2020. Corona. Travelling is a different game. Yet our Fernweh acted up too often. So we arranged a train trip to Germany and Austria. Specifically to Leipzig in Saxony, several spots in Bavaria and returning home with ÖBB‘s Nightjet from Innsbruck in Tyrol to Brussels in Belgium.

We stayed five days and four in Munich, including an excursion to Neuschwanstein. Munich is a major metropolis in Bavaria and in Germany and you can feel it. It’s a city of business, of culture, of art, of history, of food, of people. It’s a working and living city, it’s so much more than a tourist destination. 

We visited BMW and Olympiapark, the Deutsches Museum and its Verkehrszentrum. We did an excursion to Neuschwanstein and Füssen. The journey to and from Füssen was also worth the excursion. It helped we had a wonderful hotel near the station, the Sofitel Bayerpost. 

We also did Munich City Museum and The Design Museum. 

But Munich is also a living city with the grandeur of times past.

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October without Fest

We were in Munich at the end of September and the start of October. The city should have been full of drunken people for Oktoberfest, but COVID-19 decided otherwise. 

But not being big party animals nor big beer drinkers, that was okay for us. At least we could get a seat at the Hofbräuhaus and at Restaurant Donisl near Marienplatz. Unfortunately, Donisl has ceased to exist. 

To vary from Franconian cuisine, we had Afghan dinner at Chopan. 

Having it both ways

I’d like to end with a special mention for something I never saw before. Two-way escalators. First there, first served. Very special!

Previously

1. The delicious German state secret: dining onboard Deutsche Bahn.
2. VIDEO | Leipzig Hauptbahnhof.
3. Leipzig Bayerischer Bahnhof.
4. EAST GERMANY | Zeitgeschichtliches Forum, Leipzig’s GDR museum.
5. Hyperion Leipzig.
6. Leipzig.
7. By ICE from Leipzig to Nuremberg.
8. Nuremberg Transport Museum / DB Museum.
9. Novotel Nuremberg City Centre.
10. Documentation Center NS Party Rallying Grounds in Nuremberg.
11. Nuremberg’s Zeppelin Field with the Norisring.
12. Memorium Nuremberg Trials.
13. Nuremberg’s real-life Playmobil Imperial Castle.
14. You need at least two full days in Nuremberg.
15. DB Regio from Nuremberg to Regensburg.
16. Thurn und Taxis princely palace museum in Regensburg.
17. Eurostars Park Hotel Maximilian Regensburg.
18. Regensburg.
19. With Alex from Regensburg to Munich.
20. BMW Museum & BMW Welt in Munich.
21. Munich’s Olympiapark.
22. Sofitel Munich Bayerpost.
23. Deutsches Museum’s Verkehrszentrum or Transport Centre in Munich.
24. Deutsches Museum’s main site on Munich’s Museuminsel.
25. By train to Neuschwanstein.
26. Only 15 Minutes and No Photos in Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle.
27. Museum of the Bavarian Kings in Schwangau near Neuschwanstein.
28. Füssen in Bavaria, the gateway to Neuschwanstein.
29. Münchner Stadtmuseum – Munich City Museum.
30. MUNICH | Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum / Pinakothek der Moderne.
31. Nightjet Vienna/Innsbruck to Brussels, or how we got thrown off the train in Aachen.