Arrived in Munich on May 9 at 2:45 pm. We took the S8 into Munich's main train station. Exited the station, walked one block down and one block over to our Hotel - Courtyard Marriott City Center South (great deal via Priceline and convenient location). Dropped off bags and headed over to the Marienplatz. Arrived there is time to see the Glockenspiel do its thing. We then went to the Hofbrauhaus for a beer, coke and pretzel (sorry, I hate beer - husband LOVES beer). We then walked over to Ayinger so my husband could try their cream of horseradish soup (not me!). He loved it and also had a "killer (SP) bier". After finishing off the soup we walked to the market, saw the maypole, and then walked along the river Isar and to the park where the naked meadow is located (didn't see anyone naked, thank god). We then walked the streets of Munich just taking in the scenery and the character of the city. Found our way back to the Hofbrauhaus for another beer for my husband and apple crisp for me. We then slowly walked back to the hotel enjoying the last of our time in the city. Got up early and because I didn't want to pay for a taxi and since we didn't know exactly where the car rental was on Balan Str we didn't want to do the S or U Bahn so we walked to the car rental. It was probably four miles but we really enjoyed the walk in the cool morning. We had left our bags at the hotel and once we had the car went back and got them and headed to Salzburg much later than we anticipated. We still took our time heading to Salzburg and got off at Bernau and stopped for lunch in Reit Im Winkel as suggested by a poster on here or Fodors. The scenery was well worth the extra time it took to get to Salzburg. Once in Salzburg, we visited Schloss Hellbrun and then headed to find our B&B Haus Ballwein. We dropped our car and bags off at the B&B and took the bus to town. We visited the Fortress, Am Dom Cathedral, the abby, St. Peters cemetery, Mirabell Gardens, walked the old town and attended mass with the Franciscans (sorry don't remember the name of the church). Grabbed a brat and continued walking. Extremely tired feet at this point plus the town closed up relatively early 9:00. We caught the bus to return to the B&B. On Sunday morning, we got up and originally were scheduled to go straight to Garmisch-Partenkirchen but decided I really wanted to see Mondsee so we drove to the Salzkammergut. I don't think we took the most direct route as we passed by St. Wolfgang, and St. Gilgen but we both enjoyed the beautiful scenery we were treated too and know it is an area that we wouldn't mind coming back to for an extended stay. After this we head to the Hallein Salt Mines for a tour. After our tour, about 3:00 we headed over to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Unfortunately, we decided since we were late getting out we wouldn't take the scenic route so we would have some time in G-P. We arrived in G-P about 6:00. We stayed at the Gasthaus Fraundorfer where my son had stayed with his high school 9 years ago. We had a nice room that looked out over G-P with the snow-capped mountains in the background. It was truly lovely. We took a walk around the town but it was pretty dead for a Sunday - Mother's Day. We then had dinner in the Gasthaus Fraundorfer. It is a beer hall that has music and dancers. Our food was good, and we enjoyed the music. We closed the place down. On Monday morning we were up bright and early to get everything done that we wanted to do. We started off with breakfast in the Gasthaus where the owner saw where we were from and said she remembered the boys from my sons school. She then proceeded to pull out a scrap book with a picture of my sons high school group and told us how they each had brought her a rose. That was a really special moment. When we left the Gasthaus we headed to Linderhof with quick stops at the Ettal Monastery (amazing church) and then drove through Oberammagau to see the painted houses which were not much more than we had seen in G-P. We arrived at Linderhof at about 9:00 and got tickets to do the grotto because we didn't really care to see the inside of Linderhof. After walking up the hill to the grotto and no one there to let us in we went back down to find that it didn't open until 10:00. We should have done the first tour of Linderhof and then toured the grotto. We left Linderhof at 10:30 and drove to Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein via the Plansee (what a drive, beautiful but narrow and crazy motorcycle drivers). We arrived at the castles about 11:30 and went to the window to pick up our previously order tickets for the 12:45 pm tour of Hohenschwangau and 14:45 tour of Neuschwanstein. In between the two tours we walked up to the Marienbrucke and took some awesome pictures. We left the castles about 3:30-3:34 and arrived at the Munich airport 6:00-6:20 for our 8:45 flight to Paris.
Just a funny side note: People always say it is a small world and that couldn't be truer. While waiting for our English tour at Hohenschwangau someone approached me and ask me if I was from a particular cit (they had seen my husband shirt with his alma mater on it. I said yes and he proceeded to ask me if we were on vacation or business. I said both. I explained a little more to him exactly what we were doing how I was going home but my husband had to go to Italy for a meeting. My husband walked up at this time and the gentlemen asked him where he was going. When he told him he said he worked in the sme city and told my husband the name of the company. At this moment, my husband said you are so and so and he said yes. It turns out that they are both on a production call every morning together but had never met. The gentlemen is an expat who is returning to the US from his assignment in Italy and lives about a half hour from us. That was a really weird moment.

Thanks for your report kygirl59. Sounds like you had a great time.
Maudie

Hi ky,

Thanks for sharing.

I'm exhausted.

Too bad you missed Linderhof. Put it on your agenda for your return visit.

Sounds like a great trip. And on your next trip, do spend a few days in St. Gilgen or St. Wolfgang. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there last September.

thanks for the report, kygirl59! It really is a small world - that story was interesting.

I'm glad you had a good trip. We've enjoyed the food at Ayinger (and the beer also) - Hofbrauhaus was too touristy and predictable for us.

Ira,
Thanks for reading the report.
For us the trip wasn't exhausting. When I get to travel I have so much adreline that I am like the energizer bunny. I never know if I will get back to an area so I want to see and do as much as possible while still enjoying it. I may not get to see everything but it gives me a feel for the area. We are flexible and that helps alot. I know our trip was probably too busy for some but it worked for us.

Bettyk,
Thanks for reading the trip report.

noe847,
Yes, the Hofbrahaus is touristy but you have to say you've been there and several miles from while I live is the other Hofbrahaus, Newport KY.

I didn't mean for my comment to sound critical, kygirl59, but I'm afraid it might have. I agree that the Hofbrauhaus is one of "those" things a visitor almost HAS to do - We went in and bought our obligatory souvenirs (well, obligatory for us!) but it was a little too loud and crowded for us to stay - even our college aged daughters agreed. We ended up having dinner at Ayinger across the street and it was really atmospheric and delicious.

Noe847

I didn't think you were being critical. You were just telling me how you felt and I respect that.

bm

Thank you for the report, but in future, please have more paragraph breaks! A little more white space makes it much easier to read your report which obviously took time and thought to create.