of the local bowling alley which is about 5 minutes away:

Today I have a half day off. Although this is Easter weekend I worked on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Unfortunately tourists don’t understand that we tour guides would like a day off too, ya know?

Oh well, tours have been going pretty normal lately. My last tour to Neuschwanstein I took my normal maximum limit which is 35 people. We’ve been having very questionable weather for the last couple of weeks, so considering the weather, everything is good. By questionable I mean just above freezing and raining, with a little snow mixed in randomly.

In the last week my numbers on this site have gone up quite a bit. They have gone up steadily over the past 6 months, but this last week was a new high. For the month, I expect to beat the numbers from January, which was the previous record. The top posts have been the top 5 lists and of course the upcoming events post. So I would expect more of that kind of thing from me here and there as I find time.

Here’s a picture of Neuschwanstein from March 22nd:

…and another from the same day:

Here’s the foosball table we always wanted in college:

Is American beer weaker than German beer?

Many Americans ask this question, or even more often, assume this to be true. Many American beers are stronger and many are weaker than the usual beers of Germany, but to be fair we should probably take the average American beers versus the average German beers, right? Heres a break-down:

Budweiser: 5%
Miller Genuine Draft: 4.7%
Busch: 4.6%
Michelob: 5%
Pabst: 5%
Bud Light: 4.2%
Rolling Rock: 4.6%
Red Hook ESP: 5.8%
Samuel Adams Boston Lager: 4.75%
Samuel Adams India Pale Ale: 5.9%
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale: 5.6%
Petes Wicked Ale: 5.3%
Pyramid India Pale Ale: 6.7%
Leinenkugel Honey Weiss: 4.9%
Natural Ice (my favorite and yours): 5.9%

Augustiner Helles: 5.2%
Augustiner Edelstoff: 5.6%
Paulaner Helles: 4.9%
Hof Bräu Helles: 5.1%
Löwenbräu Helles: 5.2%
Erdinger Weissbier: 5.3%
Hacker-Pschorr Münchner Hell: 4.9%
Oettinger Hell: 4.7%
Warsteiner: 4.8%
Bitburger: 4.8%
Becks: 5%
Diebels: 4.8%
Dom Kölsch: 4.8%
Berliner Kindl Weisse: 3%

(Really, look at Budweiser compared to Paulaner for example…two very common beers of a similar type (lager), within the margin of error %, so basically the same amount of alcohol)

Wait, wait, wait…hold on a minute, are you saying my local beer is weaker than American beer?

That could very well be the case (especially if youre from the UK or Ireland where Ales are most prevalent). Why dont we look at other beers you might be familiar with for a full comparison. Depending on the type of beer, it may or may not be true. You really have to compare specific brands and types rather than generalize.

Guinness: 4.2%
Beamish: 4.95%
Amstel: 5%
Heineken: 5.4%
Grolsch: 5%
Corona: 4.6%
Victoria Bitter: 4.8%
Boddingtons: 4.1%
Worthington White Shield: 5.6%
Harveys Old Ale: 3.6%
Stella Artois: 5.2%
Molson Canadian: 5%
Labatt Blue: 5%
Coors: 5%
Coors light: 4%
Newcastle Brown Ale: 4.7%
Bass Ale 4.4%
Fosters: 5.1%
Sapporo: 5.2%

What is the main cause of this misunderstanding?

Alcohol by weight is the standard measurement in the United States. Alcohol by volume is the standard worldwide. If a beer is 3.2% alcohol by weight, thats 4% by volume, for example. More on that theme here.

For the record:  My actual favorite beer does not appear on any of the above lists.

That’s right, it’s the day between the official St. Patrick’s day (according to the catholic church…and I believe they’re the authority on Saint’s days) which is the 15th this year (Saturday) and the unofficial St. Patrick’s day which is the 17th. So what does that mean for your favorite tour guide? Drinking guinness from Saturday through Monday, of course.

Don’t worry, we also have Bailey’s. (tried the mint chocolate one too…just tastes like bailey’s…oh well)

Anyways, Petra and I went down to Munich’s St. Paddy’s day parade which claims to be the biggest one on the continent. We took some pictures with petra’s phone, so I’ll put them below. The highlight was the brew master from Guinness speaking…he got the most applause out of anyone.

Finally, after years of waiting, the new BMW museum has a set opening date.  Officially it opens on June 19th, with it being really open to the public on June 21st.  I was never around to see the old museum, as there has only been a temporary museum set-up for the four years that I’ve lived here.  That’s right, they took their time on this so it BETTER be 10x cooler than the BMW welt, which in my opinion is only worth about 20 min of your time and even then, I was under-whelmed. 

Entry cost €12

Tues-fri 9am-6pm

Sat-Sun-holidays 10am-8pm

I’ll report back when it’s open.

Last Saturday (March 1st) started as a fairly normal day. I woke up, went to work (the main train station), and gathered my tour together in front of the Radius Tours office. At the office, tourists were being told by Jasmin (one of our wonderful office people) that there could be problems with the train and they should be aware that we can’t be held responsible if they don’t get back to Munich at a specific time, etc.

So, I lead my group of 22 people from the USA, Croatia, Hong Kong, and Brazil to the opposite side of the station to catch the train. The first bad sign was blinking on the screen at the start of the platform. It said there would be a 15min delay. Fifteen minutes is not a big deal and in fact, the train left Munich only five minutes late, so I easily shrugged that off and figured that would probably be the end of it.

I was wrong, very wrong.

After about 45 minutes on the train we stopped in a town called Aßling.

The conducter came on the intercom and said there would be a short delay. Five minutes later he came back on and said it would be a longer delay, but was unsure how long it would be, they were working on it. Twenty minutes later I called Petra to check out the website to see if it said anything. After a few more calls I talked to Gaby, my boss. She didn’t have any more information, but tried to come up with a way out of the situation. Finally, after it hailed, snowed, and melted…the conducter came through and said there would be buses to drive everyone on the train back to Munich, no trains were going either way on that length of track that day.

They sent two buses for an entire train. It was packed, standing room only, miserable, and the ride was around one hour. We got back to the Munich train station about 3pm…where we had started at 9:15 that morning. In that time I met some very nice people, but the fact that we never even got remotely CLOSE to Salzburg makes it definitely in my top 3 worst tours ever. I doubt I’ll ever forget this one.

So, here’s a pic from Salzburg on a day where we actually got there:

OK, so I got distracted a few days. My record of never losing a tourist on any tour was ruined yesterday by 4 Russians. They came back to the office today very apologetically and rented bikes…they clearly knew it was their fault…and took responsibility, but it still hurts, as there goes my record *sniffle* They said they did enjoy the tour and had a good time, though.

Anyways, here are some of the events that I’m looking forward to this summer in Munich and you might want to consider if you plan on visiting Munich:

April 11th - 27th, Frühlingsfest (spring festival):  The spring festival is located at the Theresienwiese (oktoberfest grounds) and is just a 10 minute walk from the main train station here in Munich.  The festival itself is tiny in comparison to the Oktoberfest, but it has a couple decent size tents and can certainly be a good time.  Lots of kids go to this one…

April 26 - May 4th, The May Dult: The may dult is a big flea market held at Mariahilfplatz, a short tram, U-bahn, or bus ride from downtown. Flea markets here aren’t really my thing, but if you happen to be in town while this is going on, it could be interesting to check out, and there are lots of food stands so you can eat with the locals. Not a lot of tourists make it to the May Dult, since it’s not downtown.

June 6th “Typically Munich” - Starting June 6th, the city museum of Munich has a special exhibit about all things they deem typical of Munich. I love the city museum anyways and highly recommend it to anyone visiting, but I’m looking forward to this exhibit which hopefully gives more information about the culture of this area to the casual visitor too lazy to take a tour. If you want a tour explaining the culture of the area, I recommend >this tour.

June 14th and 15th, The Town Foundation Festival - This should be a lot of fun. Every year the city throws a party celebrating the relatively new town’s age, but this year is 850 years, so it’ll be quite the party, all over the old town area of Munich.

June 14th, The re-opening of the Cuvillies theater - Munich’s oldest existing opera house has been closed for several years, but starting June 14th, we can see it in all its glory again. It will open with a performance of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” which, fittingly, originally premiered at the Cuvillies theater.

June 19th - July 13th, The Summer Tollwood Festival - The summer tollwood festival takes place at the southern edge of the Olympic Park. It’s part high-end flea market (think new-age trinkets) and part music venue. There are bands playing every night so I won’t list them here unless I find time another day. It’s nice, but I skipped it last year if that says anything. I’ll be going this year, however, to show friends…because it is worth seeing if you’re staying in Munich for a week or two, just not if you only have a couple days. There’s lots of food stalls and out door eating areas, good food and beer.

July 12th, Opera For All - The concept of Opera for all is to have a free opera performance to attract a larger audience and for the casual fan that might enjoy an opera, but finds the prices a bit steep. Previous years they have held the Opera For All perfomance right at Max Joseph platz, however, this year it will be at Marstall platz, which is just behind the Residenz. It is free and the performances will be the symphony No 1, in D minor, D 944 by Charles Ives and the Symphony No 9, in C major, D 944 “The Great” by Franz Schubert.

July 19th and 20th, The Old Town Ring Road Festival - a big party on the streets that surround the old town? yes please. This is also celebrating Munich’s 850 year history in another big party on the streets, should be fun.

August 1st-3rd, The Isar Bridges Festival - The founding of Munich was really when they built a bridge back in 1158, so for August of 2008, they neeed another big party, this time along the river. A big party to celebrate Munich every month of the summer is sounding nice.

Apparently the scots were out in full force at Marienplatz last week, here’s a bunch of Aberdeen fans with Munich’s riot police:

A few weeks ago I got the city’s list of planned events in Munich for this year.  This is an important year for Munich as the city celebrates 850 years since its founding.  The actual founding day is June 14th, and so that weekend will be the most obvious time to see the celebrations.  Previous years I’ve seen the city’s founding weekend have quite the party all around the downtown area, but this year I guess I’m expecting more.  It’s hard to tell if it really will be much more than usual, but even if it’s just the usual, it’s still a very good time to be around downtown Munich.  For example, you should expect a stage with various performers at Marienplatz as well as a large setup of some kind at Odeonsplatz…and various things all over in between.

Again, the weekend of the city’s founding celebration is June 14th-15th.  I think I’ll take that weekend off as I should have visitors at that time anyways.

 My next post will be on other events going on in 2008, hopefully coming to you tonight, but maybe tomorrow.  cheers.

I know, I know…what’s with me dragging you to all the churches, right?
Well, for centuries the money for art and architecture flowed either to/from the Royalty or to/from the Church.
I think it’s time to cover a few of the churches that I think are the most impressive and worth seeing in the city of Munich (I’ll include the burbs too).
Here’s my top 5 churches to see while you’re in Munich:

1. The Asam Church (Asamkirche)
If you like Rococo, you’ll like this church, my personal favorite…although not on the route of most tours of the city.

2. Fürstenfeld Abbey
This one is visited by very few tourists a year in comparison to all the others on the list, mostly because it’s out in the burbs and not downtown Munich. However, it’s a beautiful church and well worth seeing.

3. St. Michael’s
Similar to one of my favorites in Rome, Il Gesu. Some just visit St. Michael’s for the crypt alone, but this church can be one of the highlights of a trip to Munich.

4. St. Peter’s
I feel guilty about not ranking this one higher, purely because of its importance to the city of Munich. This is my 2nd stop on all city tours for a reason!

5. Theatinerkirche
You might know it as “the yellow church in Munich” from other travelers, the crypt (only open in the summer) includes the first king of Greece, who was Bavarian…the brother of King Ludwig I.

…and as always, if you want the full story on these churches, take a tour or contact me directly…I find if I write too much on here about any specific church, I lose people’s interest.
As you can see these churches are all in the renaissance, baroque, or rococo styles. If you want to see Gothic or Romanesque: Munich is probably not the place to visit.

Last night was the official Democrats Abroad Munich primary vote…and with supposedly exactly 100 people turning up to vote.

 58 voted for Obama

41 voted for Clinton

1 for Edwards

Apparently, it was a much better turnout than any previous DA event in Munich, so that’s good news.  It turned into a party of course…and it was a damn good time.  I’m still recovering.

Earlier in the day I walked around Munich with a random Brazilian physiotherapist I happen to have run into.  Here’s some of the pics I took…as it was Fat Tuesday:

Sorry about not posting for a few days, I’d say I’ve been busy, but well…

Sunday we went to the Hellabrunn Zoo, here in Munich.  This is not necessarily what I’d send tourists to if they only have a few days, even a few weeks, in Munich…but yet it does come up every other month or so.  The zoo isn’t my favorite, but it’s not bad either.  It’s mostly outdoors, the animals have pretty good living conditions (quite a bit of space), and in the summer they look much happier.  This time, well, some are hibernating and others aren’t allowed out because they’d probably freeze to death.  So, they’re probably feeling a bit cooped up at the moment.

Highlights of the Hellabrunn Zoo for me always include the seals, sea lions, polar bears, and penguins. (in that order)

For those living in Munich, you can get a discount card like we have where you start saving € the third visit.  (basically half off)

Anyways, we went to the zoo…umm…today I had a very small tour, but it was nice…a woman from Norway and a woman from Argentina.  Fasching is in full swing.  Good times.

Well, things are going pretty good in my opinion.  Last night I went out for dinner as kind of a fare well dinner for one of the office people, Manu.  Her husband is one of the guides, so I’m sure I’ll still see her around sometimes.  She’ll be having a baby boy quite soon here, so she’ll take maybe a year off, which is quite normal here.  It was nice, but it’s always weird to sorta say good bye to people here as most of the expat community and tour guide community are not that permanent…just semi-permanent (usually at least a few years…but…not forever).

My tours have been very pleasant lately.  I had a castle tour which was mostly backpackers the other day, which is nice…they can be very entertaining, but they don’t tip.  That being said the very obviously well-to-do brits didn’t either.  Goes to show you never really know, which is why I try to go out of my way for everyone.  Good times, none the less.

I had a private tour scheduled Wednesday, but it appears a pipe burst in his kitchen wall.  That’s a sure thing to ruin a vacation :-(  He won’t be coming over, so I think I’ll be travel writing instead.   It’s too bad as I was looking forward to the private tour.  I normally don’t do much in the way of Third Reich history on my tours, but have been re-reading much of the Third Reich information in preparation and got a new book on the subject as well, which I finished reading just recently.  Nothing really knew, but it’s good for a refresher sometimes.

Maybe he’ll visit next September or November and have better luck.

Also, it would have given me a reason to show someone the church of St. Anna, which I think is really cool as it was bombed…and restored…but they only had pictures in black and white…so when they re-did the church, the ceiling was restored…in black and white.  I think it’s neat. 

I haven’t done what I’ll refer to now as my “super tour” in quite some time, as most people want a quick 2-hour tour.  To really properly see the city, I think you need a good 3 hours, if not more…depending on the group size, etc.  Two hours is never enough.

Today I had a group of 2.  From Milwaukee, even…so I got to rub it in that the packers just lost and yet I still got a good tip, haha.  No, really, they were a great “group”, interested in everything, no walking problems, no language problem (what’s the language difference from Milwaukee to Owatonna, really?), and yeah…it’s a beautiful day, so it was nice.

Well, today I had no tour…mid-winter like this it does happen, especially city tours, the full-day trips usually go, it’s just the two hour ones that for some reaon, people don’t turn up for if it’s cold.  Then again, my last city tour, on saturday, had a good size group…so go figure.

Anyways, yesterday Petra and I decided to go down to a special exhibit showing the royal tombs of the Scythians…whom we had never really heard of, which is interesting in itself.  If you are going to be in Munich in the next week, I HIGHLY recommend going to this exhibit, it was absolutely fascinating and I am very glad I went. Here’s the wiki article on the scythians.  Unfortunately they don’t allow cameras in there, so I don’t have any pictures for you.  I’d also like to point out they have a full mummy where you can even clearly see the tattoos.  Very disturbing and cool at the same time.

It was a weird tour, but at least it actually happened unlike the Salzburg tour the day before.  There is snow down at Neuschwanstein, but very little.  It was pretty warm and an overall pleasant day, it just seems really long when you’re out of practice because of a break like the holidays.

 As many of you know, we have these Mexican amphibians known as axolotls.  They look like this:

They were quite young then, but today they are apparently old enough to have young ones today, as last week we noticed Murphy was laying eggs! (until then, we still weren’t sure if she was a girl)

Here’s a pic of the eggs:

of course if we don’t rescue them, their parents will eat them…apparently similar to polar bears in Nürnberg.