Also check out the panoramic pics. Maybe I could make a living being a photographer and a writer. Though I'd need a good quality SLR camera and a very strict editor.
Today would be my first experience travelling on the Euro Rail system. I had read much about it and heard many a story from fellow travelers about the do’s, the don’ts, and the beauty of the European countryside. Fellow traveler is an interesting concept. We come from all over America to conquer our personal or pleasure journey through Europe. Some, like me come to find meaning and perspective. Some, also like me come to see the sights, take pictures and acquire stories. Some just want to come and party their asses off in a foreign land (like me). No matter what the reason, there’s this camaraderie amongst American travelers in Europe that wouldn’t happen any other time. This became more than apparent to me leaving Prague.
I arrived at Praha Hlavni early as usual. Enquiring about my train to Munich the ticket and info person informed me that the departure track number would be posted 20 minutes before the train took off. I took my bags and sat down on a bench and waited until 20 minutes before the train took off. The track number was never posted. It was at this point I met a group of 3 guys also travelling to Munich. One of them consulted the time table book you get when you purchase a Eurail Pass (which I had, just my time table was buried in my bag). Since we weren’t seeing our train to Munich it was time to formulate plan B. We found that we could catch the train to Nurnberg and then a train to Munich. The train to Nurnberg was leaving in 5 minutes so we rushed to the track and made our way to a cabin.
The train was off. The Czech countryside is rather boring and actually a bit depressing looking, although even the most beautiful of landscapes can be made to look ugly with a grey sky looming above. For the most part it’s nothing but old, half run down farm towns scattered across the landscape with the occasional factory town thrown in for good measure. Reminded me a bit of driving through central and Upstate New York only the houses and buildings here in the Czech Republic (minus the factories) were much older, better looking, and somehow mostly still in one piece. It was a long haul across the Czech Republic, stopping along the way in small towns. I knew we were half way to the boarder when we hit the town of Plzen. Plzen is a medium sized town where Pilsner Urquell was first made. That’s really the towns claim to fame and most likely the one reason most travelers go there.
Once into Germany the landscape hastily changed. The German countryside had rolling hills and mountains off in the distance while small farm towns dotted the landscape. You could practically trace how each small town connected to each other. The towns may be small but there is always another cluster of homes and buildings making up a small town close by, usually with some kind of church/meeting house in the middle. Finally after a long 6 hours on the train we made it to Nurnberg. Thankfully the train to Munich was arriving in 15 minutes on the opposite track. While waiting the four of us raided the snack machine since our train from Prague didn’t offer much as far as nourishment was concerned.
Thankfully once on the train to Munich it would be a short, one hour ride to the capital of Bavaria. Along the way we passed many farms growing hops. I wondered if this part of Bavaria is where Jim Koch comes to find his Bavarian hops for Sam Adams. The northern part of the Bavarian countryside wasn’t anything amazing, it was hard to try and soak up the scenery when all you want to do is get to your destination, shower and relax. At long last the train pulled into Munchen Hauptbahnhof, the central train station. Once inside the tourist information center I was ecstatic to find that my hotel was 2 blocks down the street. There would be no “take the train to this stop, get on this bus, get off at the 4th stop and walk 300 meters.” My fellow travelers didn’t have it so easy; they had to take a train and a bus to get to their destination. We parted ways wishing each other luck, safety, and above all a drunken good time.
I was relieved that the Tryp Munchen Hotel is a four star hotel, I would actually be comfortable!! Once checked in, I made it to my room, unpacked, relaxed, and took a much needed shower. At this point it was about 9pm and I was famished. I strolled around the neighborhood but came back to a Kebab shop a block down from the hotel. Kebab is like pizza here in Europe, there’s a place on every corner, it’s inexpensive and it fills you up. Plus it’s slightly healthier then cheese and sauce on bread. Later on I headed down to the hotel bar for a night cap. It had been a long day and I was not about to go out and get crazy. The bartender’s English wasn’t bad and he was nice enough to tell me about a few things I needed to do. He handed me a magazine all about Kultafabrik; Munich’s party district. It was once a potato factory that had been converted into a large maze of bars, pubs, clubs, restaurants and take away shops (take away is Europe’s way of saying food to go). This would indeed be a Thursday/Friday night destination. After 2 beers it was time to call it a night.
My first true day in Munich had to be a full one. I wanted to see what I could pack into a day here. I left the hotel and walked to Marienplatz, the main meeting place/ market area in Munch, getting lost on the way but consulting the map made everything ok. It was much like Grand Market Place in Brussels only about 1/3rd the size and equally as grandiose, worth snapping a few pictures of. I walked around the area and found a large open market area with small kiosks of merchants selling jams, spices, fruits and the like. I hopped on the U-Bahn (Munich’s underground train system) at Marienplatz and made my way to the Olympic Stadium stop. This is where BMW’s main factory and museum is. I hadn’t been to a museum since Madrid and needed to get a bit cultured, even if it was car culture. The first building you walk into directly next to the train station is the BMW Welt (BMW World). The Welt is a combination of new car delivery spot, current lineup showcase, current and future technology exhibits, café’s and a business/ conference center. It was free to roam around and some of the new technology BMW is coming out with is rather astounding. I’ll share about one for my fellow gear heads out there. The new 6 series V8 is twin turbocharged. What BMW did was put the turbo’s underneath the intake manifold in the valley of the engine and the cat’s run up the backside of the motor. This design minimizes pressure loss in the turbo’s while boosting performance. Excellent idea indeed, I’m just glad I’m not a BMW tech (I also wonder how good the shielding is between the cats and the rear of the engine, can someone say warped cylinder head).
After roving around the Welt it was time to go to the museum. They did a remarkable job designing this museum; it really grabs you and makes you want to find out everything about the brand and its products. The tour started in the early 1920’s informing you about how the company was started and showing off 2 of its first products a motorcycle and a car. From there it’s like a spiral. You make your way through room after room as you head downstairs. Once all the way downstairs you walk up a spiral walkway that shows off a few of BMW’s concept cars from old and the designs they are planning to use in the future. Highlights for me would be seeing a Baroque Angel (BMW 501), The BMW 507 which in my opinion is the most beautiful automobile the company ever produced (even though it never went into production), and seeing an original M1.
Once back around Marienplatz I made my way back to the open market area and was met by hundreds of Germans sitting outside drinking beer and eating sausage. This, in Germany is what you call a beer garden; a large open area, usually shaded by tree’s where Germans come to eat, drink, and socialize. I ordered up a bratwurst and a half liter of beer and sat down to a nice, relaxing, authentic, German experience.
It was then that it became unclear to me which European country took their drinking the most seriously. You have the Irish with their Guinness and fine whiskeys, the Belgians have their trappist beer and others such as Stella Artois and Hoegaarden, The Czechs do Pilsner and The Germans have their beer gardens and lager. I may have to go with the Germans on this one. No other European city has anything like a beer garden or beer hall; these places are huge; seat hundreds of people at a time. Plus they offer 1 liter mugs of beer! I wish I could take one of these liter mugs home with me but there’s no way it will fit in my luggage.
Once my beer and brat was finished I wandered further into the downtown area and found the Hofbrauhaus; Munich’s most famous beer hall. It was nice inside, quaint out in the garden and they did have a German oompah band playing in the middle wearing authentic German attire. I’d come back another night. From there I returned to the hotel, mainly just relaxing, flipping through my pictures and reading. Once night had fallen it was kebab time again then off to the hotel bar for a nightcap and this would conclude day one in Munich.
Day 2
Today called for an adventure, it was time to get away from the city, something I hadn’t done on this journey yet, I had mostly stayed in the main city where I was or even in the same neighborhood. I knew it was time to just hop a train out of the city to somewhere special. I had meant to do that while in Barcelona; go to Figueres to the Dali museum but didn’t make it. Today would more than make up for it. I woke up earlier then I have on this whole trip and made my way to the Hauptbanhhof to catch a 7:50am train to Fussen. Fussen is a small town nestled in the foothills of the glorious Bavarian Alps. The main reason people come here is to travel to the neighboring town of Schwangua to see the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangua castles. The latter being the castle King Ludwig II grew up in, the former being his personal castle. I only had interest in seeing the Neuschwanstein even though it was never finished due to King Ludwig II dying while the castle was still being built (according to history King Ludwig II was clinically labeled as mentally insane and not long after he was denounced as king he was found dead alongside his psychologist).
The Bavarian countryside as you travel south is beautiful and picturesque. Small towns and villages dot the scenery of green hills, farmland and small lakes with the shadow of the Alps looming in the backdrop. This has been the one thing I hate about Europe; once I say something along the lines of “This is the most amazing thing I’ve seen and can’t be fully described in words or by pictures,” something else comes along and beats it. In this case the Bavarian Alps; sorry Grand Market Place, Sorry La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, etc... Once close enough to them they just shoot up from the ground, not much transition from small hill to big hill to mountain. Nope, they are just there in all of their glory, all of their splendor, all of their remarkable, awe-inspiring, enthralling beauty.
Once in Fussen a bus takes you to the castle area. Nine euro’s was the cost for my tour of the Neuschwanstein castle it would have been 17 for both. I had about 2 ½ hours to kill before the tour left. I grabbed a water and pretzel from the adjacent souvenir shop as I would be needing energy for the 40 minute hike uphill to the base of the castle. Following the trail uphill and through the woods you could see the Bavarian countryside through the trees. At about halfway up there was a decent spot to glimpse out over it, but the real view would be once you get up to the castle. I continued on my hike dodging horse excrement and the hundreds of big black flies that would attack you if you came close to it (there are horse drawn carriages that will bring you close to the base of the castle). Finally at the top the view over the countryside was incredible; rolling hills, small towns and a large turquoise blue lake like nothing I had ever seen before; it was like staring at a painting, obviously the people who coined Vermont the green state had never been to Bavaria. I still had plenty of time until my tour started so I made my way over to the Marienbrucke (Mary’s Bridge) where everyone goes to get that magical picture of the castle with the scenery in the background. The unfortunate part was that that entire side of the castle you could see from the bridge was having restoration work done to it. I was annoyed at this and felt cheated but still was able to snap a few good photos (couldn’t they wait until the winter time to do this?.
Finally the tour started, it was a 35 minute tour taking you through a small portion of the castle. We walked by the servant’s quarters. Saw the main thrown room which had no throne since the castle was never fully finished. From there it was through King Ludwig’s bedroom which wasn’t as big as you might think it would be but the room was quite ostentatious none the less, with masterpieces of carved wood dominating the room. The tour guide informed us that finishing the wood carvings alone took about 5 years. Into his private living room and finally into the concert hall, King Ludwig II had two main obsessions; swans (hence the English translation of the castle name being New Swan Stone) and Wagnerian Opera’s; swans are painted and carved into wood all over the castle and scene’s from his favorite opera’s are painted on walls all throughout the castle. The tour concluded and it was time to make my way back down to the entrance area. I wanted to get back before nighttime settled in. The bus back to the train took a while to arrive so I headed over to a concession stand for yet another beer and brat. Finally the bus came and I was able to get to the train in time. This was a much smaller train than the one that brought me here; only two cars and incredibly uncomfortable seating. The train stopped in a town called Kaufbeuren and I waited 15 minutes for the connecting train to arrive. I found a small convenience store around the front of the station and was shocked and amazed to find tall cans of Franziskaner beer for 95 euro cents. That works out to about $1.33, it was the best $1.33 beer I had ever had, it was actually good beer, and it didn’t taste cheap or watery since it was a heffeweizen. The Germans really do take their beer seriously.
Finally back in Munich I headed to the Augustiner-Keller, a beer garden up the street from the train station. This place was huge; a true beer garden. I grabbed a pretzel, a plate of currywurst and a big liter of beer, sat down and enjoyed. Don’t try and drink beer quick in Germany, especially when it’s a liter and you’ve had a plate of food. I learned that the hard way; no puking thankfully, what a scene that would have caused, I could just see it now “Oh look at the stupid American, can’t handle his beer!” My stomach hurt for a bit until all of the gas came out. I was feeling good at this point and decided to grab some more beer on the way back to the hotel. I found a convenience store and for less than 5 euro had 2 beers in my hand. A Paulander and a Franziskaner. That would conclude my night.
My last few days in Munich were laid back for the most part. Thursday I visited the Deutches Museum which is Munich’s version of a science museum. Four floors containing everything from electrical generators and engines to boats, musical instruments, airplanes and bridges. Pretty much any type of technological advancement was here; it was not only to celebrate some of Germany’s advances and contributions to the world but also the human race in general. As night fell upon Bavaria it was time to hit a beer garden. This time I went into the Englischer Garden which is just east of the main downtown area in Munich. This is one of the biggest parks in all of Europe and other than massive fields, running lakes, and bike paths it houses several beer gardens in it. I made my way to the first one known as the Chinesischer Turm. This was most certainly the largest beer garden I had seen while in Munich. There must have been minimum 500 people at this place.
I grabbed a liter of beer (what an amazing thing!) and a pretzel and sat down at a fairly deserted table. The pretzels here in Munich, especially at the beer halls and gardens are huge. You can fit your wrist through the holes and walk around like that. After beer number one was finished I headed for another and tried to find some people to socialize with. It was loud and tough to make out people speaking English. I found a small table near the food vendors and just after my first sip, I overheard 2 guys speaking English. I joined them at their table; Jon and Don (no joke) 2 guys from Chicago on business in Munich. We had some laughs, talked sports and drank some more liters until we looked out and saw most of the place was deserted. Jon suggested we hop in a cab and continue drinking, my thoughts exactly. Our first attempt was a small Irish pub on a side street, but they were closed, next we tried another bar but they were at capacity. Back into a cab we tried two other spots but neither one would let Jon or Don in due to them wearing shorts.
Finally I suggested we head to Kultafabrik, the main party district I had read so much about. I knew since it was Thursday not much was open down there but one advertisement in the magazine I had read mentioned 3 euro’s for entrance into 3 places. We headed down there and walked into the first spot: Americanos. After a round of beers Jon and Don took off as they had to catch a train to Austria in a few hours (it was about 2:30am at this point). I stayed as the ratio was slightly in my favor and the music and atmosphere was good. I spent the majority of my time in Americanos either dancing or mingling. After a while I decided to check out the other places. Unfortunately one was already closed so I went to the other spot; Rafael’s. It was practically dead in there, I stayed for a bit, had a beer and went right back to the other bar. Not long after my return to Americanos it was pretty much closing time so I made my way to the entrance and once again decided to walk back to the hotel. Everything was going just fine until I was walking next to wooded area that most certainly wasn’t on my map. My drunken sense of direction is obviously nowhere near as good as my sober sense of direction (note to self). I gave in and hailed a cab.
The next morning I woke up, dehydrated, BUT NOT HANGOVER! German beer (especially from beer halls) is so pure and void of preservatives that it doesn’t make you hung-over. Sorry Cathy, I loved Ireland to death but I think Bavaria may be the drinking capital of the world (Ireland an extremely close second though). I mostly lounged Friday during the day, reading and reflecting on this whole trip; what I had seen, what I had learned and the things I’ve come to a realization about. I decided once night fell to finally hit the Hofbrauhaus. The place was so hot inside it was like a sweatbox. I found a table to sit down at and was greeted by 3 Americans and a German. Very nice people, we conversed for a while, I had a few liters and a pretzel. The oompah band was going full force and all the drunk Germans started singing along, the only thing I could make out was them counting 1, 2, 3. After my “drinking buddies” left I turned to a group of Americans behind us playing kings right at the table. I joined in for a bit until they kicked us out. Once outside they informed me they were all heading back to their hostel. I found another group of Americans through a guy named Pat and two women he and his group were with. They all seemed alright at first but then I found out they were a bunch of college kids from Nebraska. Not that I have anything against people from Nebraska, an old babysitters from when I was young was from Nebraska and she was great, hell I think my mother still talks to her from time to time. These kids were loud, intolerable and disorderly (kind of reminds me of how my friends and I were a few years back only we were classy about our intolerable disorderly antics). One of them purposely bumped into a group of three Germans guys and a fight nearly broke out. How and why one didn’t I wasn’t sure but whatever. To be honest I kind of wish the kid got his ass handed to him. We made our way into this one bar called Sausalito’s, I went venturing for a pack of smokes as this was going to be a long night. Once I came back most of them were gone, thankfully. I had a few drinks there and decided to head in early (about 2am). I stopped at the convenient store inside the Hauptbahnhof, grabbed a few singles and headed to my room but before I walked into the hotel it was kebab time.
My final day was a quiet one, nothing incredible to speak of, except for the crackling pork knuckle plate I had at the Hofbrauhaus. A large cut of pork from the knuckle of the pig with a piece of crispy fried skin covering it. It was sitting in a shallow pool of gravy alongside two potato dumplings and a side of Sauerkraut. So excellent, flavorful, tender, filling and that crispy pork skin, well that was the best part. I’m salivating just reminiscing of it. After that meal and 2 liters of Bavarian goodness it was time for a loooooong walk. Once back around the hotel I just relaxed, later on heading to a bar down the street for a few half liters, then making my way to the hotel bar for a few, and then it was upstairs to pack.
Bavaria in general is an extraordinary place. I mean where else can you find a major metropolitan area with an abundance of global businesses, a prosperous yet turbulent history and a culture so rich, dynamic and overflowing with foamy head? Just to the south of this major city is some of the most beautiful scenery you’ll ever encounter. Munich is a great city that is so full of life. I would most certainly come back here anytime, though preferable in the summer when the beer gardens are open. I would also love to see more of the Bavarian countryside (note: which I did the next day on my way to Stuttgart).
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