just returned from trip to germany,austria and switzerland
Nov 15th, 2008, 10:06 AM
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just returned from trip to germany,austria and switzerland
just returned from a 14 day vacation to the bavarian alps and CH. i want to thank everyone for being such great resource in helping us out with the planning part of our trip. larryincolorado, ira, bobthenavigator, indiancouple, swandav, (i'm sure i am missing some names, and i apologize-i should have looked at my previous posts first). i will be posting a trip report and some pictures (i'm going to have to ask someone to show me how to do it) as a small gesture of gratitude and appreciation for all your help.
just some quick notes: we left on Oct 16 just as when the dollar was gaining ground vs the euro. by the time i made my first atm withdrawal, i paid $1.34 for a euro. which was a vast imporovement considering just a few months ago, the conversion was nearing $1.50.
we arrived to a glorious, springlike weather in munich and on the day we left, Oct 30, winter had arrived in zurich and chased us away with the first snowfall. there were 3 days of rain in the 14 days we were there, where we needed to use an umbrella. but of course, rain or shine germany and switzerland are always beautiful and breathtaking.
innsbruck is under construction. there are cranes everywhere. a shopkeeper told me the local govt decided to upgrade everything all at the same time (water, electric,and other utilities) we satisfied our "tirolean fix" next door, in hall. hall is so charming and probably has a slightly bigger zentrum. and if you're lucky like in our recent case, and happen to be there on a Saturday morning, the place is aburst with a lively saturday market complete with an old dixie band playing hello dollie.
i will post a trip report shortly. i appreciate your patience as i attend to this pesky thing called work which keeps getting in the way.
just some quick notes: we left on Oct 16 just as when the dollar was gaining ground vs the euro. by the time i made my first atm withdrawal, i paid $1.34 for a euro. which was a vast imporovement considering just a few months ago, the conversion was nearing $1.50.
we arrived to a glorious, springlike weather in munich and on the day we left, Oct 30, winter had arrived in zurich and chased us away with the first snowfall. there were 3 days of rain in the 14 days we were there, where we needed to use an umbrella. but of course, rain or shine germany and switzerland are always beautiful and breathtaking.
innsbruck is under construction. there are cranes everywhere. a shopkeeper told me the local govt decided to upgrade everything all at the same time (water, electric,and other utilities) we satisfied our "tirolean fix" next door, in hall. hall is so charming and probably has a slightly bigger zentrum. and if you're lucky like in our recent case, and happen to be there on a Saturday morning, the place is aburst with a lively saturday market complete with an old dixie band playing hello dollie.
i will post a trip report shortly. i appreciate your patience as i attend to this pesky thing called work which keeps getting in the way.
Nov 15th, 2008, 12:03 PM
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here it goes. . . this will be a very short installment for now as i watch a brush fire rage in my neck of the woods in southern calif. i am tuned in to the local tv channel for any developments, as yorba linda and corona are ablaze. hope the wind blows in the other direction to spare us here in anaheim hills.
background: i put this trip together almost last minute. i started planning in mid sept with about a month to plan, purchase plane and train tickets and book rooms. the current strength in the us dollar as well as some year end vacation days to spare encouraged me to take this trip amidst a background of recent economic developments here in the us.
we are independent travellers like most of you in this travel forum. we joined an organized group tour (with trafalgar) once, back in our younger days when we were in our late 20's and made a promise not to go that way again, if he can help it.
for planning, i used several guidebooks, website and of course this message board. i also made use of hilton honor points for our accomodations in munich, innsbruck and zurich.
air travel: we flew delta from LAX, with a connection in ATL. paid $780 incld taxes for rt, coach class travel.
rail travel: booked thru BET for 3 day flexi pass for swiss rail travel.
car rental: booked thru avis for 7 day car rental with pick up in munich and return in interlaken at $275 before excld. daily road tax and drop off charge.
our travel style: we are middle of the road when it comes to food and accomodations. we like sightseeing, cultural stuff like concerts, old churches, museums. we like fine dining as well as the experience of trying local and street food.
background: i put this trip together almost last minute. i started planning in mid sept with about a month to plan, purchase plane and train tickets and book rooms. the current strength in the us dollar as well as some year end vacation days to spare encouraged me to take this trip amidst a background of recent economic developments here in the us.
we are independent travellers like most of you in this travel forum. we joined an organized group tour (with trafalgar) once, back in our younger days when we were in our late 20's and made a promise not to go that way again, if he can help it.
for planning, i used several guidebooks, website and of course this message board. i also made use of hilton honor points for our accomodations in munich, innsbruck and zurich.
air travel: we flew delta from LAX, with a connection in ATL. paid $780 incld taxes for rt, coach class travel.
rail travel: booked thru BET for 3 day flexi pass for swiss rail travel.
car rental: booked thru avis for 7 day car rental with pick up in munich and return in interlaken at $275 before excld. daily road tax and drop off charge.
our travel style: we are middle of the road when it comes to food and accomodations. we like sightseeing, cultural stuff like concerts, old churches, museums. we like fine dining as well as the experience of trying local and street food.
Nov 15th, 2008, 02:05 PM
#7
Just got back from that area a few months ago ..so I am very interested in your report.
Percy
Percy
Nov 15th, 2008, 07:25 PM
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sorry for the brief interruption, we're back in our home on a vigil as brush fire rage in neighboring cities. if i abruptly end, please know that we have to leave home.
DAY 1: MUNICH
Our Delta flight from ATL arrived at around 7:30 am. My husband and I proceeded to buy our XXL partner ticket to get us to our hotel, the Hilton Munich City Center. We never had to leave the airport as the station is just a couple of levels down. Took the S-6 line to Rosenheimerplatz with no transfers, got off underground from our hotel. At 10 past 8 am, we were checking into our hotel. As we had expected, the room is not ready yet so we just deposited our luggage and started our exploration.
We walked in the direction of Marienplatz, past the Deutch Museum and Isartor. It wasn't necessary to ask for directions since the twin domes served as our guiding star. In less than 10 minutes, we were inside the city center. We spotted a Deutschbank and made our atm withdrawal for euros that would last us until we exited our last EC destination in Innsbruck/Hall. Walking past Viktualenmarkt, the food stalls beckon us to take our first meal in munich. Our brain is still playing catch up with the 9 hour time difference so we'll just call this a meal-not quite sure if it's breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Many stalls at Viktualenmarkt are still trying to get set up for the day as it is still quite early. Our first encounter is the deli stalls. Some have already set up a small plate of slices of meat for sampling. We settled for this one stall that sells cooked food. We settled for the dark wurst on an ovalish bun. It wasn't on a hotdog bun with a hole drilled in the middle, as we had anticipated like the one we had in Vienna a few years ago. The wurst looked like it was too long for the bun and as we had quicly discovered, one way to enjoy this is to eat first the part of the wurst that stick out then work on the bread and wurst part. We also tried the deep fried salt cured pork skin. Truly, a cardiac special. This is the stuff our doctor had warned us about. But hey, we don't eat like this everyday so no guilt whatsoever. We enjoyed every bite of the pork skin. This delightful gustatory indulgence only cost us a little over 10 euros. Then washed it all down with coffee which we discover is prepared capuccino style everywhere we ordered just regular coffee in munich.
We wandered around Marienplatz for a little bit among people on their way to work and some preteens/teenagers on their way to school. Our first impression as we walk past the still closed shops, they sure sell lots of wristwatches here. And they leave their merchandise, some are expensive brands, in the display windows after they've closed the store.
We started walking back to the hotel by around 10. We walked past the river and made a quick stop at the side of the Deutsch Museum to gawk at the display of a retired submarine engine and ponder on its enormous size. By the time we made it back to the hotel, our room was ready and what would be one of the many lucky streaks in this trip, we were upgraded to an executive room with free breakfast thrown in as well as free access to the executive lounge. we felt appreciated by hilton.
we took a nap and had set my cell phone alarm for a wake up call at 1 pm. the alarm went off and as with what most people do, bargain for another 10 mins of extra sleep. well, in this case, we overslept and the extra 10 mins turned into extra hour. we quickly took a shower and decided on Dachau Concentration Camp for the remainder of the afternoon, to use the XXL partner tickets we purchased earlier.
The camp was near empty at around 3 pm. This gave the camp an even more sober atmosphere. We toured the museum, the roll call grounds, re created barracks and crematorium. it was almost closing time by the time we turned in our audio guides. the whole experience was sobering and left us with the sense of "never again" which would remain with us for the next few hours.
After a short bus ride and a few stops on the u-bahn, we're back in Marienplatz. We wandered around the pedestrian shopping areas and stopped a few times to enjoy the street performers and mimes.
our final stop for the evening is the venerable Hofbrauhaus. it was loud, fun and touristy just as we like it. as soon as my husband's beer order arrived, i had to ask him if he can finish it. the enormousness of the beer mug was just something i am not used to seeing. of course, he can finish it. and finish it he did and even ordered another one before the evening was over. we decided to go up to the third floor and order food from there. i had the braised pork knuckles with boiled potatoes while hubby ordered roast pork with spatzl. we enjoyed another glorious meal in the company of a couple of hundred mostly tourists while enjoying a touristy but fun folkshow.
backstage, near the WC we used, WC, we had the chance to chat with one of the performers. he was recently in california as a tourist and did the touristy places like disneyland, universal studios, etc. it is indeed fun to be a tourist and do touristy things, we both agreed.
back in our hotel, we dropped in briefly at the executive lounge to check email and have a few drinks (free). the buffet spread of what's supposed to be cocktails looked very generous-enough to be dinner so we made a note to try it out tommorow.
what a glorious first day in munich.
we retired happy and contended.
DAY 1: MUNICH
Our Delta flight from ATL arrived at around 7:30 am. My husband and I proceeded to buy our XXL partner ticket to get us to our hotel, the Hilton Munich City Center. We never had to leave the airport as the station is just a couple of levels down. Took the S-6 line to Rosenheimerplatz with no transfers, got off underground from our hotel. At 10 past 8 am, we were checking into our hotel. As we had expected, the room is not ready yet so we just deposited our luggage and started our exploration.
We walked in the direction of Marienplatz, past the Deutch Museum and Isartor. It wasn't necessary to ask for directions since the twin domes served as our guiding star. In less than 10 minutes, we were inside the city center. We spotted a Deutschbank and made our atm withdrawal for euros that would last us until we exited our last EC destination in Innsbruck/Hall. Walking past Viktualenmarkt, the food stalls beckon us to take our first meal in munich. Our brain is still playing catch up with the 9 hour time difference so we'll just call this a meal-not quite sure if it's breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Many stalls at Viktualenmarkt are still trying to get set up for the day as it is still quite early. Our first encounter is the deli stalls. Some have already set up a small plate of slices of meat for sampling. We settled for this one stall that sells cooked food. We settled for the dark wurst on an ovalish bun. It wasn't on a hotdog bun with a hole drilled in the middle, as we had anticipated like the one we had in Vienna a few years ago. The wurst looked like it was too long for the bun and as we had quicly discovered, one way to enjoy this is to eat first the part of the wurst that stick out then work on the bread and wurst part. We also tried the deep fried salt cured pork skin. Truly, a cardiac special. This is the stuff our doctor had warned us about. But hey, we don't eat like this everyday so no guilt whatsoever. We enjoyed every bite of the pork skin. This delightful gustatory indulgence only cost us a little over 10 euros. Then washed it all down with coffee which we discover is prepared capuccino style everywhere we ordered just regular coffee in munich.
We wandered around Marienplatz for a little bit among people on their way to work and some preteens/teenagers on their way to school. Our first impression as we walk past the still closed shops, they sure sell lots of wristwatches here. And they leave their merchandise, some are expensive brands, in the display windows after they've closed the store.
We started walking back to the hotel by around 10. We walked past the river and made a quick stop at the side of the Deutsch Museum to gawk at the display of a retired submarine engine and ponder on its enormous size. By the time we made it back to the hotel, our room was ready and what would be one of the many lucky streaks in this trip, we were upgraded to an executive room with free breakfast thrown in as well as free access to the executive lounge. we felt appreciated by hilton.
we took a nap and had set my cell phone alarm for a wake up call at 1 pm. the alarm went off and as with what most people do, bargain for another 10 mins of extra sleep. well, in this case, we overslept and the extra 10 mins turned into extra hour. we quickly took a shower and decided on Dachau Concentration Camp for the remainder of the afternoon, to use the XXL partner tickets we purchased earlier.
The camp was near empty at around 3 pm. This gave the camp an even more sober atmosphere. We toured the museum, the roll call grounds, re created barracks and crematorium. it was almost closing time by the time we turned in our audio guides. the whole experience was sobering and left us with the sense of "never again" which would remain with us for the next few hours.
After a short bus ride and a few stops on the u-bahn, we're back in Marienplatz. We wandered around the pedestrian shopping areas and stopped a few times to enjoy the street performers and mimes.
our final stop for the evening is the venerable Hofbrauhaus. it was loud, fun and touristy just as we like it. as soon as my husband's beer order arrived, i had to ask him if he can finish it. the enormousness of the beer mug was just something i am not used to seeing. of course, he can finish it. and finish it he did and even ordered another one before the evening was over. we decided to go up to the third floor and order food from there. i had the braised pork knuckles with boiled potatoes while hubby ordered roast pork with spatzl. we enjoyed another glorious meal in the company of a couple of hundred mostly tourists while enjoying a touristy but fun folkshow.
backstage, near the WC we used, WC, we had the chance to chat with one of the performers. he was recently in california as a tourist and did the touristy places like disneyland, universal studios, etc. it is indeed fun to be a tourist and do touristy things, we both agreed.
back in our hotel, we dropped in briefly at the executive lounge to check email and have a few drinks (free). the buffet spread of what's supposed to be cocktails looked very generous-enough to be dinner so we made a note to try it out tommorow.
what a glorious first day in munich.
we retired happy and contended.
Nov 16th, 2008, 08:07 AM
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DAYS 2 & 3: MUNICH
Started the day with the included buffet breakfast at the hotel. I knew exactly what I was going to have - the yogurt! I just love the european yogurt because it's not sweet. It had the creamy, cheese-y taste and just enough sweetness about it. I experimented with adding muesli to the yogurt to give it texture and loved the result even better. My husband "loaded up" with an all eggwhite omelet with all the veggies in it. The
poor omelet cook, my husband kept prodding him to put more mushrooms, pepper, etc. The cook jokingly gestured to my husband that he should just mix the egg onto the bowl of mushrooms instead of adding it in onto the griddle.
We burned a small portion of morning's caloric intake with a short walk to the Deutches Museum. We went via the side entrance right along the lake. We started at the ground level with the transportation and aviation exhibits, then worked our way up to the "salt mines" then to the pharmaceuticals, etc. This short museum tour, if anything, confirms what I had always associated Germans with - engineering and techonology.
Emerging from the building where the bookshop is, we came upon about a dozen large tour buses parked just on the other side of the river directly across from the museum. So that's where they are! We used the side entrance on our way in, that is parallel to the lake. From this side, there is no overall view of the size and architecture of the building. But on our way out as we crossed the bridge over the river, we looked back and had a good appreciation of the domed museum which was probably a block long in its frontage. The road will take us back to Viktualenmrkt. Today being Saturday, it was crowded with both tourists and locals doing their weekend shopping. We walked past it and decided to have an early lunch at Alois Dallmayr. I ordered soup and smoked white fish washed it down with 2 bottles of light Coke, while my husband, who's still "stuffed" from the buffet breakfast he had earlier, opted for tomato and cheese salad (a la caprese). the service was neither slow nor hurried but it was impeccable. total cost of meal is 50 euros with a small tip included.
After lunch, we wandered around the store just to admire the merchandise and the food display. We eventually made a purchase of some whole bean coffee to take back to the US for a dear friend who is a coffee afficionado. We just made the assumption by sheer blind faith(rightly or wrongly) that it will at least be decent considering it was from Dallmyr.
The afternoon finds us at the Residenz and the Treasury. We did the usual tour of the different rooms and halls and admired the porcelain exhibits and the royal jewels. Cuvillies Theater i think is still closed as with a good portion of the palace. They are renovating we were told. There were several scaffoldings in the inner courtyard. The front of the Castle is also under a scaffolding which was cleverly covered with huge canvas with painted-on facade, Ludwig and his Queen Mom peeking out at one of the windows.
We ended the sightseeing with a visit to Peterskirche. Lingered insided for a while and said a short prayer of thanks (we are Catholics) for our safe journey.
On to my husband's quest for the best beer in town, we headed over to Audustinerbrau. I don't drink so I just order my usual light Coke which seemed out of place at a beerhall. We had planned to sample the cocktail buffet back at the hotel so we skipped dinner in town and took the ubahn back to the hotel. We rested for a bit and enjoyed our deluxe room and took a shower. That felt good after a day of sightseeing, mostly on foot.
Cocktail (dinner) at the lounge consisted of mushroom soup, chicken wings, all kinds of canapes and hors d'ovres (sp?) and as much light Coke as I want. My husband had wine that was decent, not spectacular but ok.
Back in our room, we watched CNN for developments back home. Mostly presidential campaign stuff, the stock market and the economy. We're on vacation, so I turned the tv off and just read some of the nice coffee table books provided in our room until until we dozed off.
Started the day with the included buffet breakfast at the hotel. I knew exactly what I was going to have - the yogurt! I just love the european yogurt because it's not sweet. It had the creamy, cheese-y taste and just enough sweetness about it. I experimented with adding muesli to the yogurt to give it texture and loved the result even better. My husband "loaded up" with an all eggwhite omelet with all the veggies in it. The
poor omelet cook, my husband kept prodding him to put more mushrooms, pepper, etc. The cook jokingly gestured to my husband that he should just mix the egg onto the bowl of mushrooms instead of adding it in onto the griddle.
We burned a small portion of morning's caloric intake with a short walk to the Deutches Museum. We went via the side entrance right along the lake. We started at the ground level with the transportation and aviation exhibits, then worked our way up to the "salt mines" then to the pharmaceuticals, etc. This short museum tour, if anything, confirms what I had always associated Germans with - engineering and techonology.
Emerging from the building where the bookshop is, we came upon about a dozen large tour buses parked just on the other side of the river directly across from the museum. So that's where they are! We used the side entrance on our way in, that is parallel to the lake. From this side, there is no overall view of the size and architecture of the building. But on our way out as we crossed the bridge over the river, we looked back and had a good appreciation of the domed museum which was probably a block long in its frontage. The road will take us back to Viktualenmrkt. Today being Saturday, it was crowded with both tourists and locals doing their weekend shopping. We walked past it and decided to have an early lunch at Alois Dallmayr. I ordered soup and smoked white fish washed it down with 2 bottles of light Coke, while my husband, who's still "stuffed" from the buffet breakfast he had earlier, opted for tomato and cheese salad (a la caprese). the service was neither slow nor hurried but it was impeccable. total cost of meal is 50 euros with a small tip included.
After lunch, we wandered around the store just to admire the merchandise and the food display. We eventually made a purchase of some whole bean coffee to take back to the US for a dear friend who is a coffee afficionado. We just made the assumption by sheer blind faith(rightly or wrongly) that it will at least be decent considering it was from Dallmyr.
The afternoon finds us at the Residenz and the Treasury. We did the usual tour of the different rooms and halls and admired the porcelain exhibits and the royal jewels. Cuvillies Theater i think is still closed as with a good portion of the palace. They are renovating we were told. There were several scaffoldings in the inner courtyard. The front of the Castle is also under a scaffolding which was cleverly covered with huge canvas with painted-on facade, Ludwig and his Queen Mom peeking out at one of the windows.
We ended the sightseeing with a visit to Peterskirche. Lingered insided for a while and said a short prayer of thanks (we are Catholics) for our safe journey.
On to my husband's quest for the best beer in town, we headed over to Audustinerbrau. I don't drink so I just order my usual light Coke which seemed out of place at a beerhall. We had planned to sample the cocktail buffet back at the hotel so we skipped dinner in town and took the ubahn back to the hotel. We rested for a bit and enjoyed our deluxe room and took a shower. That felt good after a day of sightseeing, mostly on foot.
Cocktail (dinner) at the lounge consisted of mushroom soup, chicken wings, all kinds of canapes and hors d'ovres (sp?) and as much light Coke as I want. My husband had wine that was decent, not spectacular but ok.
Back in our room, we watched CNN for developments back home. Mostly presidential campaign stuff, the stock market and the economy. We're on vacation, so I turned the tv off and just read some of the nice coffee table books provided in our room until until we dozed off.
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katharilm
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