The very first question you might ask is: why did I pick Munich, Salzburg and Vienna for this trip? Well, I have a very specific time frame when I am free to go anywhere in the world. I decided to focus on two of my favorite activities: music and cycling. I found that most guided bike tours start on Sunday but I fly out on Monday so they are ruled out. The top music festival on my list is Bayreuth (at which Wagner's opera are performed) but it is almost impossible to get tickets (I read that the waiting list is 5+ years) So the "second best" would be Salzburg festival. I planned my trip around it basically. Since it is a small city, it is easier to find flights that fit my time frame and budget when I expanded my search to its nearby metropolis: Munich and Vienna. And I started reading up on attractions at these 2 cities, mainly museums and bike routes, from the Lonely Planet guides to Bavaria (which includes Munich) and Austria.
For biking, there are city tours for all 3 cities I went. In addition, the Danube river runs through Vienna and there is a trail (Donauradweg) along side the river. In fact, it is mentioned and highly praised by one of my favorite biking book about tours around the world.
What I could have done differently was taking the train from Salzburg to one of the city along Donauradweg, rent a bike there and then ride one-way to Vienna but there are several challenges:
1) I need to carry all luggages with me while I ride the bike. Even though I packed really light, it is still too heavy to ride long distance. Biking round trip between Vienna and Melk, I simply leave most of my clothes in the luggage stored at my Vienna hotel.
2) I need to find a bike store that do one-way rental, i.e., allows me to return in a different city (Vienna in my case) I figure it would be possible to arrange this but I don't feel too comfortable. Also, automatic rental system (bike share) is popular in various Austrian cities which was another possibility but I'm not sure how far I could go with those bikes.
Once I decided on where to stay each night, the rest is easy: simply go on the familiar Expedia.com to buy my air tickets and booked my hotels. One might think Expedia.com is US-centric but you would be surprised by the many choices available in major European cities (even non-major one like Melk) My criteria were: close to where major landmarks (plazas) are concentrated, and between US$60-100 per night. Turns out all hotels I stayed at also offered free Wifi, which is a big bonus! I unlocked my phone before the trip and originally planned to buy a prepaid SIM with data plan in Austria but unlike HK or US, phone companies are not everywhere in Austria. Three days into my trip I gave up looking. I ended up relying on Wifi to Facebook and Whatsapp with friends and family.
As far as train tickets are concerned, I asked on forum and I was told it's not necessary to buy in advance because trains run regularly and frequently between European cities. People who are familiar with me know how lazy I am and would be surprised that I booked the trip DIY. No travel agent required! It is actually easier than one thinks.
Looking back I think I made good choices of hotels:
1) The Munich hotel is right next to the Central Train Station (Hauptbahnhof in German) There were trains (S-Bahn) ran directly fro airport to Hauptbahnhof (S1 or S8 train) And the museums are also within walking distance.
2) The Salzburg hotel is within 30 min of walking from Salzburg's Hauptbahnhof. And it is also 10 min away from the concert hall and the Mirabellgarten.
3) The Vienna hotel is 30 min of walking from Vienna's Westbahnhof. I could have taken a train/lightrail but it is not easy to figure out how and how much to pay because info was all in German. The best thing is that the hotel is 5 minutes from the Museum of Art History and right next to MQ (Museumsquartier) where artists and the hip crowd gathers.
4) what I didn't like about the hotels is the lack of A/C. Central European summer nights are hotter than what I'm used to in the SF Bay Area. Still, the heat was tolerable when I was there. I just won't recommend them to those bringing wife/gf. Just avoid something you know she will complain for sure!
On the other hand, I would 100% recommend all three bike stores I worked with. In fact, it is a good idea to reserve the bike/bike tour online in advance (same price as walk-in) because biking IS popular in Europe. I was fortunate that the tours were not sold-out. The only store I contacted in advance was Vienna's Pedal Power. I paid a few more euro to have the bike delivered and picked up from the hotel to save the trouble of public transportation between hotel and bike store. Pedal Power is quite responsive via email and provided me a reliable, well-performing and reasonably comfortable touring bike. It was recommended to me by an online travel review website/forum. I saw quite a few other bikes rented from Pedal Power in the streets of Vienna. I also ran into some bikes from www.radurlaub.com on Donauradweg. You might wanna check them out.
Showing posts with label munich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label munich. Show all posts
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
2012 Euro Cycling and Art Trip - Munich
My flight to Munich was delayed by an hour and I arrived at 11am 7/24 (Tue) but fortunately I had scheduled only 2 activities for the first day of the trip: museum visit and city bike tour. After I got out of the airport, I needed to take S-Bahn to Hauptbahnhof (Central Train Station in German) Instead of using the automatic ticket kiosk, I walked up to the ticket counter and got some directions from the lady. Thanks to her suggestion, I bought the 11 euro S-Bahn day pass (just 1 euro more than the one-way ticket that I would have bought) Hauptbahnhof is huge with many exits to live up to its name. I just took a random exit and got up to the street level. Once I identified a few streets on the map, I located myself and walked towards my first planned destination: Alte Pinakothek (the "old" picture gallery.) The long flight slowed me down a bit. On the way I saw the Glyptothek (modelled after Greco-Roman temples and exhibit art works from those times) I decided to change the plan and visited it instead (originally planned for the next morning) I enjoyed its collection of big stone and small metal sculptures, mostly related to Greek mythology, from different era/styles. I learned about them from the art history class I just took last semester! It was 2pm when I left and it's time for a late lunch at a fast food restaurant in Hauptbahnhof.
After checking into my hotel which is nearby, I took S-Bahn (the day pass came in handily) to Marienplatz, which was another busy station with many exits. I needed to find the Old Town Hall which was the meeting place of Mike's Bike Tour (yes, the name sounds similar to the bike store in US but I don't think they are related.) I got to the street level and was totally lost because there were plenty of old-looking buildings, any of them could be the Old Town Hall. I got even more confused when I saw a gal holding a sign that said "Lenny's Bike Tour" and another gal wearing a T-shirt that said the same. I went up to them and asked. Turned out Lenny's tour is only 15 euro (9 less than Mike's) and it was endorsed by Rick Steves, the Europe travel guru well known in US. And they told me the building they were at was the New Town Hall! I also noticed the lack of European accents in the English they spoke and my instinct were right: both of them were North American (Toronto and Michigan) Too bad their tour hand only 1 customer (me) and had to cancel. They were kind enough to show me the meeting place of another tour company. Guess what? One not-so-old looking building was actually the Old Town Hall and that "other" company was, of course, Mike's.
Mike had a lot more customers (around 18) Many of them had made reservations already. The tour guide was an English fellow named Charles, who sounded very knowledgeable and funny enough without pushing it too hard. He started with an explanation of the origin of Munich: in German it means "near where the monks live" That's how the town got started and growing since. He also solved the mystery of Town Hall for us: the New Town Hall was built in the 20th century and made to look old intentionally. On the other hand, the Old Town Hall was destroyed and its replacement was built after the New Town Hall but retained the name the Old Town Hall. Less confused, huh? There were several other landmarks around the plaza, including the oldest church in the area (St. Peter), the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs, the place where a Hitler-led group conflicted with the policemen who were against them. Some of them got killed and were remembered. It seems to me that it was not a big taboo for German to face and admit what their country did wrong back then so they could move forward. Of course, being an Englishman, our tour guide had no reservation talking about this sad period in German history. Next, we rode away from the center of the city, passed through the Hofgarten and arrived at the English garden. It was named as such because it was modelled after a garden in England. The garden in England had a Chinese-styled tower and it was copied here as well. An outdoor eatery (and more importantly, beer drinking area) was built around the tower. This Chinese beer garden was the 2nd largest in Munich! I had a wheat beer (recommended by the tour guide and it's good!) and 2 sausages with potatoes. That's my dinner. Very authentic German I guess (except I had a small beer which was out of the norm.) Lots of local folks were hanging out at the English garden. Some were swimming or surfing in the man-made river. Some were chatting to each other on the grass. Good life! On our way back, the tour guide showed one example (the Maximilaneum built by King Maximilian II) that demonstrated the pride and perseverance of the Munich people who repaired damages done during the war. They put in real good efforts to restore places to be like the original as much as possible.
After the tour ended, I tried looking for the nearby HSBC office. I eventually found it but too bad it had no ATM (seems to do private banking only) I gave up and called it a night. I didn't sleep well because of jet lag though. Anyway, I was looking forward to the visit to Alte Pinakothek so I quickly checked out of the hotel, grabbed breakfast from Hauptbahnhof and took the long walk to Alte Pinakothek again. It was a popular museum. Many people, including me, waited for it to open at 10am (FYI, it had 2-euro-refundable lockers where I stored my bags) Like the other art museums I visited before, most large scale works were made after 15th century with Christian topics. IMO, the most impressive works were created by Reuben and Durer (this museum is the one that displayed his famous self-portrait) One of the rooms was actually built specifically tall enough to accommodate one Reuben's large piece. I wish I have time to visit the Neue Pinakothek (its focus is on 19th century art) but I need to catch a DB Bahn (train) to Salzburg from Hauptbahnhof.
Here is the link to pictures taken by me.
After checking into my hotel which is nearby, I took S-Bahn (the day pass came in handily) to Marienplatz, which was another busy station with many exits. I needed to find the Old Town Hall which was the meeting place of Mike's Bike Tour (yes, the name sounds similar to the bike store in US but I don't think they are related.) I got to the street level and was totally lost because there were plenty of old-looking buildings, any of them could be the Old Town Hall. I got even more confused when I saw a gal holding a sign that said "Lenny's Bike Tour" and another gal wearing a T-shirt that said the same. I went up to them and asked. Turned out Lenny's tour is only 15 euro (9 less than Mike's) and it was endorsed by Rick Steves, the Europe travel guru well known in US. And they told me the building they were at was the New Town Hall! I also noticed the lack of European accents in the English they spoke and my instinct were right: both of them were North American (Toronto and Michigan) Too bad their tour hand only 1 customer (me) and had to cancel. They were kind enough to show me the meeting place of another tour company. Guess what? One not-so-old looking building was actually the Old Town Hall and that "other" company was, of course, Mike's.
Mike had a lot more customers (around 18) Many of them had made reservations already. The tour guide was an English fellow named Charles, who sounded very knowledgeable and funny enough without pushing it too hard. He started with an explanation of the origin of Munich: in German it means "near where the monks live" That's how the town got started and growing since. He also solved the mystery of Town Hall for us: the New Town Hall was built in the 20th century and made to look old intentionally. On the other hand, the Old Town Hall was destroyed and its replacement was built after the New Town Hall but retained the name the Old Town Hall. Less confused, huh? There were several other landmarks around the plaza, including the oldest church in the area (St. Peter), the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs, the place where a Hitler-led group conflicted with the policemen who were against them. Some of them got killed and were remembered. It seems to me that it was not a big taboo for German to face and admit what their country did wrong back then so they could move forward. Of course, being an Englishman, our tour guide had no reservation talking about this sad period in German history. Next, we rode away from the center of the city, passed through the Hofgarten and arrived at the English garden. It was named as such because it was modelled after a garden in England. The garden in England had a Chinese-styled tower and it was copied here as well. An outdoor eatery (and more importantly, beer drinking area) was built around the tower. This Chinese beer garden was the 2nd largest in Munich! I had a wheat beer (recommended by the tour guide and it's good!) and 2 sausages with potatoes. That's my dinner. Very authentic German I guess (except I had a small beer which was out of the norm.) Lots of local folks were hanging out at the English garden. Some were swimming or surfing in the man-made river. Some were chatting to each other on the grass. Good life! On our way back, the tour guide showed one example (the Maximilaneum built by King Maximilian II) that demonstrated the pride and perseverance of the Munich people who repaired damages done during the war. They put in real good efforts to restore places to be like the original as much as possible.
After the tour ended, I tried looking for the nearby HSBC office. I eventually found it but too bad it had no ATM (seems to do private banking only) I gave up and called it a night. I didn't sleep well because of jet lag though. Anyway, I was looking forward to the visit to Alte Pinakothek so I quickly checked out of the hotel, grabbed breakfast from Hauptbahnhof and took the long walk to Alte Pinakothek again. It was a popular museum. Many people, including me, waited for it to open at 10am (FYI, it had 2-euro-refundable lockers where I stored my bags) Like the other art museums I visited before, most large scale works were made after 15th century with Christian topics. IMO, the most impressive works were created by Reuben and Durer (this museum is the one that displayed his famous self-portrait) One of the rooms was actually built specifically tall enough to accommodate one Reuben's large piece. I wish I have time to visit the Neue Pinakothek (its focus is on 19th century art) but I need to catch a DB Bahn (train) to Salzburg from Hauptbahnhof.
Here is the link to pictures taken by me.
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