Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Munich & Füssen trip report

We left on Thrusday 9/20 from Detroit on NWA and yes the seat back entertainment systems were wonderful. I didn't watch any movies on the way there because I wanted to sleep but I did listen to the music (classical piano to help me fall asleep). My pictures are posted here http://tinyurl.com/2yx48z.

Friday 9/21 - The flight to Amsterdam was my favorite kind, smooth, on time and uneventful. We arrived in Amsterdam, cleared Passport control and then went right through security. I beeped for the first time ever going through so I got "felt-up" by a female security officer she seemed very thourough. Our flight to Munich was on a KLM City Hopper plane so we were piled on a bus and then taken out to the plane (in the rain). Once again we had a smooth and uneventful flight. After we had our bags in Munich we headed for the S-Bahn and the Hauptbahnhof. Our hotel was on Goethestrasse but to get to the Goethestrasse station we would have had to trasfer trains with our luggage so we just decided to hoof it to the hotel (it was only about four blocks). We had rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors (one for my sister on 2 and one for my husband and me on 3). The hotel (Hotel Mariandl) had character but no elevator, 75 (very old, creaky and low rise) steps later we were in our room huffing and puffing. Within an hour we were on the Marienplatz already taking lots of pictures. There were no empty tables anywhere on the Marienplatz so we found a store with sandwiches and bought some water (no bubbles) and found a shady spot in the Marienhof to sit and plan the rest of our day. The weather was warm and sunny and we were happy to finally be in Munich. We went into the Frauenkirche and up to the tower (not near as many stairs as Notre Dame! The lift was nice). We walked around some more down by the Residenz and Odeonsplatz and went into the Theatinerkirche before we finally found a table to sit and eat dinner. The important part of that meal was that it was Paulaner beer. My goal was to have as many different kinds of beer as I could on this trip. We decided to go back to the hotel around 8:30 so we headed for the U-Bahn. We were two stops from the Marienplatz, so it should have been a short ride. There were maps above the doors on the trains so I wasn't worried about missing our stop. When we came in on the S-Bahn from the airport after the announcement was made in German for each stop it was repeated in English, that wasn't the case on this subway train and it really wouldn't have mattered because it was like the announcements were made underwater. The first stop was Sedlinger Tor and before the train pulled away (when the doors were still open) the people who had just gotten off the train were looking at us and motioning for us to get off. My sister was wondering why they kept asking us if we were getting off the train until it started to pull away and never picked up speed and then it just stopped. Needless to say I was a bit worried, I looked through the rest of the train and it was empty, my sister found a red button, pushed it and a bell sounded but then the lights went out. PANIC! She pushed the button again and then the door opened at the front of the train and a lady came out and asked if we spoke German, no (definitely not enough to comprehend an underwater message while very sleepy). Needless to say a couple minutes later we were driven back to the station and then we got off the train to wait for the next one to take us back to our hotel and waiting beds.

Saturday 9/22 - After breakfast in the hotel we headed back to the Marienplatz while walking we stumbled on some wagons ready for the Brewer's Parade (it was Oktoberfest after all). We headed for St. Peterskirche but there was mass going on (there were four that morning 9, 10, 11 a.m., and 12 p.m. So we headed to the Viktualienmarkt, it was full of people. After walking through the market we bought some huge, yummy green grapes and headed for the Residenz. We bought the 14-day Bavarian castle/palace passes and toured the palace and the Treasury. The Cuvilliés theater was not open. We walked through the Hofgarten and headed for the Englisher Garten. It was a beautiful warm sunny day again in Munich. Once in the garten we walked along the river and wound up at the beginning of the "river" that runs through the southern part of the park where all of the surfers go. We watched all of the surfers take their turns for about ten minutes and then headed back into the park to the Chinese Tower and lunch. On the way to lunch we came across a cricket match and had to stop and watch for a few minutes (being from the US I have never actually watched cricket) it was interesting. We finally arrived at the Tower and now it was lunch time, we found some empty tables in the shade near the edge of the eating area and DH sat to save our spots. I had decided that I would try different things (parts of the pig that I don't normally eat) on this trip and decided on schweinshaxen (pork knuckles). I changed my mind at the counter and ordered leberkäs (meatloaf) for me and a big pretzel was all DH wanted. I set the food at the table and went to get the beer (Hofbrauhaus today) one mass each. By the time I returned DH had been hit by falling chestnuts and was complaining about how it had hurt. The leberkäs was basically a big thick slice of baloney so DH and I shared our lunches and thoroughly enjoyed the beer. It was about 2pm when we deccided to finally get up and start walking out of the park again. As I said earlier it was a beautiful warm, sunny day so as we walked out of the park we did see a bunch of people without their clothes on. On our way back through the Hofgarten there was a pétanque (at least that is what it looked like from looking on Wikipedia) tournament going on so we stopped to watch for a while. By the time we got back to the hotel it was after five and almost dinner time. It was the first day of the Oktoberfest so we headed to d'Wiesn. Without knowing exactly how far it was we followed the crowds in their dirndls and lederhosen figuring that they knew where they were going, and they did. Less than five minutes and three blocks later we were at the Oktoberfest!!!! We walked around some and then tried to find a seat in on of the outdoor seating areas at one of the tents to no avail so we looked for food at on of the food trailers on the midway. I had half of a pork knuckle it was good but very fatty (duh!), now I know why I've never had it before. DH had a currywurst and LOVED it (I had to buy him curry ketchup at Meijer's when we got home) and my sister had red sausage on a bun. After eating we decided to try our luck in one of the tents, we went to one of the side entrances. Thank you Fodorites for the tip of the shorter lines at the side entrances! We waited for about ten minutes and we were in!!! Since we had already eaten we only needed beer. We were in the Ochsenbraterei so we had Spaten tonight. We were right by the bandstand and didn't move all night!! We danced on our benches and sang along with the crowd!! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! We met some people and had a BLAST! Did I mention how much FUN it was? If you have never been you absolutely must, at some time in your life, go. We laughed the whole way back to the hotel (DH was very entertaining).

Sunday 9/23 - After a later breakfast today we headed to the Neue Pinakotek. We picked this one over the others because my favorites are the Impressionist and my sister isn't as interested in museums. We took the U-bahn to the Königsplatz and saw the Propyläen then we walked to the Karolinenplatz with the obelisk and turned to the Pinakotek. After the museum we decided to walk back via Brienner Strasse. It was again a beautiful sunny warm day in Munich. We caught the tail end of the costume parade walking down Brienner Strasse. It was almost 1p.m by the time we found a place to eat, Killian's Irish Pub near the Frauenkirche. While I always get a Guiness in an Irish Pub I was after all still in Munich and I can get a Guiness anywhere at home I decided on the Augustiner (sp?) dunkel and a bacon (my daily pork ration) cheeseburger, DH also had the Augustiner and curry (very good). Rugby was on the TVs (something else that I never get to watch at home). I enjoyed the games it was Sunday and I was going to miss football (NFL) at home so rugby was the next best thing. By the time we left the pub there were loads of Brits coming in, the Manchester v. Chelsea game was less than an hour away. It would have been fun to stay and watch but there was still lots to be seen in the city. We headed to St. Peterskirche and The Holy Ghost church at the Viktualienmarkt. The market was closed and a lot different from just the day before, it was easy today to get a picture of the whole maypole. We went back to the hotel early to take a nap. After the nap we headed back to d'Wiesn'. We decided to eat outside of the big tents again and today we finally had roast chicken. In Michigan we have Frankenmuth it is like a little bit of Bavaria here at home but the chicken is very greasy, they must not cook it rotisserie style. Going along with my attempt at a different beer everyday we chose which tent to go in by the beer advertised at the top of the tent. We chose Hacker-Pschorr, tonight (the first Sunday of the Oktoberfest) we chose to go into the Bräursol tent. We waited a little longer tonight but we got in (the beauty of of only three in the party). This tent maybe because it wasn't the first night or maybe because we weren't so close to the band wasn't as much fun for us. We didn't stay as long in the tent tonight but we walked the midway more and bought some yummy roasted chocolate almonds.

Monday 9/24 - We didn't eat breakfast at the hotel today, instead on this beautiful warm, sunny morning we headed to the Marienplatz and a Münchener frühstück. Going along with my try new things DH and I had weisswurst, weissbier (Ayinger this morning) and pretzels with sweet mustard for breakfast. As long as we had been planing this trip he had been waiting to have this breakfast again (he was in Germany about ten years ago for work). He absolutely loved the breakfast as he knew he would I thought it was ok, the texture of the wurst was different than I was expecting and I way prefer dark beer. After breakfast we headed to Schloss Nymphenburg. At Nymphenburg we headed to Amalienburg first, we entered at the same time as a group from a tour bus and we went through with them and their tour guide. We definitely learned a lot about the hunting lodge that we wouldn't have if they weren't there. The back of the palace was being renovated so there were no good pictures from the gardens behind the palace. I liked this palace more than the Residenz because there is much more that was original. After the Palace we went through the Marstallmuseum and saw all of the carriages, sleighs, and porcelain collection. We took the tram to Stachus and then walked Neuhauser Strasse back toward the Marienplatz and the U-bahn. We had reservations for the Happy-Hippo hour at the Hippodrom today so we headed back early. We ate in the tent tonight I don't remember what I had to eat but the three of us split a plate of cheese spatzle (YUM!) with our meals and for the first time we didn't have a different beer from the rest of the trip, tonight was Spaten again. We left when we had to give up our table and headed back out to the midway. This was our last night at the Oktoberfest and our last night in Munich, tomorrow we pick-up the car and drive to Füssen.

Tuesday 9/25 - Our car is at National Rental Car Tegernsee Landstrasse 157 and it is pouring! Once we were on the street after the U-bahn we are not sure where Tegernsee Landstrasse is so we are looking like lost tourists (walking back and forth in the rain with our luggage) so a taxi driver gets out of his dry car to point us in the right direction. As we get close to the building it looks very closed and I begin to painic, but there is a note on the building we have moved to 185, ok only a couple more blocks. We walk into the office and drip all over the floor, I take out my copy of the reservation that I printed from the Auto Europe site(booked through gemut.com) and hand it to the lady at the desk. "We don't have this reservation" she says to me. I booked the reservation through Gemut and paid National in June, in August I read on the board that National was closing some downtown Munich offices so I e-mailed Gemut and they confirmed and my reservation was switched to the Tegernsee Landstrasse office. After much wating the girl at the desk tells me my car is at an office at Eisnteinstrasse 130 (the location of the first reservation). We waited 40 minutes (it was raining after all) for a taxi (the lady said it would be easier than making all of the transfers necessary on trams and busses). The taxi drops us off and we get out and get our luggage and this office is closed! Luckily the cab hadn't left before I noticed the sign on the door and asked him what it said, the office was now on the street side of the building and not in back where this office is. We walk around the building, it is still raining, only to find that the National office that has my car is now a Budget office that has my car but I will have to pay again and deal with National to get a refund! Now I'm mad. It happens that this office is in a little mall type place so there are tables outside the office. I only have five minutes left on my Telestial phone so I put another $30 on and begin my calling. I can't figure out how to dial a local number (while shaking mad) so I have to call the US # and finally talk to someone only to be put on hold while he looks into it. Meanwhile, my prescious minutes are ticking away on my phone. I hang up and call again and this time explain to the guy that I only have a few minutes left on my phone so he asks for my number so he can call me back when he gets it straightened out, he says it will be 10 minutes. The table that we are sitting at is in front of somesort of bakery so DH and I split some pastry (I think it was poppy seed something, it was good). Twenty-five minutes later my phone rings and he tells me the only place we can pick up the car that we need to get to Füssen is at the airport! After being assured that we won't be charged the rental car pick-up at the airport fee we head back out into the rain to the S-bahn station that thankfully is just around the corner. We got to the first office on Tegernsee Landstrasse around 8:30 and we finally pick-up our car and are on the highway at noon! Because of the late pick-up and the fact that all of our directions were based on a pick-up at the first offfice we decided to just take 95 out of Munich and straight to Ettal. We arrived just before a couple of tour busses so the church was empty for only a few minutes. After the church it is lunch time, we are starving. We ate at the restaurant run by the Monastery and I had the Curator dunkel dopplebock. Let me tell you, after having big full breakfasts all week and then only half of a pastry for breakfast that morning that dopplebock hit me HARD. I was ok after lunch I had chicken with a mushroom sauce and cheese spatzle (those carbohydrates really worked) it was really good. After lunch we headed to Linderhof, in the rain. We got to the ticket booth and I couldn't find my castle pass, we had to pay. The grounds were beautiful, even in the rain. The palace was also beautiful but lonely, the dining room table was for one and he didn't even see the servents, they set the table downstairs and it was raised up to Ludwig in the diningroom already at his chair. As we walked into the Venus Grotto music was playing and it sounded very clear. After Linderhof we headed to Austria past the Plansee before arriving in Füssen. We finally arrived at the Hotel Sonne and checked in to our rooms. I had reserved two Via Claudia rooms but we were given the nicer Prinz Regent rooms (we were still only charged for the Via Claudia rooms) and they were gorgeous! We didn't have TVs in the rooms in Munich so it was nice to have them here. The only english channel was CNN but it was nice to see what was going on in the world again (unrest and demonstrations in Myanmar). There was also a channel that for the first two days we were there that showed the Oktoberfest for a long time (it was still raining there, too). We were a little tired of pork for dinner so tonight we had Italian and the beer choice tonight was König Ludwig dunkel for me and wheat for DH.

Wednesday 9/26 - Breakfast was fabulous! A few more choices of yogurt and everything than in Munich. After much debate between the bus to the castles or the car that we were paying for DH agreed that it made the most sense to drive and not wait for the bus. It took about 10 minutes top to get to the first parking lot for the castles and another five to walk to the ticket booth. Again today it is raining and in the mountains the clouds are very low. I still couldn't find my castle pass but I did have the ticket from the Residenz that said that I purchased a two person 14 day pass and my sister had hers so I let her go first and the very nice lady let me use my copy and we only had to pay for Hohenschwangau. Now to the castles, I was so excited, this was the reason we left Munich and I couldn't wait to see these castles (Neuschwanstein especially). The area around Hohenschwangau (that we could see, it was very foggy) was beautiful and the inside was just as good. It was so foggy that we couldn't even see Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau. On to Neuschwanstein! The weather was cold, wet and rainy today. We were almost all the way up to the castle before we could even see it. When we got to the castle we could hear the waterfall but there was no way that we could see it. The tour was definitely worth it. Even though there are only a few rooms finished they are beautiful. The carving in his bedroom was AMAZING! While we were in his bedroom the fog lifted and we could even see the Marienbrüke! After the tour you are naturally sent through the gift shop after going down a floor or two worth of steps and then down another floor and then out of the castle. Now the Marienbrüke! We finally made it to the bridge and the fog was back! What a let down! We stayed on the brigde for about ten minutes and the fog sort-of lifted so I snapped a few pictures and then we headed back down. We stopped at the steps that went down to the gorge below the waterfall and decided to go down. That was way worth it it was fabulous to hear the water and to see the waterfall so close (almost as cool as going under Niagra Falls on the Canadian side). By the time we made it back up from the gorge and back down to the town it was lunch time. Another big German lunch this time with potato dumpling and not spatzle and again König Ludwig dunkel. After we figured where we parked (we didn't pay attention to which lot we parked in) we headed back to the hotel and to check out Füssen. We walked around (still raining) but didn't shop. We went back to our rooms for a while before dinner, Italian again but way better than last night and this time Aktienbrauerei.

Thursday 9/27 - The plan after breakfast is to head to the Weiskirche. On the way as we are driving cars keep pulling off to the side of the road so we look in that direction and there are both of the castles plain as day! Oh yeah, it's not raining either. We continue on to the Weiskirche and there is a tour group leaving as we are heading into the church and another behind us. We let the group go in and we walk a little behind the church and can hear the cow bells in the field, that was cool. The church is nicer than I thought it would be some of the rococo that we have seen is too much for my taste but this was nice. After the church we decided to go back up to the Marienbrüke to get a better picture of the castle (I have pictures on my wall from all of our trips and this is the one I want from this one). We parked the car and noted which lot we are in and then headed up to the bridge. There is no fog and the castle looks amazing! The walk both up and down from the bridge is a lot nicer when it isn't raining. We decided to eat outside at one of the beergardens since it is kinda sunny today. Lunch today was 1/2 of a roasted chicken and again König Ludwig dunkel I shared DHs pomme frittes that he had with his lunch. I don't know what it was but everytime we had fries they were soooo good. Back to the hotel and this time to shop in Füssen. We shopped some and walked through the city we went into St. Mang and the High Palace and then into the park behind the Palace for a little walk along the Lech River. Tonight I had mushroom soup and cheese spatzle for dinner and again König Ludwig dunkel, my sister had just soup and DH had more pork.

Friday 9/28 - Today is the day we leave for home. DH didn't want to go back through Austria to 95 so we took 17 (the romantic road for most of the time we were on it) back to 96 to 99 to the airport. We got to the airport filled the gas tank and returned the car and made it to check in with plenty of time to sit and relax before our flight to Amsterdam. We had a pretzel before the flight, we planned on eating lunch in Amsterdam. We boarded the plane and wound up leaving about 40 miutes late. We arrived in Amsterdam with just over an hour before our flight by the time we cleared passport control so we figured we would have time for lunch before we got to the gate. When we looked at the board for our gate it said boarding! Run! We got to the gate and discovered that we had to go through security at the gate. There was a store right next to the gate so I ran in and bought big chocolate bars for each of my kids and my sisters kids and a water for me for the plane to spend all my euros. We cleared security and waited in a very small area before acturally boarding the plane about 15 minutes later. It was a good thing that we rushed through security because they held our plane for about 30 minutes because a flight from Rome was late and this was the last plane that day headed to Detroit. Needless to say I was a little grumpy, we rushed to get through and skipped lunch only to have to wait even longer 'til the lunch service on the plane. The lunch was good and this time I did watch a couple of movies. The flight was mostly good, there was a point when the captain turned on the seat belt light and then told the cabin crew to please take their seats as well. The plane dropped only once but that is more than enough for me so I was a little tense for about an hour after that. The rest of the flight was good and not too bumpy. We landed in Detroit only about 15 minutes late and then to home, waiting family, pizza for dinner and Spaten Oktoberfest beer!