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Saturday, 4 July

This trip starts with the German ICE train from Aarhus kl. 7.53. Sharp. It is a German train.

To get rid of students and children's families I make the trip on Interrail-1 class. It works fine until Skanderborg, where the 3 seats around me is taken with what I think are 3 teenagers. Only when a teenager 1 refers teenager 2 as "mother", I find out it probably is more of the category "family". Mother, son and daughter, it appears.

The train is in Hamburg. 12:31 - sharp.

Hamburg is well-known place. Hotel Condor too. I also stayed here last time.

Happiness in Speicherstadt

Anarchy in St. Pauli Sightseeing is also wellknown. It does not matter. 2 walks - one short and one long.

First the long one. Down to the renovated warehouses of Speicherstadt and Hafen City. From there, I pass along Landungsbrücke with people and tours of the harbour. Then I go to the autonomous St Pauli with graffitti, dubious bars and what is worse. From there, I take the U-bahn back home.

The short trip is through the shopping street Möckenberger Strasse to The Town Hall and the small lake Innenalster. Hamburg is the only city I know where the center is actually a lake. From here I return back home. The first - but not last - Karrywurst by a streetkitchen makes it off the dinner.
Sunday, 5 July

Departures with ICE kl. 9.38. It’s on time and arrives in Munich kl. 15.43.
My hotel - Hotel Monaco – is located in the sleezy station neighborhood.

The hotel is however nicely. After check-in it is the time for the first look at Munich. The ambition is obviously to find Emperor Franz.

It fails. Instead I take a look at the big Frauenkirche with its 99 meter high towers. No buildings in Munich center may be higher.

Frauenkirche

Glockenspiel From there, I am going to Mariaplatz and Munichs impressive City Hall. The Germans builds beautiful townhalls. This is where Bayern Munich tends to be celebrating when they won another salad bowl. However, it is not therefore, the place is filled with tourists. They are here to see the small mechanical puppet theater, which takes place at the City Hall facade, every hour on the hour.

Then it is dinner before it gets "Gewitter" in the form of a shower. However, it is enough for me. I head back to Monaco again.
Monday, 6 July

"Bewölkert and Gewitter" is today's weatherforecast. And "Gewitter" it is in the morning. It is raining cats and dogs, and today's trip is delayed.

At 11 I can get out. It is still raining, so my expectation is to see thousands of Bayern people in yellow raincoats. But I am disappointed. There are plenty of raincoats, but the yellow one has gone completely out of fashion.

Today's walk is taken from Lonely Planet. First the old City Hall, then Viktualienmarkt, then some shopping-streets before lunch at a local restaurant.

Residenz

Desperate

Then I continue through the center to the Residenz, which is an old palace. There are several museums that I can skip. I continue to Englischer Garten, which is Munichs huge park. Here you can see young people surfing on a river. Today's journey ends at the Chinese Tower in the center of the park. There is a big "Bier-Garten", so I can finish with a decent beer. In the middle of it, it is "Gewitter" again so all people have to flee with their beers in their hands, and seek cover under the tower.

From here I take the underground home. Dinner is at a local place.


Video - raining in Englischer Garten

Tuesday, 7 July

Daytrip to Regensburg by train. It is necessary so I can use all my 10 traveldays on my Interrail card.

There are departure at 9.44 and the trip takes 1 ½ hours.

Regensburg is a beautiful medieval city. It is well maintained and there are many beautiful streets, and the Danube runs trogh the town.

The attractions include the Schloss Turm & Taxis. To see the inside you have to take a tour and I don’t want to do that. So I see it from outside instead. The castlechurch Basilica St. Emmeran is, however, open to everyone. It is old and fine.

St. Peter

Donau There is also a cathedral called St. Peter. It is big and powerful. I cross the Danube by an old stone bridge. On the other side, there are nice neighborhoods, and almost no tourists. Here is the Spitalgarten, a beergarten associated with a local brewery. They serve a great snitzel and a good draft.  Then I cross the Danube again and via some shopping streets return to the station and the train back to Munich.

On the way back it is "Gewitter" again and it keeps on most of the evening, so I only get out for a quick evening-walk for my evening-sausage and a visit to the local gaminghall.
Wednesday 8 July

The search for Munichs biggest attraction Emperor Franz - also known as Franz Beckenbauer - continues in the morning. A natural place to look may be the Olympic Stadium, where he was world champion in 1974.

First I get up into the Olympic Tower. Out on the platform 200 meters up, there is an impressive view and it’s very windy.

Stadium is located right beside the tower. You can not get into it, but it doesn’t matter. The remarkable roof, you might as well see from the outside.

Olympic roof

Schloss Nymphenbourg After a walk in the Olympic Park, I take the train into the Münchener Freiheit, which in this context is not a German pop band, but a U-bahn station. It thought it was a bohemian quarter, but it is rather boring. So I continue to the center where I go for a walk around the myriad of Munich Bier-Stuben. It gives me a natural hunger and thirst, which can is handled by a "Snitzel mit kartoffelsalat" plus draftbeer at Hofer.

Later, I take a tram to Schloss Nymphenbourg. It is large and pompously. Inside, there are museums, which I skip. Behind, however, there is access to a very nice park.

Night tour is a walk around the center before it starts to rain. This was Munich – and I never got to meet Franz.

To Berchtesgaden