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The Germany Thread


sidis

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I grew up in Wiesbaden, I loved it. I keep telling myself I'm gonna go back one day, been gone for 30+ years.

Was never on my list. But then both kids started taking German and studying abroad. Spent a week in Berlin last year - really liked it.

First beer.

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Turkish grub.

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DDR legos.

048f24ab431ea0e9d0bddfdcfb4fa9bf.jpg

Remnant line of the wall.

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Dinner with old friends near Potsdam.

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The bridge of spies.

f208e88b60caa3523e3c9257209f2f1d.jpg

Turkish market.

164e57c34670daddaed5a0f32a4e5e1f.jpg
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I need to get to the mother country. My family line on my father's side hails from outside of Darmstadt, close to the site of Frankenstein Castle (the possible inspiration for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), just south of Frankfurt. I keep telling mdleast that we need to make the reverse pilgrimage that our ancestors did. Philadelphia>Amsterdam>Frankfurt. Also need to do Oktoberfest. 

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1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:


Was never on my list. But then both kids started taking German and studying abroad. Spent a week in Berlin last year - really liked it.

First beer.

e2bad371e2ad084fd6fb1d9547e63fad.jpg

Turkish grub.

36a6fd58ca56950fe3b7107bbb93a277.jpg

DDR legos.

048f24ab431ea0e9d0bddfdcfb4fa9bf.jpg

Remnant line of the wall.

d535a2ccc208d6177596973e2f13958a.jpg

Dinner with old friends near Potsdam.

2817c7d9e0a5a2485e8d7ce6d7ff8e90.jpg

The bridge of spies.

f208e88b60caa3523e3c9257209f2f1d.jpg

Turkish market.

164e57c34670daddaed5a0f32a4e5e1f.jpg

I never made it to Berlin. Or anywhere in East Germany, for that matter. I'm jealous!

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9 hours ago, Southland said:

Munich is my favorite city I've visited in Europe. Would love to do a European delivery of a BMW at the factory and road trip it around Bavaria one of these days.

Yeah, I love Munich. I was on a Oktoberfest tear for quite a few years, but haven't been in 3 or 4.

 

Trying to convince Liebherr (who I buy my excavators from) to take us over for a blowout Wiesn event, then convalesce in Innsbruck after.

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Currently 2 weeks into my 2 month stay in Germany.  Last weekend we did Brussels and Trier.  This week we were able to go a day trip to Heidelberg.  On the list is Stuttgart (Porsche/MB museums), Cologne, Berlin, Munich, and Prague.  I probably won't have time for all so need to prioritize.  Such a beautiful country but the people are generally assholes.

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The Porsche museum has a few 911s that you can rent for a day, so here is my planned route.  It hits both the Lichtenstein and Hohenzollern castles, which are some of the best in the country, and mixes in a nice blend of the Autobahn and back roads.  Looking forward to this day more than anything out here.

RgoQ0Hy.jpg

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Here's a question: where would one find a site to purchase airfare to Germany that doesn't cost thousands of dollars? Every time I check, it's ridiculously expensive. I know the time of year is a factor but it seems like it doesn't matter, all the rates are high. No, I don't expect to buy a ticket for $200 but I don't want to spend $2000 either.

(While I do bang a 10 on the reg, I'm still a poor)

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16 minutes ago, Sandman said:

Here's a question: where would one find a site to purchase airfare to Germany that doesn't cost thousands of dollars? Every time I check, it's ridiculously expensive. I know the time of year is a factor but it seems like it doesn't matter, all the rates are high. No, I don't expect to buy a ticket for $200 but I don't want to spend $2000 either.

(While I do bang a 10 on the reg, I'm still a poor)

My daughter is studying over there this summer, and we looked for the cheapest deals.  Condor airlines is hard to beat.  We flew them last year, and it was fine.  No frills, economy class, but got us from Austin to Frankfurt direct just fine.  And something like $600 a head each way.

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1 minute ago, Surly Bevo said:

Took a family of 5 from DFW to Munich on American last summer for something like $6500 round trip (flew back from Paris) . All in all I considered that pretty reasonable per head.

I'd agree, that's not terrible. I only need 2 tickets, so anything under 2k would be nice. I guess I should convice my wife to go before I make any plans...

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1 hour ago, Sandman said:

Here's a question: where would one find a site to purchase airfare to Germany that doesn't cost thousands of dollars? Every time I check, it's ridiculously expensive. I know the time of year is a factor but it seems like it doesn't matter, all the rates are high. No, I don't expect to buy a ticket for $200 but I don't want to spend $2000 either.

(While I do bang a 10 on the reg, I'm still a poor)

I just did a quick search on google flights and see AUS-MUC for ~$1200 for most of May-Jul, with some dates down to around $900.

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1 minute ago, Southland said:

I just did a quick search on google flights and see AUS-MUC for ~$1200 for most of May-Jul, with some dates down to around $900.

I'm in OKC so I'll either have to pay extra or leave out of Dallas, I suppose. I'm sure there's a joke in there somewhere about having to pay extra to leave Oklahoma.

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5 minutes ago, Southland said:

I just did a quick search on google flights and see AUS-MUC for ~$1200 for most of May-Jul, with some dates down to around $900.

I live here (Munich) and I typically use flugladen.de. Just booked 612€ from MUC-DFW  via Delta over ATL departing 4/12. If you can brave a strictly German language site you can get flights from DFW for a grand or less pretty regularly. And they are legit. 

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15 hours ago, Sandman said:

Here's a question: where would one find a site to purchase airfare to Germany that doesn't cost thousands of dollars? Every time I check, it's ridiculously expensive. I know the time of year is a factor but it seems like it doesn't matter, all the rates are high. No, I don't expect to buy a ticket for $200 but I don't want to spend $2000 either.

(While I do bang a 10 on the reg, I'm still a poor)

Sandman, try Google Flights.  Very user friendly and extremely helpful for finding what you want based upon price/schedule.

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On 3/30/2018 at 5:36 PM, Brisketexan said:

My daughter is studying over there this summer, and we looked for the cheapest deals.  Condor airlines is hard to beat.  We flew them last year, and it was fine.  No frills, economy class, but got us from Austin to Frankfurt direct just fine.  And something like $600 a head each way.

I've been to visit family in Germany over 20 times. In Pittsburgh we used to have a USAir direct flight to Frankfurt. That went away when USAir went away. Now we have Condor, direct to Frankfurt. It's nice in that you can bypass the east coast airports, Philly, JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, etc. Business Class roundtrip was under $2,000 on Condor. The same dates on Lufthansa had it at $5,000 and you had to connect on the coast.

If you must connect look at Condor out of Pittsburgh. The first day of the seasonal service is, I think May 18. That's the day I fly over.

----------------

 

sorry, I'm an idiot, I tried to do a multi-quote with Sandman as well but now I see he has found his tickets and I can't see here how to delete a post.

Edited by PittsburghTiger
i'm an idiot.
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On 3/30/2018 at 4:17 PM, Assman said:

The Porsche museum has a few 911s that you can rent for a day, so here is my planned route.  It hits both the Lichtenstein and Hohenzollern castles, which are some of the best in the country, and mixes in a nice blend of the Autobahn and back roads.  Looking forward to this day more than anything out here.

RgoQ0Hy.jpg

On the upper left of your map is Ettlingen. My German cousin lives there and I have been there many times. Just be careful with traffic at that intersection of Autobahn 5 and Autobahn 8. If there is an accident or something it is a wicked backup. Last October I was there and basically both highways were jammed for over three hours due to a big accident.

Are you going to give yourself any time to spend in Baden-Baden? It is a fantastic town. 

Also looks like you are going to take 500 right past the Mummelsee. That's a nice little spot for lunch, and they have some neat little shops there. That road can have a shit ton of motorcycles on it so watch out for that.

Also, Rathaus, is down there, http://www.rothaus.de/en/our-beers/rothaus-pils-en/tannenzapfle?alter=true. It's right off the 500, just after you pass the Schluchsee

Badische Staatsbrauerei Rothaus AG 
Rothaus 1
79865 Grafenhausen-Rothaus
Telefon 07748/5220
info@rothaus.de

 

It's a nice easy drinking Bier.

 

 

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On 3/30/2018 at 4:17 PM, Assman said:

The Porsche museum has a few 911s that you can rent for a day, so here is my planned route.  It hits both the Lichtenstein and Hohenzollern castles, which are some of the best in the country, and mixes in a nice blend of the Autobahn and back roads.  Looking forward to this day more than anything out here.

RgoQ0Hy.jpg

Found this video of the 500. It's pretty cool. I've driven it, but this is not my video.

 

 

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So a few disparate and disjointed thoughts:

On the Rhine: Along the stretch of the Rhine between Bingen and Koblenz, there are a number of castles that have been converted into hotels, most notably Burg Gutenfels in Kaub, Burg Rheinfels in St. Goar, and Burg Schoenburg in Oberwesel.  For view and rustic feel of a castle, I would go with Gutenfels; for restaurant and bar, Schoenburg; for accommodations, Rheinfels.  They're all fairly reasonably priced, and typically include breakfast.  Beware that you probably want to have a car, as the castles are all up on steep hills above the towns--taxi service is limited, and it is a real drag to carry your bags up those hills if you're just traveling by train.

KD Line runs boats up and down the Rhine in the Summer.  It makes for a nice afternoon--bring a loaf of bread and some meat and cheese and a bottle of wine and sit up on the top deck.

Cologne: People are going to disagree with me, but I really like Cologne.  From a tourist standpoint, there are two things to see: the Cathedral and the Roman museum.  But right around there are a number of great beer halls in which you can score a Kolsch or five, including Peters Brauhaus., which I really liked.

Potsdam: Just outside of Berlin is Potsdam.  There's so much shit going in in Berlin, that I don't think too many people go out to Potsdam, which is really a shame because it's a beautiful town with an outsized amount of history.  Just before you get to Potsdam is the Wannsee Conference site, where the Nazis spelled out their plans for the Holocaust.  About a mile down the road from that is the Gleinicker Bridge--i.e., the Bridge of Spies--on the way to Schloss Cecilienhof, which was the site of the WWII conference.  Cecilienhof is one of a number of Prussian royal palaces in Potsdam, including Frederick the Great's palace at Sans Souci.  

Honestly--if you're doing a week in Berlin (and Berlin deserves a week), it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay a couple days in Potsdam.

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I was just in Germany in February. 

Spent three days in Munich and three days in Berlin (and a few in Prague too). 

I enjoyed Berlin far more than Munich. Berlin had lots of great museums and history, felt more like a bustling city, and was far more diverse. That said, I was traveling by myself. Munich seemed like it would've been much more fun had I been with a bunch of guys getting rowdy. In Munich, I went to the BMW Museum, Olympic Park, and did a day trip to the Neuschwetein (sp?) Castle. The Castle was awesome, especially covered in snow during the winter. The one thing I missed in Munich due to a hangover was the Deutsches Museum. 

 

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19 hours ago, RiceOwl said:

I was just in Germany in February. 

Spent three days in Munich and three days in Berlin (and a few in Prague too). 

I enjoyed Berlin far more than Munich. Berlin had lots of great museums and history, felt more like a bustling city, and was far more diverse. That said, I was traveling by myself. Munich seemed like it would've been much more fun had I been with a bunch of guys getting rowdy. In Munich, I went to the BMW Museum, Olympic Park, and did a day trip to the Neuschwetein (sp?) Castle. The Castle was awesome, especially covered in snow during the winter. The one thing I missed in Munich due to a hangover was the Deutsches Museum. 

 

Berlin is much underrated. I was there the first time just after the Wall came down and brought home a big ass chunk of that thing.

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Another vote for skyscanner. That site always worked for me.

I lived in Berlin for 4 years. That city has it all, which is why I'm a bad person to ask about where else in the country to go...

If you are outdoorsy, I recommend the Saechischer Schweiz. An easy day trip out of Dresden (itself a beautifully restored city worth a day's visit), you can hike along the Elbe River near the Czech border in some of Europe's coolest scenery.

 

basteibruecke-saechsische-schweiz.jpg

ss26.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/30/2018 at 7:41 AM, Assman said:

Currently 2 weeks into my 2 month stay in Germany.  Last weekend we did Brussels and Trier.  This week we were able to go a day trip to Heidelberg.  On the list is Stuttgart (Porsche/MB museums), Cologne, Berlin, Munich, and Prague.  I probably won't have time for all so need to prioritize.  Such a beautiful country but the people are generally assholes.

Not sure where you are based during your stay but in case you are in BW/southern Hessen you might consider hitting the Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest, which kicks off this Saturday and runs for the next three weeks. It is a really nice festival without a lot of the hassles of the Oktoberfest.

Plus, if the weather stays warm, you can enjoy that great beer along with an endless parade of good looking women in low cut dirndls all looking to get getrunken. 

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36 minutes ago, Shady Ray said:

Not sure where you are based during your stay but in case you are in BW/southern Hessen you might consider hitting the Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest, which kicks off this Saturday and runs for the next three weeks. It is a really nice festival without a lot of the hassles of the Oktoberfest.

Plus, if the weather stays warm, you can enjoy that great beer along with an endless parade of good looking women in low cut dirndls all looking to get getrunken. 

i prefer the ladies besoffen, myself.

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23 hours ago, Shady Ray said:

Not sure where you are based during your stay but in case you are in BW/southern Hessen you might consider hitting the Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest, which kicks off this Saturday and runs for the next three weeks. It is a really nice festival without a lot of the hassles of the Oktoberfest.

Plus, if the weather stays warm, you can enjoy that great beer along with an endless parade of good looking women in low cut dirndls all looking to get getrunken. 

I actually just got back from Stuttgart today (work trip), but we plan on going back in a couple weekends for Fruhlingfest.  I've heard nothing but good things.

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