Reunion and more - Germany & Czech Republic

[OZDUCK]

As I related in the Medical Issues thread the last day and half of our time in Munich was ruined by me coming down with a severe eye infection. It required a rushed visit to an Emergency Eye Clinic in Munich and I was basically housebound afterwards. I am now on steroi_ eye drops and much improved but still with a few problems. We had been intending to see more of central Munich but that was impossible. So here are some photos of the parts of Munich that we did see.

Frauenkirche



Inside



The Rathaus and Frauenkirche



The Rathaus and its glockenspiel











Marienplatz



The Alte Rathaus - 14th C

 

[OZDUCK]

Karlstor - medieval city gate









We only looked in here





BurgersaalKirche - 18th C



Viktualienmarkt



St Anna Church - destroyed in WW2 and rebuilt in the 1950's.

 

[OZDUCK]

Down by the banks of the Isar River

Looking off Ludwigs Bridge



Deutsche Museum - we went there in 1976 but events stopped any chance of a repeat visit this time



Bavarian State Parliament - the building is undergoing major renovations





Powered by an electric motor



There are some very pleasant walks in the park alongside the riverbank

 

[OZDUCK]

We then crossed the River into part of the English Garden





Until we found what I had been looking for - the surfers!





You can see how much notice they take of the warning sign







This photo gives a good idea of how the standing wave is formed by the change in water height

 

[OZDUCK]

Haxnbauer Restaurant - with Shellac stucco ceilings. Two petty big meals with 2 x .5 L Dunkel beers and a soft drink came to just over 50 Euro



Pork and Veal Grostl with sauerkraut



The final roast 1/2 Pork Knuckle - with dumplings and salad



The outside of our accommodation.



I was glad we didn't have to try out the fire escape



There was a nice full moon over Munich one night

 

[OZDUCK]

So we then headed home. I hadn't been able to sleep for 2 nights and was putting antibiotic eye drops in every hour. The eye was still hurting and any bright light was extremely painful. I kept the window blind shut for most of the trip. Therefore I didn't take any photos of any of the trip home. My wife did take some.

We caught the S-Bahn to the airport. It took about 40 minutes and was very busy. It was a bit strange that about 2/3 of the way there the first 2 cars of the train set were unshackled and sent off to a different destination. However, there are plenty of warnings that this was going to happen. Airport security was busy but people were being processed rapidly.

The strangest process was at the outward immigration check. I remembered that someone on here had said to look out for the automatic passport reading machines as Australians could use them. I spotted them and very proudly told my wife to ignore the manual processing queue and follow me. This was a mistake as it took far longer to get through them than via the manual checks. The machines scanned the passport vey quickly but everyone then had to go to an officer who did the complete manual process anyway. There were 2 officers for about 5 machines and you were left in the machine 'race' until your turn came. The guy processing me took an inordinate amount of time doing so and then called his colleague over. It appeared that they were comparing some stamps in my passport to those in another passenger who they were suspicious about. Eventually I got sent on my way.

The Lufthansa Business Lounge we used was pretty poor. It was fairly small and basic. I didn't bother with any food especially as it was changeover time between breakfast and lunch and the cold breakfast bowls of food were left blocking the newer food offerings. More annoyingly someone had spilled a complete bowl of pretzel snacks on the floor near the food area before we arrived - the mess was still sitting there, being ground into dust, an hour later when we left.

I was a bit more comfortable in the SQ J seats this time but still don't really like them. My choice of foods from the "Book the Cook" menu was a lot better than our arrival flights. This crew also provide pre take off drinks and amenity kits.

Not hard to guess that you are at a German Airport.





There were apparently some good views over the Middle East





A perfect demonstration of how a mountain range can affect the weather.



I also appeared to have missed a very nice sunrise

 

[OZDUCK]

Shark Bay



We looped past Perth Airport and came in from the South



Back home



My passport wouldn't work in the machine reader. It didn't reject my photo it just didn't 'see' that I had inserted my passport. Manual processing only took a couple of minutes. Our bags were on the conveyor by the time we had arrived. We had bought a new laptop just before we left and had to combine our pax concession allowance. The officer we were dealing with was obviously very inexperienced and called a supervisor over. The supervisor sent us on our way very quickly but what was interesting was that she told the other officer that even if the value of the laptop had been slightly over the $1,800 limit then the usual depreciation calculation, it was 2 months old by then, would have reduced the value to below the limit. Just as has been the normal procedure for years.

 

[OZDUCK]

Looking back on the trip a few points come to mind :-

As always we packed too much. The weather in Germany was much hotter than we have ever experienced before and we brought too much cold weather clothing.

Our SQ flights were pretty much all exactly on time and all 4 crews were very good. However, there was some inconsistencies with regards to pre departure drinks and amenity kits. I am not a fan of the SQ Regional J Seats as they are too narrow at my shoulder level and the legroom is not great. The angled bed on the 'long distance' J seats is also not to my liking. The food on the way there was just ok but I guess I picked the wrong options from '"Book the Cook". I made better choices on the way back.

The use of trains was a bit of a mixed bag. They were very crowded for the first part of the trip but then again we saved a lot of money because of the 9 Euro ticket. We had delays up to an hour or so but not as bad as many of the other people we meet had experienced. On the whole I enjoyed the Spanish long distance trains more. But their system is much newer and less busy.

In Frankfurt we spent a lot of time catching up with friends. The city itself is fine but mostly very 'new'. The trips to outlying cities were probably more enjoyable.

Dusseldorf simply didn't take my fancy. It may well have been because of the location of our hotel but who knows.

I would happily recommend Muenster. It is a nice small city and the countryside around is lovely. However, you will have to hire a bike or car to get the best out of you stay. Also look out for music festivals

Berlin is still fascinating and always worth a long visit.

Prague is amazing and we hope to go back and do some of the things we were unable to do.

Regensburg is a fabulously well preserved and interesting town that is well worth a couple of days.

Our time in Munich was tainted by my eye problem. Also we got some wet and grey days which slowed us down a bit.

We were away for around 31 days and I was pretty tired by the end. I had initially planned for around 28 days but it was about $500 cheaper for each of us if we pushed the trip out for a couple more days.

 

[drron]

Loved tagging along and some very good pictures. Sad about the eye and i hope no future problems from it.

 

[OZDUCK]

Loved tagging along and some very good pictures. Sad about the eye and i hope no future problems from it.

Thanks, it was really a good trip and I will just 'forget' the last few days. I am just grateful that it was my left eye.

 

[VPS]

Thanks for the TR - it's always a pain when health problems intrude on a holiday.

 

[ellen10]

Thanks for you trip report. I enjoyed travelling along with you. Hoping your eye heals and soon back to normal.

 

[craven morehead]

Looking back on the trip a few points come to mind :-

As always we packed too much. The weather in Germany was much hotter than we have ever experienced before and we brought too much cold weather clothing.

Our SQ flights were pretty much all exactly on time and all 4 crews were very good. However, there was some inconsistencies with regards to pre departure drinks and amenity kits. I am not a fan of the SQ Regional J Seats as they are too narrow at my shoulder level and the legroom is not great. The angled bed on the 'long distance' J seats is also not to my liking. The food on the way there was just ok but I guess I picked the wrong options from '"Book the Cook". I made better choices on the way back.

The use of trains was a bit of a mixed bag. They were very crowded for the first part of the trip but then again we saved a lot of money because of the 9 Euro ticket. We had delays up to an hour or so but not as bad as many of the other people we meet had experienced. On the whole I enjoyed the Spanish long distance trains more. But their system is much newer and less busy.

In Frankfurt we spent a lot of time catching up with friends. The city itself is fine but mostly very 'new'. The trips to outlying cities were probably more enjoyable.

Dusseldorf simply didn't take my fancy. It may well have been because of the location of our hotel but who knows.

I would happily recommend Muenster. It is a nice small city and the countryside around is lovely. However, you will have to hire a bike or car to get the best out of you stay. Also look out for music festivals

Berlin is still fascinating and always worth a long visit.

Prague is amazing and we hope to go back and do some of the things we were unable to do.

Regensburg is a fabulously well preserved and interesting town that is well worth a couple of days.

Our time in Munich was tainted by my eye problem. Also we got some wet and grey days which slowed us down a bit.

We were away for around 31 days and I was pretty tired by the end. I had initially planned for around 28 days but it was about $500 cheaper for each of us if we pushed the trip out for a couple more days.

Thanks again @OZDUCK for another informative TR with plenty of brilliant photos. Gave me some ideas for future trips. Hoping your eye heals quickly and all is back to normal soon. Cheers

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks everyone. My daily eye drop usage has now been reduced and the eye symptoms do seem much better