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Munich


Joe H

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We return to Munich next week for my sixth trip in the last four years. Over time I've done my best to eat my way through and around the city and have fallen in love with it.

When the dollar was on par with the Euro ten years ago we went to Tantris and more recently Schuhbeck's but this trip we'll have one serious meal at the single star, Terrine, which is much less expensive. Has anyone been? There is a "hot" Indonesian restaurant called "Jin"-has anyone been there? Boettner's is expensive upscale German: anyone been there? We will return to Geisel's Vinotek which I love and would be a regular customer of if it were here. Possibly Aquarello, too. Has anyone been to Angelo Della Pizza (considered Munich's best) to compare to here? We'll also spend a great deal of time literally nosing around the Viktuakienmarkt which is one of the great markets on earth (12-15 hundred + year old, generationally owned butcher shops lined up side by side on the same street). There is a stall that has what may be the best sour deli pickles I have ever had which you pick out of a deep brined barrel with prongs. I'd match these against Guss' and Schwartz in Montreal. (They have nothing in common with German "gherkins" available here. I'll also bring back a dozen or so tubes of good mustard along with 15 or 20 bags of Nic Nocs (paprika encrusted peanuts) which I am thoroughly addicted to.

Salzburg: Carpe Diem?

Garmische-Partenkirchen: we are staying at Reindl's and will have dinner there one night. We've been before and love the place. Any other suggestions?

Bayern play three times during our seven days including Dortmund for the Bundesliga lead and Real Madrid in the semi finals of the Champions League. My wife knows I really wanted to go to Munich to see Bayern play.

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Angelo Della PIzza had a fantastic pizza with an incredible ambience: brick walls, wooden floor, wood beamed ceilings and open wood fired oven in the front of the room with a pizzaiola tossing dough ten, twelve feet in the air-inches from the ceiling. Jammed on a rainy Sunday night. A GREAT pizza and room. If someone called this the best pizzaria in any Italian city I wouldn't disagree. But it's in Munich.

Glockinspiel Cafe overlooks the Marien Platz on the sixth floor of an office building; breakfast to equal any I have had anywhere. Michelin starred Terrine was excellent but we didn't like the room-a number of tables were wedged into a corridor. Dinner of the trip was at Barestovino which was also a true bargain at E 49 prix fixe for four courses plus amuse. Great, softly lit room with 24 seats; very personal, intimate and romantic. Downstairs, as romantic and myserious of a wine bar as I've seen anywhere. In the basement an open roped off closet which was a shrine to Uncle Scrooge next to another open, roped off closet which was a shrine to Mick Jagger. Serious. Carl Barks drawings, original comic books and paintings for one; for the other posters, photos and tickets to early '80's concerts along with T shirts and magazines. All of this a few feet from a ten seat table in a brick walled wine cellar where diners eat by candlelight.

Most reading this have no idea of the excellence of restaurants in Germany.

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Angelo Della PIzza had a fantastic pizza with an incredible ambience: brick walls, wooden floor, wood beamed ceilings and open wood fired oven in the front of the room with a pizzaiola tossing dough ten, twelve feet in the air-inches from the ceiling. Jammed on a rainy Sunday night. A GREAT pizza and room. If someone called this the best pizzaria in any Italian city I wouldn't disagree. But it's in Munich.

Glockinspiel Cafe overlooks the Marien Platz on the sixth floor of an office building; breakfast to equal any I have had anywhere. Michelin starred Terrine was excellent but we didn't like the room-a number of tables were wedged into a corridor. Dinner of the trip was at Barestovino which was also a true bargain at E 49 prix fixe for four courses plus amuse. Great, softly lit room with 24 seats; very personal, intimate and romantic. Downstairs, as romantic and myserious of a wine bar as I've seen anywhere. In the basement an open roped off closet which was a shrine to Uncle Scrooge next to another open, roped off closet which was a shrine to Mick Jagger. Serious. Carl Barks drawings, original comic books and paintings for one; for the other posters, photos and tickets to early '80's concerts along with T shirts and magazines. All of this a few feet from a ten seat table in a brick walled wine cellar where diners eat by candlelight.

Most reading this have no idea of the excellence of restaurants in Germany.

We had two fabulous dinners and a lunch at the vegetarian Prinz Myshkin in Munich last year. Large, airy, friendly restaurant in the Old City.

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Any new recommendations for Munich or Nuremberg, Rotenberg, Bamberg? Getting on the plane now!

I haven't been recently enough to have any useful dining suggestions, but anyone who visits Bamberg should see the cathedral there. One of the most interesting churches anywhere. Also, Rauchbier.

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I have a 4 hour, 45 minute layover in Munich during an upcoming trip. I was last here in 1989, and the only thing I remember is going to the Hofbräuhaus - is there any reason *not* to take a taxi from the airport and spend a couple hours knocking back a few liters at Hofbräuhaus again? I'm all for doing something non-alcoholic for a couple of hours - even something as trivial as going to see a single statue, or church, or Munich City Center, but it really does need to be limited to a couple of hours. This long layover is a blessing in disguise, I think - *29 years* since I've set foot in Germany, and for my travel partner, it has been *38 years* (she's been to Hofbräuhaus once, too, back in 1980).

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I enjoyed my visit to Hofbräuhaus a few years ago and I don't even drink beer. I recall a fun atmosphere in mix of tourists and locals. The Viktualienmarkt is very close by, and the impressive Peterskirche is between Hofbräuhaus and the Viktualienmarkt if you want to pop in.

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I remember the place as "Nurnberger Bratwurst Stube" from my time there in the late 1980's, but it is findable online as "Nurnberger Bratwurst Glockl am Dom".  Great Kellarbeer, great Nurnberger sausages.  More of a locals place, and certainly (at least back then) not the tourist trap that is the Hofbrauhaus.  On the back side of the Marienplatz.

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4 hours ago, DonRocks said:

I have a 4 hour, 45 minute layover in Munich during an upcoming trip. I was last here in 1989, and the only thing I remember is going to the Hofbräuhaus - is there any reason *not* to take a taxi from the airport and spend a couple hours knocking back a few liters at Hofbräuhaus again? I'm all for doing something non-alcoholic for a couple of hours - even something as trivial as going to see a single statue, or church, or Munich City Center, but it really does need to be limited to a couple of hours. This long layover is a blessing in disguise, I think - *29 years* since I've set foot in Germany, and for my travel partner, it has been *38 years* (she's been to Hofbräuhaus once, too, back in 1980).

If you're on your way to the EU and your layover is outbound, then you must factor in the time to go thru immigration and customs.  I'd probably just hang out at the airport and drink in the Priority Pass Lounge.

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12 hours ago, washingtony said:

Yes, I agree (and with Eric).  Downtown is too far for such a short layover.  You're best off with the 20 minutes or so taxi ride to the Weihenstephaner brewery and restaurant.

Yeah, I guess I agree too, darn it. But I love Martin's idea of Weihenstephaner and/or Friesing. I thought the airport was only about 20 miles from Hofbrauhaus, no?

Any estimates on how long it will take to clear customs and immigration, given that we're checking our bags through? Or, wait a minute, I forget - if we're flying IAD -> MUN -> NCE, can I check the luggage all the way through? Hmm, and if we fly within the EU to other countries (which we are), do we have to clear customs for every single country we visit? Ugh. That will actually alter our plans, since two devout Catholics in their 80s must, *must*, MUST see La Sagrada Familia according to me, and they've reluctantly agreed, but that might be a bit much for them.

(I don't want to beat this to death, but if anyone happens upon this post, I urge you to see La Sagrada Familia - it's worth a trip to Spain just to see this, even for just a weekend.)

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As the port of entry, you will have to clear passport control in Munich, claims your bags and clear customs, and then recheck them through to your final destination.  But at that point, you're in the Schengen Area, you won't need to reclear passport or customs between member states until you leave.

I hope you do take the Weihenstephan option.  If your diet will allow, dig in to a crispy and succulent schweinshaxe in the brewery's Braustuberl.  I haven't been to Freising since 2000 though, so I don't have any specific current suggestions for you.

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18 minutes ago, ol_ironstomach said:

As the port of entry, you will have to clear passport control in Munich, claims your bags and clear customs, and then recheck them through to your final destination.  But at that point, you're in the Schengen Area, you won't need to reclear passport or customs between member states until you leave.

I hope you do take the Weihenstephan option.  If your diet will allow, dig in to a crispy and succulent schweinshaxe in the brewery's Braustuberl.  I haven't been to Freising since 2000 though, so I don't have any specific current suggestions for you.

Sweet - this is the first time I've ever heard the term, "Schengen Area," but I Googled it, and it looks like as long as I stay within that area, even if I have a suitcase, I won't need to clear customs? (I'm visiting several countries, all in the Schengen Area - it'll be a pain in Munich, but afterwards, oh dear, what if my guests' initial flight is from NCE -> BCN? Since they're both in the Schengen Area, will they need to clear customs in Barcelona?) 

Thank you very much to a good half-dozen people, all of whom have been *extremely* helpful to me - I had no idea about this stuff, and I now realize that it has been years since my port of entry was at a layover point - I've grown accustomed to direct flights from JFK.

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We did Delhi, Munich, Dulles (with a 10 hour layover, yeah that was a long day!).  We got off the plane in Munich and walked through passport control, explained we had a long layover and they stamped us through.  We even found a side passport control area with no lines.  Our luggage stayed checked at the airport the whole time.  I was in the Munich airport bathroom longer than it took us to get into Germany!

Perhaps because we weren't scheduled to actually enter Europe as a flight destination we didn't need to deal with customs and luggage?  I'm not sure how that would work. 

 

 

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If you’re staying in the EU, you only go thru customs once.  I missed my connecting flight to Venice once even though we had 1.5 hrs of connecting time in Frankfurt.  It depends on how busy the airport is at the time you land.  I can’t recall ever going thru Munich on my outbound trips so I can’t help regarding layout.  I just know Frankfurt is a pain.

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On 2/2/2018 at 1:17 AM, ol_ironstomach said:

As the port of entry, you will have to clear passport control in Munich, claims your bags and clear customs, and then recheck them through to your final destination.  But at that point, you're in the Schengen Area, you won't need to reclear passport or customs between member states until you leave.

I hope you do take the Weihenstephan option.  If your diet will allow, dig in to a crispy and succulent schweinshaxe in the brewery's Braustuberl.  I haven't been to Freising since 2000 though, so I don't have any specific current suggestions for you.

On 2/2/2018 at 4:51 AM, Tweaked said:

We did Delhi, Munich, Dulles (with a 10 hour layover, yeah that was a long day!).  We got off the plane in Munich and walked through passport control, explained we had a long layover and they stamped us through.  We even found a side passport control area with no lines.  Our luggage stayed checked at the airport the whole time.  I was in the Munich airport bathroom longer than it took us to get into Germany!

Perhaps because we weren't scheduled to actually enter Europe as a flight destination we didn't need to deal with customs and luggage?  I'm not sure how that would work. 

On 2/2/2018 at 9:54 AM, Tweaked said:

Don, if you do end up with your luggage and you still have time to explore, the Munich airport has a Left Luggage service, where you can store your luggage for a small fee.  Handy if you don't want to run around with your suitcases etc. 

If this community didn't exist, I'd need to start a website (oh, wait a minute ...)

Other than AirBrau at the airport - which is supposed to be pretty darned good - Weihenstephan looks like the answer - this is more appealing to me than Hofbrâuhaus (where I visited in 1989), as the Weihenstephan Benedictine Abbey is possibly the oldest continuously operating brewery in the world (since 1040!). We have a 4:45 layover, and are prepared to pony up for cab service, even if it means ordering one beer and staying for twenty minutes - this should be enough time to clear customs, cab to Freising, have a half=liter, cab back, and clear security, under all but the worst of scenarios (e.g., delayed arrival) yes?

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For anyone staying Munich, I recommend Garmisch-Partenkirchen as an overnight trip - it's about an hour away, and has some wonderful hiking. While driving, you'll see the Zugspitze for a long time before you actually get there.

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you shouldn't have to claim and recheck your bags -- that's really just a U.S. thing. 

I fly a lot through from the US to Amsterdam, connecting to a Schengen country and my bags are checked through from origin to destination. so, if you check-in your bags at IAD, you'll next see them in NCE.

you'll go through immigration in Munich and get your passport stamped, and then will do it again at whichever airport has your flight back to the U.S. So when you land at NCE you'll just head down to baggage claim like you would whenever flying domestic in the U.S.

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I would think so.  I think the key will be how long it takes you to clear customs.  If you make it quickly through, then yes, if the lines drag, well it will be up to you. 

The cab ride will be about 20 minutes, if I remember correctly it cost us about $25, with whatever the exchange rate was a year ago.

I would think if everything goes smoothly with your flight and entering Germany then you could probably have a good hour or so at the brewery.

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22 minutes ago, Deac said:

you shouldn't have to claim and recheck your bags -- that's really just a U.S. thing. 

I fly a lot through from the US to Amsterdam, connecting to a Schengen country and my bags are checked through from origin to destination. so, if you check-in your bags at IAD, you'll next see them in NCE.

you'll go through immigration in Munich and get your passport stamped, and then will do it again at whichever airport has your flight back to the U.S. So when you land at NCE you'll just head down to baggage claim like you would whenever flying domestic in the U.S.

If this is true, you're my hero. There must be *some* point at which we clear customs with our baggage, no? NCE has an international-arrivals baggage claim, so I guess you're talking about there? (PS - if anyone ever flies into NCE, get a window seat on the left of the plane - you head eastbound in parallel to the Mediterranean shore, and can distinctly see the bastard love-child of the Watergate and the Pyramids of Giza - the Marina Baie des Anges in Villeneuve-Loubet - just before landing).

We'll be in Amsterdam also, so you might be getting a PM from me. (As a side note, if anyone hasn't seen "In Bruges," it's better than "Three Billboards.")

19 minutes ago, Tweaked said:

I would think so.  I think the key will be how long it takes you to clear customs.  If you make it quickly through, then yes, if the lines drag, well it will be up to you. 

The cab ride will be about 20 minutes, if I remember correctly it cost us about $25, with whatever the exchange rate was a year ago.

I would think if everything goes smoothly with your flight and entering Germany then you could probably have a good hour or so at the brewery.

Okay, great - if Deac is correct about the IAD check-in (although I could *swear* that I've had problems with this before), then an hour there will be *perfect*.

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1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

If this is true, you're my hero. There must be *some* point at which we clear customs with our baggage, no? NCE has an international-arrivals baggage claim, so I guess you're talking about there? (PS - if anyone ever flies into NCE, get a window seat on the left of the plane - you head eastbound in parallel to the Mediterranean shore, and can distinctly see the bastard love-child of the Watergate and the Pyramids of Giza - the Marina Baie des Anges in Villeneuve-Loubet - just before landing).

We'll be in Amsterdam also, so you might be getting a PM from me. (As a side note, if anyone hasn't seen "In Bruges," it's better than "Three Billboards.")

Okay, great - if Deac is correct about the IAD check-in (although I could *swear* that I've had problems with this before), then an hour there will be *perfect*.

yeah it will be in NCE after you get your bag, but you don't interact with anyone (or fill out a form).  basically you'll just head out a door into the arrivals area where families and limos meet passengers. there will probably be an area for you to go if you have stuff to declare, but I'm guessing you will not.

I guess they can pull you and search your bags but I would seriously doubt that happens.

For work I go a lot from Asheville, NC to Helsinki, and my routing is usually AVL-ATL-AMS-HEL and I give the Delta agent in AVL my bags, then see them again in HEL (hahaha).

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