The Professional Tourist

On Sunday the most famous tour guide in the world visited Munich…and Brendan invited me to be his tour guide. (well, we shared the duty, as Brendan is an expert on 3rd Reich and Jewish history, where as my focus has always been pre-world war)

Anyways, I grew up watching Rick Steves on TV on PBS and it was very exciting to see and meet him here in Munich. We spent a few hours walking around town going through his book making certain that everything was right and correcting any minor errors. (they were all minor)

I was very apprehensive about meeting him as although he seems very nice and pleasant on TV, I figured there was a 50% chance that he’d be the opposite off camera. I was wrong. He really is like he is on TV…and happy to accommodate the odd tourist who asks for an autograph or picture with him.

Keep buying those Rick Steves guide books, he really is a nice guy with enormous amounts of experience touring Europe.

Here are a couple pictures:

Want to know the best time to visit here? Well, I wrote an article on that recently and you can see it HERE.

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.

I had to buy’em…for the record, they don’t taste anything like beer.

In other beer news:  http://www.thestar.com/living/article/424975

[Listening to: X-Ray Hamburger - The Network - Money Money 2020 (3:15)]

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.

Well, ok, technically, tours get cancelled randomly all year round. However, I haven’t had a tour canceled since January, so I was planning on going to Salzburg today. Only one person turned up, so that makes for a bit of an awkward situation. This gives me a bit of time to write for travel plan idea and relax, I guess. I also was able to talk to my insurance agent about possibly adding dental…sounds expensive to me, hmm.

For the record: tours go with 2 or more people, so it’s really impressive if they don’t go, please don’t assume if you’re alone that no tour will go, because it is quite rare.

Also: if anyone here in Germany is looking for an English speaking insurance agent that can save you money: www.spectruminternational.eu

Lately I’ve been doing a bunch of Neuschwanstein tours and as of April 15th, we’re back on the summer schedule, which means the tours are an extra hour longer…and we go to the bridge overlooking Neuschwanstein and have a bit more time for everything really. Well, if you have a small group and no one with any real problem walking, then you can fit a lot in. Today the group even made its way up to Hohenschangau for a better look at it, as well…which is pretty rare, I don’t think I’ve had time to bring a group up there since October. In fact, usually the groups don’t have much extra time at all and it’s pretty non-stop just doing the Alpsee, the castle, the bridge, and possibly the gorge.

Anyways, my legs aren’t used to walking all the way up to the bridge, let alone all the way back down and over to Schloss Hohenschangau. I’ll get back into shape soon I’m sure. Tomorrow I’m heading over to Salzburg, but the trains might give me a headache as they’re working on the tracks between here and there.

Petra’s still in China…so I’m lonely…working and eating…working and eating. Had a good group today, hope I have similar tomorrow.

Here’s a pic of a jewelry box of Petra’s…I just love the name…rather fitting:

As you all know, my main job is being a tour guide to Neuschwanstein, Munich, and Salzburg. The tour company that I work most of the time is Radius Tours.

As of this week, the new website for Radius Tours is online and you can now book the tours directly from our company online. Before, if you wanted to book ahead via the internet, you would have had to do it through another company which would take their own cut and be a bit of a hassle, to be honest. So yeah, if you’re visiting Munich and want great tours, have a look at the Radius Tours website, if you get lucky I’ll be your tour guide.

Alternatively, of course, you can always book a private tour with me and then there’s no luck involved.

Also, I’d like to note that this year there will be new tour options offered…check out the Radius website for more details, as I don’t have’em yet!

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.