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 Oktoberfest - Too Packed, Too
Expensive by Weissdorn
These days getting a seat in one of the beer tents is liking winning in lotto! Ever since the Japanese business tourists have made it fashionable to reserve entire tents, most people spend the entire time waiting in lines to get in the tent. The last time I was here, I thought they should re-dub the Hacker-Pschorr tent the Diamler-Benz tent, and the HB tent the Hitachi tent. Really folks, although this is the famous biggie - Oktoberfests are held all over Germany in the meantime, and the ones just outside of Munich are nice, too.
If you must go here, go before 9 p.m. After 9 p.m. you won't be able to order a beer anymore. I AM NOT KIDDING! They stop drafting at 9:30 p.m. (and they call Munich an "International" city) If you are not used to drinking alcohol, don't order more that 2 Mass (1 liter glasses), because this is about the max any lightweight can tolerate without really getting sick. The police in Munich don't think public drunkeness is as cool as it looks on the boulevard TV shows, and pickpockets, who abuse the drunkeness of the visitor are attracted to the Oktoberfest like flies are to cow manure.
If you want to visit a real Oktoberfest with local class without the mass tourist negative image, and it must be in Munich, try a surrounding scenic area like Starnberger See (Lake) or any of the local surrounding towns like Passau, Rosenheim, Petershausen, Dachau, etc. They're just as nice, and less expensive, and the beer tents don't have doormen and lines. Leave a Comment
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Recently, I spoke with Christine about our weird ticket machines and that it is often not easy even for us Germans to operate them. It is all in the fine print and Germans tend to make it as complicated as possible (haha, sorry, but that’s true). Christine mentioned that she helped a poor foreigner to understand which numbers he had to press at the machine to get to his desired destination. Then it turned out that the machine didn’t accept a 50 Euro bill for short trips (i.e. prices less than 10 Euro). She also said that there was a sentence ? (verdict?) recently, when a German (note – a German and not a foreigner) went to court after he has refused to pay a fine for not having been able to understand the complicated system and thus didn’t have a ticket. The German won – and the machine operator was told, if they are not able to make it understandable…. Bad luck. Hahaha, I laughed much about this and felt malicious joy that some of these companies really get the bill for their idiotic things.
So, when you are “caught” by someone who tries to tell you that you did this and that wrong, or when you can’t figure out how much to pay at these whatever kind of machines – play the innocent foreigner and simply tell that you did not understand what you had to do to make it right. Most of the time, you will get away with what you did “wrong”, as at least, a lot of Germans travel too, and will have had similar problems in foreign countries too. If you still have to deal with a very stubborn, very much nutpicking, very much untravelled official – tell him you will inform your lawyer (= Anwalt in German) and that you will go to court (Gericht in German), and leave the scene. Our courts need to have cases like that – to be aware how idiotic a lot of things do work here and what to do to make life easier for travellers and … Germans as well.
Another object where you might easily feel to be trapped is our lovely “Schilderwald” on the roads. Schilderwald, translated 1:1 means something like signpost forest. It stands for the ability of the German traffic officials to make everything as complicated as possible. Often you will have more than 10 different signs which tell you what to do or where to go – and believe me, it even gets very much confusing for us Germans too ! The worst is (and believe me, this happens often) if the signs are contradicting !
If you come across that foolish act – I can only advise you to use your common sense (something that we Germans tend to loose, or our officials want us to loose it by placing too many signs and rules), and if you are on a road, driving, just drive slow and watch what the others do.
If you get “caught” by some officials – the same as above applies: play the innocent foreigner and involve the official in a discussion about the logic of whatever you might have done wrong. Leave a Comment
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 Lindau Town Museum by Paul2001
It is in a fine old building dating from the Renaissance.
Wander around the lovely town of Lindau instead. Leave a Comment
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 Cochem and Reichsburg
Castle by Paul2001
If visiting the Moselle Valley there is one thing that you have to do for sure and that is visit the Burg Eltz north of Cochem. It is one of the few castles that was not destroyed by the French during the Palatine War of the late 17th century. I have a seperate tip about this wonderful sight in my Germany page Must-See section. Leave a Comment
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 The Römisch-Germanisches
Museum in Cologne by Paul2001
Another fault I found with the museum is that it is in a rather ugly late 20th century building. It has very few windows and could use some sort of courtyard or garden to let the light in.
The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm. It cost EUR 4.50 for adult admission. The museum is located at Roncalliplatz 4, very close to the cathedral
If you are really into ancient jewellary and pottery, then by all means go. The collection here has few rivals but for others you might find the exhibits numbing. Leave a Comment
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 by silve64Leave a Comment
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 by Leipzig
What's the right container:
brown container: brown bottles only
dark green container: green bottles only
white container: achromatic bottles only
yellow container: plastic, synthetic meterials only
blue container: paper and paperboard only
light green container: food and biodegradable material only (no cooked food!)
grey container: metalic products only
under no circumstances throw batteries, cooked food, and liquid substances in such containers
Bring batteries to drugstores or supermarkets!
Litter boxes at the market squares or at tram stations are for mixed garbage. You can throw in your cans, bottles, food and paper. Leave a Comment
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 The Dom in Wurzburg by Paul2001
The crypt does contain a museum of religious artefacts and there are many tombstones dedicated to various canons and prince-bishops. The Schönbornkapelle holding the remains of four bishops from the House of Schönborn and designed by Balthasar Neumann survived the war and is the Dom's main attraction. Leave a Comment
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 by Leipzig
In case of causing an accident under the influence of alcohol you will be fined, lose your driver's license and in most cases you go to jail for several years!!!
To avoid that, hands off of the alcohol!!! Take public transport or a taxi. Leave a Comment
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 In summer it's impossible to
get a good picture by Weissdorn
Wow! This place is such a tourist trap that it's one of the few towns in Germany that has translated their website into Japanese!
Most likely Rothenburg ob der Tauber owes it's continuing worldwide fame, thanks the clever entrepeneur Käthe Wohlfahrt, who had the foresight in the late 70's to advertise in U.S. military publications, such as "Stars & Stripes" and "Off´Duty", and was one of the few souvenier shops that made a living from selling Christmas decorations year 'round.
Christmas decorations are not something that Rothenburg is famous for - it's something Käthe Wohlfahrt is famous for. Most of the handmade decorations that used to come from the Erz Mountains in Saxony are now produced in the People's Republic of China. But Käthe's store hasn't suffered any dent in it's sentimental "cuteness" that all of the tourists gush over. Her enterprise has now sprawled out into 3 adjoining half-timbered houses, packed with Commercial Christmas Cuteness, where everything is darling except for the prices (nasty tongues wag about how only the symbol changed when Germany went over to the Euro).
Nevertheless, the town has an unique medieval charm that has survived throughout the centuries. Amazing are the hotels in this town, located in century old half-timber houses, which are seldom inexpensive. Somehow they have cleverly managed to agument them with the latest comforts of home. Whereas at the end of the 70's you had to ask for a room with a bathroom, these days every room has it's own bathroom, and have satellite television in the rooms as well.
Interesting to see, or course, is the criminal museum, which even has most of it's exhibits in English and Japanese. This museum is unique in Germany, and offers visitors an interesting view of the history of the legistation, judical and capitol punishment system during the middle ages.
Wait until September, if you hate hordes of tourists. The major tourist season here is from May-August and in December (the Christmas Market). In April and September the German tourists like to come here, and it's usually not so cold in September that you cannot sit outside in a cafe. The service is friendlier and more relaxed, too.
Hmm, still one day left for Germany before you check it off the list? And it's the middle of July? Try Würzburg! This Episcopate (Bishop) city is really worth seeing, since it is usually not too over-filled with tourists, and because it's a small city and not a little town, you have an adequate choice when it comes to restaurants, hotels and shopping. Besides, Würzburg is well-known for it's excellant choice of Franconian wines, and Northern Bavarian (Franconian) charm and hospitality. Leave a Comment
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