For the last 11 days I’ve been working every day mostly back and forth between Neuschwanstein and Salzburg. Tomorrow I only have a morning tour…and then I’ll have a break until Thursday, which feels great.
On Tuesday my good friends Flipper and Brooke will be here and so I’ll be giving more personal tours (if less professional). After the last couple of weeks, it feels just weird to have a few days off, but I’ll try to enjoy it. While I have visitors, it’s likely that I’ll be traveling with them all over Bavaria, to many places I haven’t been since the last time I had visitors…it’s been a while. It’s good because the more I go to these places, the better I get at them…and the more ideas I get for possible future tour day trips.
Recently I’ve been quite busy as always. Our wedding is coming up very soon (July 12th), and so of course we have to find rings, a dress, food, cakes, invitations, etc, etc. …and I’ll use that as an excuse as to why there is a slight lull here.
However, this summer is going to be exciting for anyone reading here as well as, of course, for myself. I’ll have guests staying here in July, which means I’ll be traveling all over the region and will hopefully have fun things to mention about that. In July, other than my wedding, I’ll have my mom and brother visiting so I’ll be doing tours which I normally don’t do around the area with them as well…and so that might be interesting. Then, in August Petra and I will be going to Paris and I’m sure I’ll have a ton to write about on that one.
Also, for www. travel-plan-idea.com, I plan to write quite a number of articles to go along with the very randomness of my own blog here.
For anyone not on my e-mail lists, I’d like to announce that Petra and I are getting married on July 12th…with a 2nd (bigger) wedding in Minnesota much later.
One of the most commonly asked questions I get is “where is the flea market in Munich?” To which I respond that there are no constantly running flea markets and although you can find ones on weekends (such as the flea market held in the parking lot of the olympic park every weekend during the summer), they’re just not impressive.
The Auer Dult is what they’re really looking for, but they have to be here at the right time of year. If you’re looking for a flea market in Munich and for whatever reason (no, I don’t understand) want to plan your vacation around it, here are the dates:
Maidult: April 26-May4
Jakobidult: July 26-Aug3
Kirchweihdult: Oct 18-Oct26
It’s located at Mariahilfplatz, which is outside of the downtown area, so you could easily miss it even if you spent a week wandering around town. You can take bus 52 from Marienplatz right to it or take tram 27 from Karlsplatz.
That’s right, it’s held three times a year. It’s a little more than a flea market as it has lots of food stands as well as rides and whatnot…could be fun. You can also find more information here.
Here’s a link to a good picture of it so you know what to look for.
Each year, around this time, they hold a medieval fair, night’s tournament, and whatever…on the south side of the olympic park. This year’s “Ritter in Munich” starts tomorrow and goes until May 4th. Last year I didn’t go because it was raining on the one day we had available for it (either that or Petra didn’t feel like moving out of her chair, which happens equally as often). This year, Petra’s in China until the 4th, so I’d either have to go alone or randomly find someone to go with…so I probably won’t make it.
For English speakers I don’t think it’s that much fun anyways, just as it might not be that fun for a German who doesn’t speak English to go to Renaissance festival in the states. Still…I enjoy that kind of thing…oh well.
For those who want to go and are in the area, April 25-May 4th are the dates for 2008, you can see the schedule here.
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.
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:
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%
(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.
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:
