VWL Groupies & Lovers Thread (Special Collectors Edition 2.0) updated 21 June 2023

horselover said:
Thank you for the kind offer. We sailed out of Nuremberg on my last river cruise. I loved Bavaria! So beautiful. This cruise sails Budapest to Linz. We only have 2 nights in Munich with the first night being our travel day. We're doing 2 nights post cruise in Salzburg then taking the train to Munich for the last 2 nights. My only plan is Neuschwanstein Castle on day 2 because I know it's an all day trip. On our arrival day in Munich I haven't given it much thought, but if you think there are some must dos for me in our limited time there I'm open to suggestions. We'll likely arrive around lunch time. Haven't booked our train from Salzburg yet, but I'm planning a mid-late morning departure.
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Sounds like a great itinerary. Neuschwantstein will be a whole day excursion. I have to admit that I find the castle far more impressive from the outside than from the inside where it is not finished, not really old and it is quite a mass event (guided tours of 50 people, one followed by another every 5 minutes or so). But the setting is beautiful and if you have time to also visit the Hohenschwangau Castle that is close to the ticket office, I can recommend that. This used to be the summer castle of the Bavarian kings and feels much more lived in than Neuschwanstein.

As to Munich, since you don't have a lot of time, I would just recommend a walking tour through the city center: Marienplatz, Viktualienmarkt, have a look at the Hofbräuhaus. One store that is great fun is Manufactum: https://www.manufactum.de/manufactum-muenchen-c-43/ Also fun to walk through is the shopping arcade Fünf Höfe https://www.fuenfhoefe.de/?L=1

As for restaurants, I like the Schneider Bräuhaus https://www.schneider-brauhaus.de/ and the Augustiner http://www.augustiner-restaurant.com/html/english.html Both are in the city center and are very typical Munich guest houses. While they do cater to tourists, they also are very authentic and locals would go there, too.

A little less in the immediate city center is the Wirtshaus in der Au https://wirtshausinderau.de/en/ which friends of mine love and I have sent quite a few people there who all loved it. Haven't made it there myself though. But so far everyone really liked it.

If the weather is nice and you want a beer garden, there are numerous ones, but the two that are really popular with locals are the one at the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) in the Englischer Garten (English Garden, the big park in Munich): https://chinaturm.de/biergarten/index.html and the Hirschgarten (deer garden, this is where the king had deer held for hunting, now it is a park): https://www.hirschgarten.com/beer-g...bavaria-koeniglicher-hirschgarten-munich.html

A Munich beer garden is special as it is not just any outdoor seating area, but it was started by the breweries. They planted chestnut trees above there beer cellars where they stored the beer, because the chestnut trees grow very large and give lots of shade and that kept the cellars cooler during the summer. People liked sitting under those chestnut trees and therefore the breweries thought that this was a great idea to make additional money and they started to sell the beer directly to the customers. This upset the local pub and guest house owners as it created new competitors and therefore they lobbied that the breweries should not be allowed to do that. The compromise that was drawn up was that the breweries were only allowed to sell beer, but no food. So people started to bring picnics with them while drinking the beer. Now beer gardens are allowed to sell food, but a true beer garden will still allow guests to bring in their own food and you will see whole families bringing table clothes, dishes and their own food while purchasing the beer. Classical beer garden dishes are giant pretzels, Obazda (a mixiture of camembert, butter and paprika with onions) and garden radish (not the small red one, but rather large and all white, but same taste).

Have a great trip!
 
Flossbolna said:
Sounds like a great itinerary. Neuschwantstein will be a whole day excursion. I have to admit that I find the castle far more impressive from the outside than from the inside where it is not finished, not really old and it is quite a mass event (guided tours of 50 people, one followed by another every 5 minutes or so). But the setting is beautiful and if you have time to also visit the Hohenschwangau Castle that is close to the ticket office, I can recommend that. This used to be the summer castle of the Bavarian kings and feels much more lived in than Neuschwanstein.

As to Munich, since you don't have a lot of time, I would just recommend a walking tour through the city center: Marienplatz, Viktualienmarkt, have a look at the Hofbräuhaus. One store that is great fun is Manufactum: https://www.manufactum.de/manufactum-muenchen-c-43/ Also fun to walk through is the shopping arcade Fünf Höfe https://www.fuenfhoefe.de/?L=1

As for restaurants, I like the Schneider Bräuhaus https://www.schneider-brauhaus.de/ and the Augustiner http://www.augustiner-restaurant.com/html/english.html Both are in the city center and are very typical Munich guest houses. While they do cater to tourists, they also are very authentic and locals would go there, too.

A little less in the immediate city center is the Wirtshaus in der Au https://wirtshausinderau.de/en/ which friends of mine love and I have sent quite a few people there who all loved it. Haven't made it there myself though. But so far everyone really liked it.

If the weather is nice and you want a beer garden, there are numerous ones, but the two that are really popular with locals are the one at the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) in the Englischer Garten (English Garden, the big park in Munich): https://chinaturm.de/biergarten/index.html and the Hirschgarten (deer garden, this is where the king had deer held for hunting, now it is a park): https://www.hirschgarten.com/beer-g...bavaria-koeniglicher-hirschgarten-munich.html

A Munich beer garden is special as it is not just any outdoor seating area, but it was started by the breweries. They planted chestnut trees above there beer cellars where they stored the beer, because the chestnut trees grow very large and give lots of shade and that kept the cellars cooler during the summer. People liked sitting under those chestnut trees and therefore the breweries thought that this was a great idea to make additional money and they started to sell the beer directly to the customers. This upset the local pub and guest house owners as it created new competitors and therefore they lobbied that the breweries should not be allowed to do that. The compromise that was drawn up was that the breweries were only allowed to sell beer, but no food. So people started to bring picnics with them while drinking the beer. Now beer gardens are allowed to sell food, but a true beer garden will still allow guests to bring in their own food and you will see whole families bringing table clothes, dishes and their own food while purchasing the beer. Classical beer garden dishes are giant pretzels, Obazda (a mixiture of camembert, butter and paprika with onions) and garden radish (not the small red one, but rather large and all white, but same taste).

Have a great trip!
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! This is great information. I have heard feedback describing exactly what you said about Neuschwanstein. I'm debating whether or not it's worth doing the interior tour. If we didn't tour the inside it would give us more time to see other things. What do you think? Worth viewing the inside or is the exterior sufficient? I know everyone will be jostling (including me!) for that perfect photo from Mary's bridge.
 


horselover said:
. . . . . . I cannot wait to see Neuschwanstein Castle in person. I bet it will be bigger than the DL version. ;) :laughing:
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As DiznyDi mentioned, we have had the opportunity a couple of times to experience the beauty and history that Germany offers, including a trip and tour of Neuswanstein (~1989). When visiting the site, you must walk up a very large hill, or you can pay to ride a horse drawn carriage. There in lies the issue we found. It was raining lightly when we visited and the hill became VERY slippery due to the horse exhaust. From that memory, our family all knows the cautionary ditty of "don't slide or slip on the Swanstein s**t". But being the Horselover that you are, you may not notice!
 


horselover said:
Thank you so much! This is great information. I have heard feedback describing exactly what you said about Neuschwanstein. I'm debating whether or not it's worth doing the interior tour. If we didn't tour the inside it would give us more time to see other things. What do you think? Worth viewing the inside or is the exterior sufficient? I know everyone will be jostling (including me!) for that perfect photo from Mary's bridge.
Click to expand...

That's a tough question. I guess it depends on how completist you personally are. If you think it would always bug you that you did not see the inside, then go and have a look. It is still interesting to see how grand everything was planned and how crazy the plans were. And there is a rather nice official gift shop at the end which is only accessible at the end of the tour. If you are more a nature person and find old houses stuffy anyway, then by all means skip it. I know that for myself I made the right choice to go and see it, but I also went in with not expecting a lot. My husband on the other hand was rather disappointed and would say that it was a waste of time and money. Not sure if that helps! If you are planning on doing a tour from Munich, the entrance fee will be included anyway. If you do just a self-guided trip, then at least make sure to book tickets ahead of time to save time at the ticket office!
 
I’m coming by to say we are single digit dancing today! Can’t believe we will be back at WL in 9 days! This time as DVC owners! Oh and today was the last day of post planning for this school year! That’s 20 years in the books for me! Bring on Summer Break!
 
disney-anniversary-pic-jpeg.324889

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, TWOKATS!!
 
In keeping with the Groupie family tradition of sharing news, my announcement is that I'm changing occupations. As you may recall, I've been a middle school secretary for three years following four years as a substitute teacher. I love my job. It's a low stress, largely fulfilling position that allows me the freedom to impact students, support teachers, and aid administrators all at the same time. I'm also semi-autonomous as I'm the only secretary in the office, as well as the bookkeeper. Best of all, it has allowed me to spend time with my daughter nearly each day since the high school is co-located with the middle school. Well, daughter is graduating, and apparently, so am I. Starting in August, I will become an instructor at the high school where I will teach classes in military science (think JROTC), English, and theater. I'm going from a relatively low key position to one that will tax me daily dealing with high schoolers. Why would I do this? Money, pure and simple. Teaching pays way better than secretarying. So, I will be embarking on quite a different summer full of lesson planning and organizing and wondering just what the hell I was thinking. :rotfl:
 
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