Going to Germany in March
 

New to the site. As the title states i am heading to Munich in March. I gotta say, I am a little scared and daunted by this. As I have not been out of the country since I was 5. Does anybody have any tips for traveling to Munich? Must sees? Specially the subway system, is there a list with english words for the stops, so i can find my way around easily? Can't wait to try the german food and beer. Have a few things planned...def going to see the three car museums, and the concentration camp. Also plan on going to Füssen to see the castle. Thanks guys. And happy traveling. Sean

There are no English words for the train/subway/tram/bus stops. Just pay attention to the signage.

How many days will you be there?

Welcome to fodors.

S-Bahn etc are pretty easy to use.
Like anywhere, you have lines, with the names of the stations. Straightforward.

Exit is translated into Ausfahrt.

I love Munich, very nice city, and a lot of people speak English. Plus some words are pretty close to English.

Most important are :
- Bier : beer
- Wurst : sausage
- Toilet : toilet.
- Hello : Gutten Tag (don't bother with good morning/afternoon etc/.
- Bye : Tchuss (how do you spell this ?)
- Thanks : Vielen Dank !
- Please : Bitte.

Mfg.

Tschüss is pronounced "choose" with a hard T sound at the front and said as one syllable (although many Bavarians say Tchoo-oos or Tchoo-zee).

In Bavaria the normal daily greet is gruss gott - rather than gutten tag (used in the rest of germany) - but anyone will understand good morning.

For an overview of Munich take the free tour with
http://www.neweuropetours.eu/ tip the guide $5 at end.

There are 4 hotels in this hotel chain:
http://www.motel-one.com/en/hotels/munich/
very clean and modern w/free wifi and breakfast (added fee)
is good.

If you stick to the main tourist path (which it sounds like you are planning on doing), English will be widely understood.

Assistance with your questions depends on your length of travel in Munich. Having been to this wonderful city a few times, first and foremost, I can tell you that English will be more than likely spoken most everywhere. While stating that, I HIGHLY encourage you to learn as much of the native language as possible. This is simply out of respect. They will know immediately that you are not native.

I loved my time in Fussen. Very interesting but also very crowded as this is on most everyone's to do. The castles are lovely. Mary's bridge was terrifying as the winds were whirling and the bridge was swaying. No fan of heights either. More nerve racking than 220km on the Autobahn. Survived and glad I went up in the end.

Dachau. While this is NOT a fun excursion, it should be undertaken nonetheless. A truly eye opening and altering experience.

The Eagle's Nest. This was Hitler's home high in the Alps. I believe if you are not renting a vehicle, that there may be tours from Munich that will take you here. The sights are absolutely gorgeous from the top. And while not being of the Jewish faith, I was thrilled to see the Star of David there. Albeit late, a splendid "screw you" to Hitler. With that being said, the German people are GLORIOUS! However, keep in mind, the past is the past and they do not speak of WWII. Best not to mention it unless they bring it up.

The rail system across Europe is clean, convenient, and amazingly easy to use regardless of the language barrier. You just need to know the direction you need to travel, and head in that direction. I always used the subway stops as my markers to know I was heading in the right direction.

Since you will not be traveling during Oktoberfest, you should definitely visit one of the beer gardens. We stayed mostly around Marienplatz, which is where the Hofbrau House is located. Yes, it is touristy and overrated but it will afford you a LITTLE bit of what it is like during Oktoberfest. No matter which one, the beer is spectacular.

I hope that you have a lovely time. Safe travels...

I noticed some mistakes in spelling and pronunciation. It's »Grüss Gott«. Those two dots on the »u« make it a totally different sound. Likewise »Tschüss« is not pronounced as »choose«.
You'll find forvo.com/languages/de/ a very useful pronunciation tool. Type in the word you're unsure about, and chances are they've found some native speaker to help you saying it.

You're right, it's pronounced more like "chews" but with a hard "t" at the beginning.

And then we've got the other issue: the castle in Füssen.
There is no castle in Füssen. There is a building which looks like a medieval castle. Has never seen a knight or a fight. Was built in the 1860s as a medieval fantasy.
Better spend your day for some real things around, such as Nürnberg or Salzburg, just over the border in Austria.

Since spelling correction has been initiated, it's Guten Tag, not "gutten".

Indeed, Neuschwanstein is a residential palace with a fake castle exterior. The crowded 30-minute tour of a place where nothing happened takes you quickly through a building that is interesting but one where nothing ever happened. It takes nearly 5 hours on trains and buses to get to the final bus stop and from the stop back to Munich. One you're there you walk 20-30 minutes from there up to the castle (and back of course) and back from Munich.

A much more interesting palace to visit is Nymphenburg, which is Ludwig's birthplace. It's right in Munich, and in addition to the main palace, there are a few small palaces on the periphery, the porcelain museum, the carriage house museum, and the gardens.

http://raredelights.com/wp-content/u...g-Palace-9.jpg
https://toflirtwithlife.files.wordpr.../dsc_01051.jpg

You might want to tour Hohenwerfen Castle for a more authentic castle experience. It's about 30 minutes from Salzburg.

http://www.markmarissink.com/wp-cont...n/DSCF0697.jpg

Nuremberg is a good day trip. Ingolstadt has the Audi factory about midway. Real castle in Nuremberg. Ludwig's Linderhof is OK. Go via Murnau to Ommeramergau by train and the a bus there. Very pretty scenery of the Alps.my fav is Garmisch. Munich, Augustiner is our favorite. Great beer and food.

Actually, there is a castle in Füssen -- the High Palace, finished in the 15th Century and used as a summer residence by the Augsburg bishops.

http://www.stadtfuessen.com/en/the-h...f-fuessen.html

s

Thank you everybody...so much planning and things to see. I definitely got a few extra ideas from everybody here. Thank you again. Looking forward to more posts. As far as renting a car, I may rent one for a day or two.

<<You're right, it's pronounced more like "chews" but with a hard "t" at the beginning.>>

No, it isn't. There is no "z" sound at the end of it as you hear in both choose and chews in English. It's an ss sound.

Since greeting phrases seem to be of interest:

When you meet and greet someone:

Grüss Gott is used instead of Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, Guten Abend - so you could use it all day long.

The colloquial version of "Grüss Gott" in Bavarian is "servus".
You can say servus when you enter a beer hall or a mountain hut but you would not use it in an upscale store in downtown Munich.

But: as you won't be able to pronouce the "ü" sound properly anyway (neither in Grüss Gott nor in Tschüss as seen above), you can always say "Hallo" (pronounce hullo) which is, wonders oh wonders, the same as Hello. And probably is as widespread in use in Germany as hello and hi are in the US.


When you leave and want to say good-bye:

Tschüss is not a local good-bye in Bavaria but a popular import from the Northern parts of the country.
Two decades ago, Bavarians would have stared at you as when you said howdy in Manhattan.
The colloquial good-bye in "Bavarian" is "servus" (see caveat above).

Other usual words you say for good-bye in Germany are "ciao" (pronounced Italian) and even "bye" works in urban areas.