Our latest adventure took us to Munich, with convenient daily non-stop service, complete with fully flat bed seats in Business Elite, on our dear friend Delta Airlines. Book today at Delta Airlines. Check out the luxurious seats at: Thompson Flat Bed Seats
Arrival in Europe
Having had the chance to snooze on the way over the big pond, we were reasonably relaxed and rested on arrival. Arrival in Europe is such a breeze with zero aggravation, or even much intervention, from Immigration or Customs, that it makes me ashamed for the long lines and surly agents which confront visitors to the United States. Every time I go through US Immigration and Customs, which for me as a member of the Global Entry Frequent Traveler Program is a truly a breeze, I still cringe at the crass and rude nature of the staff who can be heard yelling loudly, in English of course, at our nation’s guests. Global Entry is well worth it for anyone who travels internationally a couple of times a year or more (hopefully my Mother will read this and realize I mean her). Check it out at Globa Entry.
Even though we were rested, we were still grateful that the Le Meridien, our hotel for the stay, was able to check us in at arrival. Granted, that meant that we “upgraded” our room for an additional €25 per night, anyone who has come off of a long haul flight will appreciate why we went for it. Another huge advantage of European travel, or at least arrival in Munich, is that the train system connects directly to the airport terminals, allowing to get to our hotel, located directly across the street from the Hauptbanhof, or main train station, for less than half of what a cab would cost and with a travel time of only 30-45 minutes. The Le Meridien was beautiful, as would be expected of a world class hotel, and we found our exceptionally large room with a protected courtyard view to be comfortable and quiet, with a choice of bath or stand-up shower. View the hotel on-line at their website.
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Our first day was pretty uneventful and we napped quite a bit, but we did wander down the Bayerstraße to briefly visit the Marienplatz and the new town hall with the famous glockenspiel . We then proceeded to have a delightful dinner at a beer hall restaurant. Tim indulged in various sausages, or wurst, while I had an absolutely divine pork cutlet, otherwise known as schnitzel. Oh, the basket of pretzels, soft and warm from the oven, just come with the meal, you don’t even have to ask. Maybe I took some back to the hotel for the midnight munchies, and then again, maybe I didn’t.
The Lost Language of Trains and Stations
Speaking of midnight munchies, we almost never allow ourselves to be in a hotel room without provisions of some sort. Partly we do this so that we have liquids for nighttime medications, but we also do it because we know that jet-lagged people wake up at odd hours and tend to be hungry. So, we stopped back at the train station to stock up. If you are thinking in terms of what passes in the US for a train station you might be intrigued by this choice, but European train stations tend to be more like shopping and dining malls that happen to have trains parked there. This makes sense given that travelers are likely to be hungry on arrival, or eat in anticipation of a long trip, much like airports. The Hauptbanhof is truly huge and has numerous restaurants, both sit down and stand up, as well as markets and stores of most any kind. We found that the food in the train station, conveniently open 24 hours, was EXCELLENT since it is eaten mostly by local people on the go, so it is fresh and tasty to please local palates. And those pretzels that measure some 25 centimeters across are truly delicious when fresh and soft. Not so good at 3am, but better than nothing. Read more about the Hauptbanhof and view its 1960’s architecture on-lie
It’s Bitter and It’s Lemon
Grocery shopping in Europe allows me to indulge a rarely allowed passion in my life, first cultivated on my first trip to Europe in 2000. I speak of drinking Schweppes Bitter Lemon soda. With the lemon and the quinine, it is both sour and bitter, and probably an acquired or specialized taste, but as much as Tim hated it, I adore it and never pass a chance to indulge myself, despite the sugar content, when it is available. The version in the US, only found on the East Coast I find, is licensed to Canada Dry and it just ISN’T the same. True Bitter Lemon has solids floating in the bottom (GENTLY invert, do NOT shake, it is carbonated after all) whereas the American version does not and the taste is just off. You might find it with the mixers like tonic water and club soda, but most likely you won’t find it at all. Certainly not the Schweppes version. There are entire Web discussion boards dedicated to this topic, so I am NOT alone in my passion. And lo and behold, I have found it in the United States, via Amazon for a whopping $3.50 a liter plus over $30 shipping for 12 bottles. What can I say, I am an addict!
Headscarf Politics
One of the things that struck me most strongly about Munich was the non-German nature of the population, mostly evident in the sheer staggering number of women wearing headscarves marking them as at least somewhat observant Muslim women. And I realize that one could certainly be “German” and Muslim, but I am speaking more from an ethnic demographic perspective than from the sense of where one was born or what language one grew up speaking. Germany is more and more a land of immigrants, with 10% of the 2009 population being foreign-born, although many of those immigrants were European in derivation, particularly from the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia. But 3%, at least, are of Turkish descent, a legacy of a time when Germany imported Turkish laborers, who brought, or created, families. Having been to Istanbul, it struck me that more German Muslim women wore headscarves than they actually do in Turkey, but I also realize that Istanbul is hardly representative and that laborers are more likely to be religiously conservative than the intelligentsia, who are less likely to emigrate in the first place. Regardless of the why, the sheer number of covered women struck me as incongruous in a European setting, although I understand this is more and more the norm, and that this trend fuels nationalistic fires across the continent and helps to shape the politics of nations from France to Austria.
Innsbruck, Austria
The next day we jumped a train for Innsbruck, Austria. We chose this route because it is a designated scenic train route through the Alps as opposed to having a deep interest in Innsbruck or Austria. The route was without doubt scenic, but it was hard to see much as the cloud ceiling was very low. European trains are a marvel to me having endured Amtrak service in California, where it runs routinely several hours behind and is used seemingly only by newly released inmates who are picked up from the seemingly endless prisons along the route, who immediately violate their parole by consuming copious amounts of beer from the dining car. Not a delightful voyage to say the least. European trains, on the contrary, are clean, on time, and actually go places you want to go and let you at stations with transit connections instead of large parking lots! I can’t think that there are many places large or small that are not served by trains and connecting buses, making Europe a very easy place to get around. This ease doesn’t come free or even cheaply, however, so be prepared for prices in the hundreds of dollars if not using a pass scheme of some type, which usually only makes sense when planning on LOTS of train travel. We just bought our tickets for cash, or credit, from the multi-lingual self-service machines located on the platforms. To get a sense of the travel possibilities, visit the Duetsche Bahn interactive site.
Innsbruck turned out to be delightful and charming in its own right, and was of a size that made it easy and reasonable to walk about. It was the site of two Winter Olympics, 1964 and 1976, as well as the Youth Olympics of 2016. The ski jump platform is easily visible from around town. Innsbruck also features a funicular railway that is a marvel of engineering as it travels both vertically and horizontally depending on where along the track it is. Other funicular cars I have seen, in Greece, France, and Chile, are strictly vertical in orientation. Read about it and see it at the funicular’s own space on the Web. From the funicular portion you can take up to two additional cable cars to reach the summit but on the day we visited the cloud cover would have made it pointless and certainly not worth the additional €20 each (remembering that each €1 is about $1.31). The views from the level we were at were stunning as it was and I think some of our best photos come from this location.
The best part of the trip actually comes at the train station, where once again, we ate with abandon. There was a sit down diner type of establishment right in the station being served by a waitress who was friends with all of the older gentleman drinking numerous beers at the bar. Tim had a schnitzel and I had an amazing cordon bleu (made with pork cutlet instead of chicken, but who heard of chicken in Germany or Austria where the pig rules cuisine). And it was right affordable to boot! We were clearly an anomaly as this was a local dive but the food was outstanding and I think I almost entered a food coma by the time I finished the awesome strudel. If you do nothing else in your travels, seek out local sources of food; you will pay less and eat far better than most tourists do. I recommend both train stations and street vendors for the best eats at the best prices!
The Schloss Adventure
Our next train adventure took us to Füssen, almost to the Austrian border once again, to attempt to visit Schloss Neuschwanstein (noo-shawn-stein) and Schloss Hohenschwangau, both associated with King Ludwig II, who may or may not have kept all his marbles. He certainly had an obsession with Wagnerian opera if nothing else. Neuschwanstein serves as the inspiration for the Disney Sleeping Beauty Castle whereas the more modest, as castles go, Hohenschwangau was Ludwig’s childhood home. I had the chance to see both back in 2000, which was a good thing for me since it wasn’t going to happen on this visit. We woke up to snow on the ground in Munich but we braved it anyway, going south as we were, surely the snow would let up. It didn’t. Instead it snowed actively most of the journey and by the time we arrived in Füssen there was at least a good 6-8 centimeters on the ground, rapidly turning to slush and ice as it was tromped on by thousands of other tourists with the same plan as us. We did make it as far as the ticket office, but confronted with at least 30-45 minutes to wait to buy a ticket that would grant us entry to the castles 1-2 hours from time of purchase, depending on tour schedules and capacity, PLUS a 45 minute uphill walk through the snow to get to the castle, plus an additional 20 minutes to the next castle, we bailed out. Did I mention all the snow on the ground and more actively falling? All told, it was a miserable journey and all we managed to bring back to commemorate it were two toboggan hats and one pair of mittens. It was freezing after all! Learn all about Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau.
The train there and back was full to overflowing with Asian tourists, who seem fatally attracted to certain sites, including Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau apparently, and the time was then it was easy and safe to assume that they would be Japanese. Nowadays however, they seem more likely to be Chinese or even Korean, not that it matters in any real sense but it certainly does highlight the changes in economic might and ability that have characterized Asia over the last 20 years or so.
Yay! A Beer Hall!
The day was something of a bust, but the night made up for it. We ventured the opposite direction on Bayerstraße and found the highly recommended Augustiner Bräustuben. Very popular with local brewmeisters, it is loud with brass bands and raucous diners, but you won’t forget the food that you get served at family style tables with whatever patrons happen to have arrived at the same time as you. Tuck in and make friends, there really isn’t any other way at least for the duration. And if you need to use the facilities, check out the horses stabled behind glass on the premises! Tim and I indulged our inner carnivores by choosing the house speciality, Schweinshaxe, or pork knuckles, and it was well worth it. Who knew that a pig’s hand could taste half as good! And the prices were amazingly small for the sheer amounts of food, and of course beer, that will come your way. It is in German, but the pictures are universal here at their web portal.
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig
All too soon it was time to return home and once again the European way amazed me. No need to remove shoes at security and despite alarming the metal detector because of my titanium hip, it was easy as could be. Instead of the VERY intimate and personal hands-on-every-inch-of-my-body so-called “pat down” that TSA puts me through EVERY time I travel now, the Germans simply wanded me down, discovered nothing sinister and let me on my way. I was stunned at the simplicity and found myself once again wishing that there was a bit more Europe in the United States. Delta once again soothed me to sleep in the flat bed sleepers with down comforter and full-sized down pillow and before I knew it we were back home, on time, breezing through Immigration and Customs with Global Entry and only carry-on bags, back to at least one adoring dog and a house still standing. It was a nice adventure, snow notwithstanding, some amazing food and two more countries for Tim’s list, now at 20% of the world’s countries visited! All told, well worth it and a grand time had by all!