Trip Report: Canberra to Berlin - with a few stops along the way!

[ellen10]

Love Paris sigh!

 

[Mattg]

Great trip report! Absolutely loving it... So much detail!

You didn't mention much about the Dreamliner? Could you notice a difference during the flight or afterwards when you got off? Or being a little unwell it was hard to tell?

I was pretty tired that day, but there was a noticeable improvement in comfort over other aircraft. The main things I noticed during the flight were the new window design and the quietness of the engines. The lower cabin pressure may have also made a difference but in a more subtle way. The mood lighting was also nice. Otherwise, it was pretty much just like any other aircraft, but I did enjoy my Dreamliner experience and it was a comfortable plane to fly on.

 

[JessicaTam]

I was pretty tired that day, but there was a noticeable improvement in comfort over other aircraft. The main things I noticed during the flight were the new window design and the quietness of the engines. The lower cabin pressure may have also made a difference but in a more subtle way. The mood lighting was also nice. Otherwise, it was pretty much just like any other aircraft, but I did enjoy my Dreamliner experience and it was a comfortable plane to fly on.

Umm, the Dreamliners actually have slightly higher cabin pressure than other aircraft.

 

[Mattg]

Umm, the Dreamliners actually have slightly higher cabin pressure than other aircraft.

Oh? My understanding (from the Boeing factory Tour) was that the cabin altitude (the altitude which it feels linke in the cabin) was lower. Perhaps I worded that wrong. I'm no expert though.

 

[JessicaTam]

Oh? My understanding (from the Boeing factory Tour) was that the cabin altitude (the altitude which it feels linke in the cabin) was lower. Perhaps I worded that wrong. I'm no expert though.

Quite right. The altitude is lower so the pressure is higher. Because the higher you go, the lower the pressure gets.

 

[Mattg]

I probably could have gone directly to Berlin from Paris if I wanted to, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to make a few more stops along the way. Most people would ask "why?!" but I say "why not?"

After Paris my next stop was Mannheim, Germany where I stayed from Wednesday until Saturday morning. Mannheim perhaps isn't the most visited city in Germany, but I went there because I have some friends there who offered to let me stay with them for a few days. These friends are actually Brazilian but have been working in Germany for the past year. We met last Christmas in Munich.

I could have flown from Paris to Frankfurt and connected by train to Mannheim (which is around an hour from Frankfurt) by I figured it would be just as quick, as well as cheaper and easier, to get a TGV train direct to Mannheim. I happen to be a big fan of the trains in Europe and with a journey time of just 3 hours to Mannheim, it was a good option. For the first half of the trip, the train's speed was averaging 315 km/h.


My TGV train at Gare De L'Est

Within the first afternoon I had already seen most of Mannheim and its two tourist attractions. It's a nice city with a population about the size of Canberra, but in my opinion it lacks the charm of other German towns and cities.


A park behind the Wasserturm (water tower) in Mannheim

On Thursday one of my friends took me 15 minutes down the road to the much nicer city of Heidelberg. As soon as we arrived in the old part of town two things became clear - firstly, that Heidelberg is a very nice place with a great deal of charm, and secondly, that the place was absolutely full of tourists. But I can see why, it's a lovely German town and not too far from Frankfurt. If I was stuck in Frankfurt I'd probably do a day-trip to Heidelberg too.

After walking through the lovely cobblestone streets which fill the old part of town we walked up the hill to the delightful famous castle.




Heidelberg, Germany

It was another strangely hot day, but cooling down wasn't difficult with shops on every street corner selling gelato at €1 per scoop. Mmmmm.


I spent Friday morning getting some stuff sorted out, such as getting myself a German phone, but for my last night in Mannheim two World Cup games of great importance to my friends were on. The first game was Germany v France and to see that game we went to a bar in Mannheim and joined hundreds of crazy German fans. They weren't actually that crazy to begin with, but when Germany won, they went wild! The people on the streets were celebrating just as wildly, and every second car driving around town was honking ferociously and had ten German flags (minimum) hanging out the windows.

After that first game we went to a bar full of Brazilians in Heidelberg to watch the Brazil v Columbia game. The Brazilian fans went just as crazy after their victory! It was a good night for everyone, really (well, except the French and Columbian fans I guess).


(As an aside, I will be in Berlin when Germany plays their semi-final match against Brazil next Tuesday. That should be an interesting experience!)

 

[JessicaTam]

I have done a day trip to Heidelberg from Frankfurt and I agree, it was well worth it. It is a lovely town and we were fortunate to be there outside of tourist season, so was nice and quiet.

 

[Mattg]

Despite a bit of a hangover I was up only on Saturday morning to travel to my next destination - Munich. Munich is a city close to my heart as the first German city I visited. Last year I stayed in Munich for two weeks doing a mini-exchange, attending a German school and staying with a host family. It was during this time that my love affair with Germany really began.

There is no direct connection by air between Mannheim and Munich, and trains were quite expensive that day, so I decided to take a bus. I don't even like buses, but at just €14 for the 350km trip to Munich, it was pretty hard to go past.

When booking intercity trips within Germany I've found a website called busliniensuche.de to be very useful. You simply put in your departure and arrival cities, and the date you want to travel, and it comes up with a comprehensive list of bus and rail options, listing them according to price, travel time, arrival time or departure time.

For this trip I was going with one of the many bus companies in Germany called flixbus. The trip was actually quite pleasant with reasonable legroom on the bus, snacks & drinks for sale, and most importantly free wifi.


I spent my weekend in Munich a little differently to the last weekend. Instead of seeing all the sights (which I've already seen on my three previous visits) I mostly just caught up with various friends I have there. Both days were beautiful, hot summer days and the Biergartens (beer gardens) were packed. I spent quite a bit of time in some of these enjoying wonderful, cold Bavarian beer and enjoying life.


One of Munich's many beer gardens.

Marienplatz (where the Rathaus/town hall is in the city centre) was packed with tourists. I was there with a friend on Saturday afternoon and we wanted someone to take a photo for us. I asked passers-by in German but it took 4 or 5 attempts before I found someone who actually spoke German. (And I thought I was being polite by speaking the local language.) The rest must have been either non-German speaking tourists or rude people - although I doubt that as I find Germans, particularly in Munich, to be very friendly.


Marienplatz - you can see the Rathaus (town hall) and behind it the towers of the Frauenkirche (church).

There was some sort of event going on near Marienplatz on Saturday afternoon.



On Sunday night I had my favourite meal at my favourite restaurant in Munich - Schweinshaxe (pork knuckle) with Hofbräu beer at a restaurant/pub called Augustiner am Platzl. (It's next to the Hard Rock Cafe and behind the Hofbräuhaus.)


Augustiner am Platzl, my favourite Bavarian restaurant

 

[Mattg]

Although I didn't do any sightseeing as such, I see many of Munich's interesting sights during my wanderings around the city. (The city isn't that big.)


The Munich Beer Hall (Hofbräuhaus)


Das Deutsches Museum (German museum) along the banks of the Isar River. This is an interesting museum with a focus on technology.


Haus der Kunst - an art gallery with a rich history.


The river next to the Haus der Kunst where everyone goes to surf.

 

[Mattg]

I have more to say about Munich, but I'm having problems uploading photos at the moment. I'll finish posting once I have a workable internet connection.

 

[boomy]

I guess you all partied hard there last night after Germany trashed Brazil

 

[Mattg]

I guess you all partied hard there last night after Germany trashed Brazil

You bet! And the Germans sure do like their fireworks.. it kind of felt like New Year's Eve in Berlin all over again.

Should be interesting if (when) Germany win the cup!

 

[boomy]

You bet! And the Germans sure do like their fireworks.. it kind of felt like New Year's Eve in Berlin all over again.

Should be interesting if (when) Germany win the cup!

I was lucky to be in Munich in 1990 last time they won the cup. I was very young back then but it was still a very unique experience.
Let's hope they will win again this year

 

[Mattg]

My internet seems to be working again!

Here are some other places I think are worth seeing in Munich:


BMW Welt (BMW World) and the adjoining Olympic park.



Dachau (former concentration camp) - perhaps not a pleasant place but worth visiting in my opinion.

I would also recommend visiting Schloss Nymphemburg (Nymphenburg Palace), Maximilianeum, the English Garden and the Pinakotheken (if you are interested in art).


Another thing I love about Munich is the way they have decorated many of their U-Bahn (subway) stations. The ceiling of Münchner Freiheit station, for example, is covered in mirrors. My favourite though is Candidplatz on the U1:




If you're interested in trains, make your way to Hackerbrücke (the name of the bridge and adjoining S-Bahn station), where you can stand on the bridge and look out towards the Hauptbahnhof (main station) and watch all the trains coming and going.


The view from Hackerbrücke

 

[Mattg]

Did I mention that I like Munich a lot?



Just one more thing. In my opinion, everyone who visits Munich must do a day-trip out to the Neuschwanstein Castle. It really is like a fairy tale there. I've been twice now, once in summer and once in winter. Both visits were magical, but in winter everything was covered in snow, which only added to the experience. I find that the best way to get there is by train. You can buy a Bayern Ticket for €22, which gives you unlimited travel within Bavaria for the day, and it's an even better deal if you have more than one person as up to four additional people can travel on this ticket for just €4 extra each. The only catch is that it can only be used after 9am on weekdays. Then you just need to take a regional train to Füssen, where you connect to a bus service for the last few kilometres out to the castle (which is covered by the Bayern Ticket. The trip takes around two hours each way and trains depart approximately hourly for most of the day.


If you're still not convinced, here's a couple of photos from my previous visits:

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

My internet seems to be working again!

Here are some other places I think are worth seeing in Munich:

View attachment 31584
BMW Welt (BMW World) and the adjoining Olympic park.


View attachment 31586
Dachau (former concentration camp) - perhaps not a pleasant place but worth visiting in my opinion.

I would also recommend visiting Schloss Nymphemburg (Nymphenburg Palace), Maximilianeum, the English Garden and the Pinakotheken (if you are interested in art).


Another thing I love about Munich is the way they have decorated many of their U-Bahn (subway) stations. The ceiling of Münchner Freiheit station, for example, is covered in mirrors. My favourite though is Candidplatz on the U1:

View attachment 31585


If you're interested in trains, make your way to Hackerbrücke (the name of the bridge and adjoining S-Bahn station), where you can stand on the bridge and look out towards the Hauptbahnhof (main station) and watch all the trains coming and going.

View attachment 31587
The view from Hackerbrücke

Well looks to me like me like plenty of German Efficency is taking your liking.

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Also not sure if your aware but Neuschwanstein castle is the setting for that famous childhood movie ( well I watched it more than once growing up) : Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Also I love the accent in Bavaria, when I went to Neuschwanstein a few years ago, the tour guide not only looked like "Arnie" he spoke like him too.... Hilarious stuff.

 

[ellen10]

Love seeing the photos, thanks for sharing.

 

[JessicaTam]

Munich is awesome.

That is all.

 

[Mattg]

I'm sorry that I haven't updated this thread for a little while! I have been busy but the main reason was that I haven't had access to good wifi since I arrived in Berlin (until now - I've found a really nice cafe with free high-speed internet and I'm sort of hanging out here for the afternoon)!

After my weekend in München I departed last Monday for my final destination, Berlin... My favourite city in the world and the place I am going to call home for the rest of the year.

However (of course!), I didn't actually go directly to Berlin. Instead, I caught a bus to Stuttgart and picked up an airberlin flight to the German capital from there. The only reason I did this was to save money, not because I actually like Stuttgart. In fact I really don't like Stuttgart at all - it's just another boring industrial city, and one of the worst in Germany as far as I'm concerned. (Sorry if anyone reading this is from Stuttgart.)

On the day I wanted to fly, the cheapest flights between Munich and Berlin were close to €100. But with a bit of extra searching I found an airberlin flight from Stuttgart to Berlin for €48 (I think they were having a sale that day). But it gets better: a train ticket from Munich to Munich Airport costs €10.40, but I was able to get a bus ticket from Munich to Stuttgart for just €8. Okay, I did have to spend 3 hours on a bus and transfer in Stuttgart from Zuffenhausen ZOB (bus station) to the airport (costing €2.90), but it was still worth it in my opinion. (There are actually buses which go directly to Stuttgart Airport, but in this case they didn't fit into my schedule.)

From Munich to Stuttgart I took a different bus company called meinfernbus, which in my opinion wasn't quite as good as flixbus, mainly because the seats were less comfortable and there was less legroom, but the driver did at least have a good sense of humour for a German.

3 hours before the flight I arrived at Stuttgart Airport to find an almost deserted check-in area. Just minutes later I had cleared security (who for some reason were patting down every single passenger) and made my way to the lounge.

In Stuttgart, airberlin uses the BA Executive Club Lounge. The lounge was small - so small in fact that there wasn't even a toilet. Unfortunately the food offering was extremely limited too with just packets of chips and pretzels. No fresh or hot food in sight. There was however have an excellent selection of self-serve drinks; alcoholic and non-alcoholic. I started with the beer, but then I discovered a big bottle of Baileys and may have overindulged a little...

There were only ever a couple of people in the lounge at a time, so the guy at the desk, who was also restocking drinks/newspapers and clearing tables, came over to individual people to let them know when their flight was boarding.




The tiny BA lounge in STR.