Tag: Europe

Based on that glum-sounding post title, you might expect a sad and possibly whiny post to follow, right? Chris and I did arrive in Munich on quite a chilly and soggy afternoon, and the weather remained completely dreary for the entire three days of our stay. But we planned this entire two-week trip around Oktoberfest, so we were determined to make the most of it and we had a great time! We are both well versed in dealing with less-than-favorable weather when we travel, and we have learned to just enjoy our time wherever we are regardless of the conditions.

The wonderful front desk staff at Hotel Blauer Bock took us in from the rain and greeted us so warmly that we had no choice but to smile and feel welcome. Our room was fantastic, one of our absolute favorites from the trip, and we wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again for a future Oktoberfest redux. I lost track of how many times we borrowed their enormous umbrellas.

Being the fair-weather photographer that I am, I didn’t end up taking tons of pictures around Munich. I lazily snapped a few with my point-and-shoot or my iPhone, but I rarely bothered to lug my SLR around. It’s hard to photograph with an SLR while holding an umbrella and wearing a jacket that covers half my face!

So I admit I’m not craaazy about my photos from this part of the trip, and that’s okay. I have these for documentation purposes and also the mental images that I captured with my brain. Click.

Now let’s get to the part where the fun started – food and beer! If there is anywhere in the world I’d rather be on a cold and rainy day I can now say it’s Germany because of the comfort food and beer. We delighted in the perfect excuse to stay cozy indoors with belly-warming goulash, schnitzel, bratwurst, braised meats, and of course beers, and we really only noticed the rain when we walked to-and-from our food and drink destinations of the day.

One of the best things we ate (twice) called krapfen (the apricot jam-filled pastry pictured below) from Café Frischhut still drifts through my memories daily.

We warmed up in preparation for Oktoberfest activities (you know, like stretching before a big run) on the first evening  by hitting the Hofbräuhaus for beers, giant pretzels, and oompah music. Although it was packed with crowds continually streaming in, we managed to find seats next to and make friends with a big stag party.

On Sunday morning of opening weekend, the traditional costume parade marches through the streets of Munich and my love for parades and costumes gave me the will to stand in the rain for over two hours straight in order to take pictures.

I’m not ashamed to admit this was actually one of my favorite parts of Oktoberfest! So if you were a local marching in the rain and cold that day, know that I wholeheartedly appreciated your efforts. I was the girl (adult woman) in the navy raincoat with the goofy grin, jumping up and down waving back furiously.

And these photos I do love!

Speaking of costumes, as someone who loves to dress up I couldn’t resist the opportunity to wear a traditional dirndl at Oktoberfest. Only I’m also someone who is a complete wimp in the rain and cold. So I did a trial run the evening before our day at the fairgrounds when we hit up the beer halls again.

Verdict: fun, but uncomfortable! I loved wearing the dirndl, but I was just too cold outside and knew I couldn’t spend the whole day wearing it at the Wiesn. Favorite dirndl moment? A group of tourists at Hofbräuhaus requested a photo with me – I felt like a celebrity!

And for anyone else in The States who likes the idea of purchasing a dirndl or lederhosen prior to your trip to Munich or even for local Oktoberfest events, I ordered mine from Ernst Licht located in Pennsylvania. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time searching and trying them on in Munich, and Ernst Licht has a great selection of trachten wear online so I gave them a try.

I was really impressed with the quality and their customer service! I ordered a couple of styles (they seemed to run true-to-size), and returns were super easy. I packed everything in my suitcase and just gave it a quick iron at the hotel. Voilà (or whatever the equivalent is in German), instant Bavarian girl.

So the next day, a Monday, we headed over to the Wiesn in warmer, waterproof outfits. The fairgrounds looked soggy indeed, but now I know that it doesn’t matter much once you’re inside a beer tent.

When I started researching Oktoberfest over a year in advance, I read the advice to make beer tent reservations in advance if you want to ensure a seat, especially on the weekends. I soon learned that tip applies to large groups only, and a party of two typically cannot make advance reservations for beer tent seating (at least not at the few I contacted). I fretted a little bit because we definitely wanted the beer tent experience, but we decided we would just arrive to the Wiesn early in the day and hope for the best.

As luck would have it, we managed to find a spot right away around Noon. Warm and dry tucked inside the Löwenbräu tent, I chugged nursed my first mass of beer ever. The tent did completely fill up shortly after we arrived, so our timing really helped, but we popped in and out of a few other tents throughout the afternoon and I think we could have found a spot for two people here and there. Big groups definitely need reservations.

Hotel Blauer Bock very sweetly gifted us tickets to the Zur Bratwurst “tent” where we filled up on delicious bratwurst and more beer while listening to a live rock band. The crowd here really got into the singing and dancing, so don’t miss out on the smaller tents if you’re looking for a fun vibe with a different feel! I liked the cozy atmosphere.

The one thing we did miss out on due to the weather was flinging ourselves around on the roller coasters and carnival-type rides, which we love. It was just too cold and I’m not a fan of rain pelting me in the face at high speeds, so we took one spin on the Ferris wheel and called it a day.

So if you ever find yourself in Munich for Oktoberfest during bad weather, have no fear because it is entirely possible to still have a great time!

After three days in Munich for Oktoberfest we said aug wiedersehen to Germany and hopped back in the car towards Czech Republic where we had (spoiler alert) perfect weather. Those posts are up next!

Just kidding. We didn’t know anyone else at the castle. But there were thousands of other people in Schwangau the day we arrived despite the chilly temps and drizzly weather. I had dreamy visions of visiting the famous Neuschwanstein castle on a day with perfect lighting, blue skies and puffy white clouds, and with Queen Mary’s Bridge all to myself for optimal photography opportunities.

Just kidding again. I knew we would share the bridge with huge crowds, and I only hoped we’d have weather clear enough to enjoy the walk up and down the path to the castle. The rain held off, but we did end up with a white sky and some foggy conditions.

I know a lot of people visit the Fussen/Schwangau area as a day trip from Munich, but in my hopes of giving myself the best chance to get good photos of the castle, I booked one night at the Villa Ludwig Suite Hotel right beneath Neuschwanstein. The hotel turned out to be a super convenient location to the castle especially since we arrived by car and they have underground parking. On top of that, we loved our big-enough-for-dozens-of-people-sized room and the Sleepy Sheep gummies on our pillow at night.

My one small regret of the day: I didn’t buy tickets to the castle ahead of time. We weren’t quite sure what day we would definitely go up to the castle depending on the weather, so I purposely didn’t buy advance admission online. The weather forecast indicated rain on both days straddling our one-night stay (and for three days after that), so we decided to go ahead and get our castle touring on right away.

Unfortunately the abysmally long line at the ticket office snaked around the entire queue railings and out along the sidewalk. We stubbornly stood in line for about twenty minutes, and after not moving more than a few feet, we decided we didn’t absolutely have to see the inside of Neuschwanstein after all.

We made the trek up the hill sans tickets to see Neuschwanstein, and enjoyed scenic views of Hohenschwangau and Lake Alpsee on the way, too. We may have had dull skies, but I was happy to see that neither castle was covered in scaffolding. Bonus!

The path up to the castle didn’t seem particularly crowded, but as soon as we completed the last few steps of our climb we found all the people. Standing on every inch of the bridge, people selfied and photographed and admired the famous view of Neuschwanstein. Only weeks before, the bridge had been closed for renovations and I wondered if it would indeed be up to the task of holding us all at once!

I have to confess that this was one of those travel moments that I expected to be grander and more impactful, but it simply wasn’t the case for me, and that’s okay. Yes, the castle was extraordinarily pretty, I enjoyed taking my own photo of the iconic landmark, and I’m glad to check this one off the must-see list, but I pretty much just snapped the photo below and that was that. Maybe seeing the inside would have formed a better connection to the castle for me, but I’m going to chalk it up to the crowds, the dreary sky, and the fact that super long lines make me a little cranky.

Oh, and now that I’m writing this, I distinctly recall a strong, cringe-inducing fear of losing my camera over the edge of the ravine if someone happened to bump into me. (We visited Neuschwanstein on a Friday afternoon in mid-September if that helps anyone gauge the crowds.)

We popped over to Fussen for dinner that evening, but the cloudiest skies turned into a torrential downpour, so we only made a beeline to and from the restaurant and didn’t explore the town at all (thus I have zero photos of Fussen). As night fell, we relaxed in our hotel room listening to the rain and watching the fog drift around the castle, marveling at the majesty of it. It really is quite stunning.

Up next, the main event that sparked this entire European itinerary: Oktoberfest in Munich!

I spent a good bit of my childhood growing up in Colorado right at the foothills of the Rockies, so I often feel the call of the mountains and the need to get a high elevation fix every once in a while. For that very reason, I incorporated a bit of Alps into our itinerary with a visit to Alpine town Mittenwald, Germany.

Getting to Mittenwald from Salzburg via train turned out to be a little less flexible than I wanted, so we decided to rent a car in Salzburg and hit the open road. I love train travel in Europe, but I love the adventure, freedom, and flexibility of driving even more. We didn’t pull over for as many photo ops as we usually do on our road trips because we were on a mission to arrive in Mittenwald early in the day, but I was happy to enjoy the scenery (not to mention the air-conditioning) from the car. As an added bonus, I had a good giggle every time I saw an exit sign in German.

As we left Austria in our rear-view mirror and headed further into the German Alps (well, and the into Austrian Alps via the route we took through Innsbruck), the cutest towns and villages greeted us, and I gushed over the sweet flower boxes and painted illustrations on almost every home, biergarten, and guest house.

Please forgive me for the overuse of the word charming to describe a place, but Mittenwald really could not have been any more charming. It’s exactly how I imagined small-town Bavaria, with colorful frescoes and even pretzel shaped door handles. (Those I didn’t actually imagine – they were a fun find.) We stayed at the Post Hotel, perfectly within walking distance from everything including cable car access to the Karwendel mountains.

Unfortunately this was the day in our trip where we lost our clear blue skies and the weather turned considerably cooler and wet. We were grateful for the opportunity to wear long sleeves since the majority of our suitcases contained clothing for cooler weather, but we were a little disappointed to experience the Alps on a rainy day. Our concierge at the hotel kindly warned us not to bother with heading up the mountains because the view wouldn’t be worth it, but this was our only day to do so thus we stubbornly forged onward with our plans.

We trekked over to the Karwendelbahn cable car and forked over a steep (no pun intended) 30 euros each to take an exhilarating ten-minute ride to the top. Note: the passes to ride the Karwendelbahn are payable by cash only, so hit the ATM before heading over to the station. And another note: an ATM is called a Geldautomat in German, which we found out through a funny conversation-by-charades with a local who didn’t speak much English.

At the summit, visitors can take in the views over beers or tea and cake at the station restaurant. We knew we had limited time being fairly close to the last run of the day, so we chose to walk the trails straightaway and take time for a few photos.

We didn’t end up with the postcard-perfect pictures of our view from the top due to the hazy sky, but it did stop raining and we enjoyed hiking around the trails at the top. Some of the views include both the German and Austrian Alps at the same time. And we loved peering over the edge to see tiny Mittenwald looking even tinier from 2,244 meters above sea level.

Back down on the ground after our mountaintop adventure, Chris and I figured we deserved a beer or two so we headed to the main pedestrian area of the village to sit in a little biergarten for dinner and accordion music. Afterward, we strolled around the town peeking into shop windows (most places closed by 7pm) and enjoying a peaceful evening.

Our stay in sweet Mittenwald lasted a little under 24 hours and I would have preferred to stay there just a tad longer, but it’s definitely possible to see this town as a day-trip. We headed over to Schwangau the next morning on a mission to see the famous Neuschwanstein castle, and that post is next!