snny

I am looking into traveling to Germany with my husband to tour a BMW plant and do general sight-seeing. This is the very beginning stages but things we are interested in:
- BMW plant is not optional - which part(s) and any tips?
- We brew our own beer and "enjoy" beer Thoughts? We'd love to do a factory-type tour or "pub crawl" type tour, etc.
- My grandfather was a translator in WWII, so I am interested in the history, but he wasn't on the battlefield. If there are good museums, etc, though, that would be interesting.
- This is a stretch - My family is "Russian German" but that is about all I know. Growing up we had a very different "strudel" than what people in the US think of - not a dessert with fruit, but rather, a sort of rolled dumpling with ham and potatoes. The recipes I remember (and make) are all similar to that - lots of potatoes, rice, ham - nothing very fancy. The only thing that I think was probably traditional the resembled a "sweet" was kuchen. Does that help?
I'd love to find out more about our roots, but I just don't know where to start but if any of that "rings a bell" so to speak, let me know what you think.

I don't think we'd do a group tour, but what would people recommend?

greg

Meat Strudel -> Volga German Meat Strudel?

flpab

http://www.bmw-welt.com/en/ book ahead for the English speaking tour. the factory tour was very interesting. I am a female and loved it.

http://griesbraeu.de/ We did the brewery tour and ate here. I had the best goulash ever. (you can train it to here from Munich and is a charming town. Very close to Garmisch which I can't say enough good things about.

http://experience.usatoday.com/food-...trail/5839939/

snny

Seems like it! The recipe I've found here is very similar - http://library.ndsu.edu/grhc/foods/p...enosaires.html
but we make it with cut up ham, some potato, and onion and liquid (stock of some type) the strudle was cut BEFORE we cooked it. Otherwise, I think it is the same idea as this. That is the right area of the US, too.
Interesting I've never seen this - sooooo, maybe I ought to be looking to tour Russia?! Weird. My family on that side wasn't much for keeping track of history that far back, which is strange, because it wasn't that long ago they immigrated. My grandfather ended up translating because he grew up speaking German - didn't speak English until he started school

snny

Thanks, flpab!

Ackislander

You should also enjoy the BMW SUV factory in Greer, SC.

They make and export X series BMW's and export them around the world!

It is, I believe, BMW's largest factory or will be when the X7 expansion is finished. All that German quality is South Carolina quality!

You can make it in America!

flpab

Ackislander, but she is going to Germany not South Carolina. I enjoyed the motorcycle portion also. A guy rode a bike up and down the steps. Nice places to eat and loved the Mini store.

Kirkesgaard

definetely the BMW World and the tour of the plant in Munich as mentioned above. And like stated: Book ahead.

Beerwise, if you are going to Bavaria there is tons of options. You can almost pick and choose. Make sure that you go to a few beer gardens under big old trees. Could be in Munich, but if you are going to drive around you could also choose smaller breweries in smaller towns. There is plenty of those around Bavaria.

One the places we like to go to is Erding - you could combine it with a visit to the spa and you can stay at the brewery as they have their own hotel attached.

A bit of a drive, but Kloster Irsee is really nice to ... you stay in an old monestary, they have great food and beer and there is a tour of the brewery with a small museum attached. Check if there is an english tour before you go.

sparkchaser

<i>- My grandfather was a translator in WWII, so I am interested in the history, but he wasn't on the battlefield. If there are good museums, etc, though, that would be interesting.</i>

Sadly, there are not. They lost the war and have little to "celebrate". That being said, Bavaria is steeped with WWII stuff to see. Munich has Dachau; Nuremberg has the Nazi Documentation Center the Nuremberg Trials Museum, the art bunkers, and more; and every town and village has a memorial for the fallen soldiers of WWI and WWII.

Two excellent books that can help for discovering the WWII sites in the area are:

PastFinder Nuremberg and Franconia: http://amzn.to/1Hk0fs2 (it's a bit expensive but IMO worth every penny)
PastFinder Munich: http://amzn.to/1ILv5ix


<i>We brew our own beer and "enjoy" beer Thoughts? We'd love to do a factory-type tour or "pub crawl" type tour, etc.</i>

A place in Bamberg does a Beer Academy. I have not done it but it does look worthwhile. http://www.bierakademie.net/?sitevar=englisch

If you feel comfortable heading out on your own and you can read a bit of German, then I <b>highly</b> recommend Brauereien und Brauereigasthöfe in Franken: Alle Braustätten, Biere, Museen und Bierfeste Broschiert by Bastian Böttner ( http://www.amazon.de/Brauereien-Brau.../dp/393168329X and booksellers in Bamburg should have it )

AisleSeat

In Munich the Deutsches Nuseun is an interesting science museum with an auto history section. There are also three large art museums there. As Sparkchaser mentioned, there is a lot of WWII history around Munich.

happytourist

The term "Russian German" is more commonly called "German Russian" or "Germans from Russia." It refers to a large contingent of Germans who were enticed to move to Russia in the 18th century. They maintained their culture and language in Russia but left in large numbers to come to the US and Canada in the early 20th century, especially after the Russian Revolution. Most of them settled in the Midwest (or the western provinces of Canada) as they were wheat growers.

I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska which had a large number of German Russians. Lincoln is the HQ for The American Historical Society of Germans from Russia. http://ahsgr.org/index.htm Check them out to see if your family name is listed so they might be able to give you some idea where in Germany your family originated.