Munich-Salzburg-Vienna

Having been to Munich in 2003, 2005 and 2007 we returned in May 2008 with a plan to use it as a starting point for our first visit to Austria. This cunning plan had us spending two days in Munich before our drive in a rented Audi A6. Our friend Ciaran would come over from England and meet us in Munich on the day of our Austria excursion.

Alas, our desire to stay once again at our favorite small hotel, the Admiral, was thwarted by the fact that all their rooms were booked for that week. We needed to find another hotel and using TripAdvisor found their most popular Munich hotel-a small hotel called the Laimer Hof in the suburb of Nymphenburg.

Without the GPS Navigation I could never have found it. Munich is not a city laid out in a grid pattern with straight roads, so is challenging for the driver, with it's twists and turns and of course you have to be aware of the trams that also share many of the streets.

The Laimer Hof

It sits on a quiet leafy street and we found a parking spot there and from now until we left Munich the car would remain there as we walked and took the excellent public transportation if we needed to explore the city. The hotel has only 23 rooms and ours, on the 2nd floor was very small indeed but we would only be using it for sleeping and bathing as the weather was so nice that we didn't spend much time in the room. It was certainly not as good an experience as the Admiral Hotel.

It's family-owned and now 8 years later it is listed as #2 on the TripAdvisor list of best places to stay in Munich which is quite an achievement. What the hotel lacks in terms of comfort and amenities is made up for by the helpful owner and his well-trained happy staff.

After unpacking we spent some time just resting at this little bistro table by the front door, drinking complimentary espresso and trying to adjust to the jet lag and desire to sleep following a 9 hour flight from Chicago. A one hour nap was decided upon just to help us get through what would be a long first day. The only sound in our room on this quiet residential street was the faint sound of blackbirds singing in the trees outside.

Once we were refreshed by sleep it was time to be refreshed by beer, something that Munich is justly known for the World over. Five minutes easy stroll away lay the largest beer garden in the world-the 8,000 seater Hirschgarten. On a sunny afternoon with plenty of shade trees for our comfort we found spaces on a picnic bench at a communal table and were instantly in a Happy Place of laughing and drinking, smiling normal Germanfolk. These people know how to drink beer and have fun without being obnoxious idiots, annoying those around them. We felt comfortable and at home, people watching and enjoying beer which you get yourself at one of the stands.

You can spend a few hours here eating and drinking-the food is always simple German fare and always good. We particularly liked the grilled Mackerel on a stick (Stickerlfisch)
Hirsch is the German word for deer and indeed there are many behind a fence where they can't nibble on your pretzel when your head is turned. Beautiful animals, despite their love of the plants in our garden.

The Hirshgarten is open until midnight and sometimes 1 a.m but we left at dusk to take a train-an S Bahn which runs mostly above ground, down into the heart of the city, for dinner at our favorite German restaurant the Spaten Haus, the home of Spaten Beer.

After a substantial meal, enjoyed outdoors on a warm May evening,we joined the hundreds of people who enjoy strolling the pedestrian streets around Marienplatz. Warm evenings fill the tables at the outdoor restaurants and people wash down that simple satisfying German food with the highly famous Munich beer. We are happy to be here once again but the jet lag is taking it's toll so we  plan our return to Nymphenburg via the S Bahn. At night though we find the trains are infrequent and after standing on a platform for 30 minutes we give up and return to the street where we find a taxi-the are usually at ranks outside hotels or places like the Opera House.

A 20 minute ride in comfort brings us to the door of the Laimerhof, in the quiet suburban streets and we are soon falling into bed, exhausted and exhilarated by our first day in Europe.

Next morning, our first full day in Munich begins. We have time for a leisurely breakfast in the communal dining room, bathed in sunlight on another beautiful May day. Good coffee and the usual array of cold deli meats and cheeses. Fresh varieties of wholesome bread and honey. Cereals and fruits. Carol gets her hard boiled egg as always and we are fueled for some slow walking.

It's Sunday so the sound of distant church bells anoints the air.  Our plan is to visit Nymphenburg Palace which is a short 5 minute stroll through quiet leafy streets.

There is a huge circular pond facing the elaborate buildings and we walked halfway around it to get a wide shot of the Palace.

Being a sunny Sunday we weren't the only tourists visiting

Once at the Palace I turned to look back at the pond.

And then we stepped inside after buying our tickets

Built in 1675 it was the "house" (LOL) where the future King Ludwig II was born. He was the one who rescued Richard Wagner from a life on the run (from his many debts) when he ascended the throne in 1864.

Mind-boggling largesse is the order of the day in these Royal Palaces but personally I'd be more interested in visiting the house of say a restaurant waiter of the period to see what normal folks were living in. Thankfully I was born in an age of electric lights and running water and modern healthcare.
And let me not forget cars and airplanes and the freedom to travel.

The waiter's hovel would probably not be a tourist attraction and wouldn't have enough light for me to photograph in. There's a Palace here a few hundred yards from our hotel, so we might as well look at it. The grounds are beautiful to walk in-that's for sure.

Like many families the Royal family needed 490 acres of green space to wander in.

Carol finds as bench, using her Benchfinder App...

On the grounds, a hundred yards away from the Palace we visited the Hunting Lodge which, after a hard day of hunting deer or whatever, the Princes and guests could spend the night, saving them that last arduous 100 yards slog back to the Palace. It was , as you would expect, simply decorated...

The rustic kitchen area

After a couple of leisurely hours in the Palace and gardens and with the crowds swelling it was time to take our leave of Nymphenburg Palace and make another trip downtown to a beer garden in Englisher Garten for beer and lunch.

So, does one fritter away a day in Munich, just moving at a relaxed pace from one pleasurable experience to another. We may have gone to the Opera that evening-I can't remember. Or we may just have enjoyed the park until it got dark.

Next day, a Monday, we would switch into action mode as we had to meet Ciaran and then drive to Austria....

Onward to Lindau

From Rothenburg to Munich is just a couple of hours drive and soon we were enjoying the Englisher Garden once more. As I've shown a lot of Munich in recent posts I'll just include a few photos of my favorite place in that city.

Ciaran, deep in thought...("should I have another Pretzel?") by the lake in the park.

A perfect afternoon in May

My other favorite place is the garden of the hotel. I look down to see if there's an empty table for a nice al fresco breakfast.

 Across the rooftops

Many of our European vacations start when we step out onto our balcony at the Admiral Hotel in Kohlstrasse. I open a complimentary bottle of cold beer from the mini bar in the room and take a seat. I can immediately feel the many hours of travel-usually 12 hours from the time we left home to go to the airport in Chicago-fall away. The long flight through the night is worth it when you have stopped moving and are in your new home-from-home. We love Munich and we love Bavaria.

One evening on TV, back in late 2004 we saw a film called Bavaria from the Air, which was shot from a low flying helicopter. We saw a place there called Lindau that looked beautiful and the name had a special significance for Opera fans like us as it was the place where Richard Wagner, fleeing arrest for his part in the 1849 Dresden Revolution, got on a boat using a false Passport and sailed to Switzerland across Lake Bodensee (Lake Constance) where he would remain for 12 years.

So when it came time to return to Munich in 2005 we had to see Lindau and stay overnight.

It's less than a two hour Autobahn drive on A96 heading Southwest. The town sits on an island and is accessed by a road and a railway line. We would be staying on the waterfront in a beautiful classic hotel called the Bayerische Hof in a suite with a balcony overlooking the harbor.

http://www.bayerischerhof-lindau.de/?language=en

The Hotel

Many of the tourists you see here are on their way by ferry to either Austria or Switzerland, both visible across the Bodensee. There is a constant stream of ferries running from morning to evening.

As seen from our hotel balcony.....

Austria is to the left and Switzerland to the right.

There's no nightlife to speak of in Lindau, for those of you who like to be entertained and dance the night away. We are happy with a quiet town in a beautiful setting and the highlight of an evening for us is a fine meal and a stroll by the water on a warm evening.

There was actually entertainment happening on the harbor side when we arrived- a comedy juggler of considerable skill was performing. The crowd gathered there was laughing but his jokes were in German and we didn't get their subtleties. He was followed by a comedy unicyclist. Good simple entertainment for the passing tourists. They performed near the foot of a tall tower nearby.

This, though is the iconic image that says "Lindau" and is one that Wagner would have known back in 1849 as he sailed out. We just had to have a room with this view!There's an open-air Opera house at the Austrian ferry port of Bregenz where the stage floats on the lake which we someday hope to visit. There was nothing playing when we were there but I hope someday we'll get to visit it and take the ferry over to Lindau to see this lovely town from the water.

A quiet stroll away from the hustle and bustle of the harbor...

Interesting garden ornament

And the real thing relaxing on it's nest in a corner of the harbor wall

At dusk the tourists begin to leave

Wanting to stay by the harbor we decided to dine in the Hotel's restaurant that evening and enjoyed a fine German meal, cooked by a Swiss chef as is so often the case in Premium German hotels. Refined cooking and as always, stellar service. This was at a time when I didn't photograph all our meals-all that has changed of course.

With no night life to speak of, after dinner was spent sitting outside by the harbor listening to the water lapping against the dock. Then a deep contented sleep.

In the morning the procession of ferries would begin again and after breakfast it would be time to pack the car once again and continue on our travels.

Goodbye Lindau! We hope to see you again some day....

Then the rains came....

When we left Turckheim in our rearview mirror we headed over to Colmar for breakfast of coffee and croissants, freshly baked on the premises. I have no idea what the cafe was called but it had outdoor tables so we could people-watch.  French children were being walked to school by their parents. It began to rain. A soft drizzle so nothing to be concerned about.

I can hereby testify that croissants and coffee are best enjoyed in France. So simply perfect.

We set off from Colmar on a long journey back into Germany, to Rothenburg which Ciaran had never visited and we are always happy to visit again. Such a unique old town.

Along the way the rain increased and the skies were ominous. The drizzle morphed into heavy rain by the time we crossed into Germany in Strasbourg, a city I had hoped to see under better conditions.
I saw windshield wipers. Strong Mercedes wipers and they worked tirelessly on the fast speed for the next SIX HOURS. The thunderstorm was following us all the way. I had to focus on keeping us on the road and opted out of any conversation that was occurring amongst my passengers.

It was only when we were 20 miles from our goal that the weather improved and a rainbow came to tell us all was well and that we were finally safe from the onslaught.

The first order of business after checking into the Burg Hotel, our hotel of choice here, was to eat after 6 hours in the car. We played safe by eating indoors-the usual Weinerschnitzel, french fries (pomme frites) and lashings of cold crisp German lager.

We walked the quiet streets in the dark. Quiet because the tourist buses had gone back to the cities they came from. While Carol went back to the hotel for an early night, after our long drive, Ciaran and I found a cosy pub called the Pulverer where we were the only customers for the next hour or so.
We spent the time "catching up" as we hadn't seen each other since 2006-a whole year earlier, when we met in Berlin and then again a few months later when he joined us in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

No rain the next day so we had perfect weather for a walk outside the town, beginning at the Castle Gardens, which affords this view looking back at the walls of Rothenburg.

The Castle Gardens

We walked down to the bridge over the Tauber River

After a couple of hours of leisurely strolling we returned to within the town walls to stop at one of the most photographed street scenes in this storybook town...

Lunch was enjoyed al fresco on the sidewalk in front of Ciaran's hotel- the Meistertrunk. As we already had two visits to Rothenburg in our recent history we wanted to show Ciaran the "events" in the town after the tourists leave for the day, usually around 6 pm.

Such as the drinking contest which legend has it saved the town from a siege...Rothenburg was spared by the drinking prowess of it's Mayor.

And the Nightwatchman drew his usual crowd for a walking tour of the narrow backstreets. He promises it will be "scary". He's such a good talker (in English) that I believe him. He leads his crowd away for the two hour tour.

Another evening of dining outdoors on a warm May evening, followed by a visit to a small Italian gelato shop, followed by a return visit to the Pulverer for Ciaran and I. Endless pleasure always capped by a sound sleep in the night time quiet of this fairytale town.

Next morning we packed as we were on the move again. To Munich. After breakfast we enjoyed a short stroll on the outside of the wall before packing the car. We are taking everything at a leisurely pace as there is no timetable. This is one of the great benefits of revisiting favorite towns and cities. There is no rush to see everything in one day as we know we will be back again in the future. So we can afford to sit in the sun  drinking espresso and eating gelato while groups of tourists are guided around trying to see it all in an 8 hour visit. In Germany, in particular, we like to relax as much as possible between seeing the museums and castles. We like the beer garden pace where you have all the time in the world to soak up the atmosphere. We have our hectic vacations too- usually on Mediterranean cruises, where there is so much history and art to see in each port the ship visits.

The Burg Hotel

Next up we visit Munich, Lindau and Austria....I'm combining 3 trips to Europe in this blog: trips from 2007 (what you've seen so far) 2005-Lindau, and 2008 Munich, Salzburg and Vienna.

I apologize for gaps in the narrative due to losing so many photos to theft of a computer and recently I have been very busy, having just returned from 4 days in Houston, Texas.