A Few Days in Bavaria
We were met at the Hauptbahnhof in Munich by a friend from South Africa that now lives close to town. We boarded the U-Bahn and headed to her house to spend the next few days with her family and to have a base for day trips in the area. Munich is a great location to use for day trips; you can reach the Alps and other destinations in about an hour by train. Munich also has a lot to offer and a must-see if you have a few days in Bavaria. The first night in Munich was quiet as we arrived around 10:30 or 11 PM and our friends had young children that were already in bed.
Marienplatz
The next morning we ate breakfast at the house and then headed into Munich for the normal tourist sites. It was only a few days after Christmas so there were still a lot of decorations around town and a few market stalls were still open. There is a lot of great old architecture in Munich; the city hall (Rathaus) is a great example of Gothic architecture.
The primary pedestrian zone is Marienplatz and is full of stores and restaurants. Hofbräuhaus is located in this area and is a must-see if you are in Munich. It is part of the Bavarian experience and is the home of Oktoberfest in my opinion. We decided to only walk through Hofbräuhaus and not stop and have a drink or food. It was very busy and there would have been a long wait for a table. We went to an Irish Pub across the street and enjoyed a couple of drinks before continuing the walking tour.
English Gardens
Our next stop was the English Gardens, this is a massive park in downtown Munich and was quite busy with bikes, pedestrians, and people wakeboarding on the river. Yes, it was a couple of days after Christmas and people were wakeboarding in Munich. It was much warmer than a normal late December day should be and it felt like early spring with all the people out and about.
What Is Going On
Between downtown and the English Gardens, there is a tunnel under the street that you walk through. As I was exiting the tunnel I began to feel dizzy and nauseous, it couldn’t be the 2 pints of Guinness I had. I could not walk straight but was fully aware of what was going on. My vision was like looking through a kaleidoscope. Only the middle part of my vision was clear, the rest was spinning and I was walking to the left and couldn’t stop it. I grabbed my wife and said I needed to sit down, my son also helped me to a safe place to sit down. Was this a stroke, a heart attack, or something else?
After a few minutes, it went away and I was back to normal, well at least my mobility was normal. It was later determined that it was my first episode of vertigo while walking, and it was possibly due to an ear infection. I had experienced blurry vision a few times before, but not to that level. It felt like someone spun me around for 10 minutes then told me to walk.
Schnitzel Time
We continued to walk around town and were ready to have a good German dinner. Our friends took us to a local Gasthaus that served traditional Bavarian food. We needed to take a train and bus to get there, but it was well worth the wait. You can’t go to Bavaria or Germany without having a bratwurst, a schnitzel, and a beer.
Did Someone Say Brandy and Coke?
After dinner, we went back to our friend’s house and that is where the evening became entertaining. They had a couple of bottles of South African brandy. Brandy and coke is a traditional South African drink, so we had a few drinks, then a few more. Next thing we knew it was 2 or 3 AM and all the brandy and coke had vanished. It had been 20+ years since we had seen our friend and had never met her husband, we had to celebrate. That is my story and I am sticking to it. My vision was a little blurry again, but not due to vertigo this time. We did not have any plans in the morning so we could sleep in before doing a day trip. Our friend did not have to work the next day, but her husband did have to go in for a few hours.
Day Trip to Somewhere
We gathered our day bag and headed to the main train station (Hauptbahnhof). With our Eurail passes in hand for a day trip to one of my favorite places in Germany, Garmisch-Partenkirchen. There wasn’t much snow due to the warmer than normal weather. However, it is one of the most beautiful towns at the foothills of the Alps. It is a typical Alpine village that you would expect to see in Bavaria. We spent a few hours walking around; some of the restaurants I had been to in the past were not open until dinner, so we ended up buying some sandwiches near the station for an afternoon snack before going somewhere else.
Innsbruck
We only had a day bag, but we wanted to go further south into the Alps and Austria. We made the decision to go to Innsbruck for the night and then return to Munich the next day. The day bag had toiletries and some basic items, but no clothing. We boarded a scenic train ride through the Alps to get to Innsbruck. The train ride is only about 2 hours, and as night set in, we arrived in Innsbruck.
We booked a hotel on the way and took a taxi to the hotel from the station. We were on the top floor (no elevator) with a great view of the mountains and the city. The next morning we had breakfast and spent a couple of hours walking around, it is a very picturesque town with colorful buildings along the river with the Alps as a backdrop. We returned to the train station and picked our next stop on the journey.
OBB Lounges are the Best
We had about 2 hours to waste so we took our Eurail passes to the OBB lounge, OBB is the Austrian train operator. Since we had first-class tickets, we could use the lounge and OBB has the best lounges that we used while traveling on our Eurail passes. They are comfortable with coffee, tea, soft drinks, beer and wine for beverages. They also have snacks, sandwiches, pastries, etc. to nibble on while you wait.
All of the lounges are free, including the food and drinks, you just can’t take any food or drinks when you exit the lounge. One of the best things is they have bathrooms in the lounge, no need to pay for the public bathrooms or use a possibly dirty one.
The lounge is only available for first-class passengers traveling within the next 2 hours. Our Eurail passes were first-class, it is worth the extra money for the first-class ticket. I believe it was about $100 per person more for this trip. You can downgrade to a lower class seat if needed due to availability during peak periods. There is also access to lounges, better seats, food and drink service at your seat on some trains, etc.
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Dachau
The next stop was Dachau to see the concentration camp there. We had to return to Munich for our train to Dachau. The train from Munich to Dachau is short and only takes 10-25 minutes depending on the time you travel. Once you arrive at the station in Dachau, you walk out front for a bus to the camp. I had been to Dachau when I lived in Germany and my family came to visit; it had been about 30 years since I was last there. The museum had been updated, the rest remained the same. Dachau seemed to be large when I was there 30 years ago, after seeing Auschwitz; Dachau is small in comparison, but still a large area.
Also, I noticed something that I didn’t see or it didn’t catch my eye on the previous trip. There are houses a few feet from the fence just outside the camp. I could not imagine living that close to something so horrific and not being affected by the history of that site. It seemed a bit creepy to me and could not understand why someone would want to live that close and with a view over the camp from the upper floor of the houses.
Back to Munich
We returned to Munich as my son wanted to visit Benedikt Eppelsheim, a famous saxophone manufacturer in Munich to see some of their collection. My son had been playing the saxophone for a few years and had heard about this company that makes very high-end handmade instruments. Some of the saxophones are over $20k and they will allow you to play them. Unfortunately, they were closed due to the Christmas and New Year holiday.
Since they were closed, we went back to Marienplatz and to the Hofbräuhaus for an early dinner and some Bavarian beer. Being a weekday, it was much less crowded and we were able to find a table. The food was not up to true Bavarian standards in my opinion, but I am picky when it comes to German food. Most people would have been happy with it, it was good, not great. It is a beer hall, so food is secondary on the list of items they serve. After eating, we returned to our friend’s house to visit with them before we left the next day. We had a couple of days planned in Frankfurt before returning to Paris for a long weekend and then back to London for our trip home.
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