EUROTRIP - Frankfurt & Munich, Germany; Mayrhofen & Villach, Austria
Updated: Aug 31, 2022
June 26th, 2022 - Bangkok to Frankfurt ✈️
After an 11 hour flight, we touched down uneventfully in Frankfurt, Germany, around 7pm. Immigration took about 20 minutes, and after a very short conversation with a German immigration agent we were allowed in without further questioning or needing to produce proof of onward travel or sufficient funds. Great!
After collecting our bags and figuring out where to go we took the S-bahn from the airport to our hotel. Germany had a promotion running for June, July, and August, where one 9-euro ticket covers unlimited local and regional travel for the month. We made good use of it! We got off the S-bahn and began walking through nearly empty streets, marveling at the glorious 70 degree weather; what a change. We arrived at the hotel -- the cheapest place we could find at 81 euros for the night. It must have been a special because it was a very nice hotel. We even had a huge bottle of water waiting for us with the label "dehydration is not an option". How thoughtful...
Because of the time difference between Thailand and Germany, by the time we got to the hotel it was way past midnight Bangkok time, therefore we were a bit sleepy and ready to call it a day. We showered, hydrated and went to sleep. Even with the time difference on our side it was very hard to fall asleep; the sunset here was at 21:40 and it was still light outside at 22:00... Very strange.
This was the first time we experienced the European Way of sleeping -- two twin mattresses next to each other, with two separate blankets, and giant square pillows. Madness!!! At first it was alien but after having slept this way for 2 months, we're converts. No more waking up at 3am totally uncovered, lying next to a human burrito... and the square pillows offer more flexibility in how you place your head and upper body, making for an overall much more comfortable and supportive sleeping experience.
Something else that surprised us were the windows! In almost every place we stayed the windows were two way acting -- they can open to be a hopper or a casement. The first time I opened one as a hopper it was scary.
June 27th, 2022 - Frankfurt to Munich 🚌
Our alarm clock went off around 5am, and waking up was not hard, however we were still missing a good chunk of sleep. After getting our stuff together, we walked to the bus station to get the bus that would take us to Munich.
My Dad said Frankfurt wasn't very interesting so we just did a quick walking tour on our way to the bus station.
We walked through the main town square which was set up for an Iron Man Competition that had taken place the day before... we realized that yesterday we had seen a competitor on the train with his bike and a medal!
We walked by Frankfurter Dom, some pretty bridges, and a mix of historic and contemporary architecture. We were walking quite early in the morning -- there were very few people on the streets... including one mentally unwell person who was knocking over potted plants, stacked chairs, etc... we watched as the police came over to get him to stop...
We walked through the hauptbahnhof to look for breakfast (there was none).
We eventually made it to the bus station, sat down, and watched pigeons discover half a sandwich under a van. Originally we had booked a train run by FlixBus ($22), but for some reason the train was canceled and we were stuck with a bus. The bus ride was planned to be around 6 hours, however, due to a huge amount of traffic it took closer to 7 and a half hours while stopping at every town on our way and picking up more people. At one point, we stopped at a highway rest area -- and we experienced single user restrooms that were extremely over-engineered... It took a good minute to figure out how to flush the toilet and the sink, soap, and hand dryer were all built into roughly a 12" x 12" x 12" cubic alcove... with no stickers showing how to use or where each item should originate. The water then shot out from the top of the cube at approximately 60 miles per hour, spraying everywhere.
Finally we made it to Munich, unloaded, and started walking towards our pension. We noticed people staring at us wherever we walked. Did we have something on our shirts? Were we dressed oddly? Was it that abnormal to see an Asian person here? None of this turned out to be true, and we later learned the "German Stare" is a thing. For whatever reason, Germans look at people in passing a few milliseconds longer than average -- and for a social species like humans, this is noticeable. So we brushed it off and started staring right back.
We were tired so we decided to stop for food on the way in -- popping into Aldi where we were pleasantly surprised by food prices -- and loaded up on what we could survive on without a fridge. Mixed nuts (very affordable here), bananas, and a tub of skyr which we'd have to eat in a few hours. Later, I also found some gluten free stroopwaffles at a Russian grocer around the corner, which were great. It seemed like labeling laws were excellent in Germany (and the EU) -- if there was a chance of cross-contamination from gluten or any number of other allergies it was always clearly written at the end of the ingredients list. In the US, food can be labeled gluten free with under 20PPM of gluten, which might occur when manufactured in a shared facility (which is only sometimes disclosed). I will get sick from less than 20ppm. I've found if it says gluten-free on packaging here, it actually is.
Our pension was on a very busy street, and cash only (70EUR/night with a shared bathroom). Vitali had to run to find an ATM before we could check in.
There was some construction going on, constant police activity and best of all, right under our windows there was a retail area with electronics, shawarma, and strip clubs. The neighborhood we were in seemed to be an Arab enclave.
Our room did not have AC so we had to keep our window open overnight to get some fresh air. At night, the locals hung out by the shawarma until 4am, shouting and smoking cigarettes. The noise was terrible, and we had flashbacks to being in Egypt.
June 28th, 2022 - Munich
Today we woke up at 5am, Vitali quite grumpy about the noise overnight. Before leaving to sightsee, Vitali asked the front desk if we could switch to a different room that would face the courtyard due to the noise. The lady at the reception looked at us like we were crazy and told us that she would check with her boss.
Then we discovered they had fans available for rent so we decided to get the fan and keep the windows closed. When the lady brought the fan to our room she asked "Can I come in and erect the fan?" 😂 The fan was only two pieces.
The plan was to take the subway to the Munich Residenz, however when we got there around 9am we discovered that the place was not open until 2pm, so we decided to walk around a bit to admire the architecture before going elsewhere.
We hopped on the subway and headed to the Olympiapark, home of the 1972 summer Olympics.
We passed by the memorial of the Munich Massacre, when a group of Palestinian terrorists took the lives of 11 Israeli coaches and competitors and a German police officer during the games.
And walked by the buildings where the hostage took place.
We continued walking towards the main stadium. I loved that the entire area was now a public park. The biggest problem with architecture for events like the Olympics is how easy it is to spend millions of dollars on essentially single use structures. It has gotten a lot better in the past few decades and supposedly these structures host a fair amount of events.
We paid a few euros to walk around inside and appreciated the sculptural beauty and structural details.
You could also pay like 75EUR to walk on top of the structure, but that was out of our budget.
We walked around the upper edge of the stadium. People were scattered about and seemed to be setting up for an upcoming event.
We stopped by the pool structure too. I didn't know but you could swim here! If we had known Vitali would have brought his speedo... Much better than Zaha's pool in London and the roof reminded us of DIA.
Then we followed a path to the top of a hill which had a great view over the park. The overall composition was very balanced and pleasing to view.
We later learned that what they were setting up for was the 50th anniversary of the games. Below, a temporary exhibition celebrating 50 years.
The park had a little beer garden and other art installations scattered about. It was really nice.
After that we walked over to the BMW Welt, basically across the highway from the park. We had studied this building in school so it was cool to see in person.
We walked around to the entrance, which was free, unlike the BMW Museum which cost 10EUR a piece.
The building was extremely photogenic and so were the cars.
The interior of the museum had a lot of exhibition style architectural elements, lighting, and interactive displays.
Super unique architecture. At times the design felt a little chaotic though.
In the center of the building was where you can take delivery of your new BMW vehicle, if you so choose.
This guy was hanging out around the corner... 👀
We headed back to the subway and got off near a gluten free bakery back in town.
We acquired some baked goods, which were ok, but nothing mind-blowing. We hopped on a tram and made it back to the pension.
June 29th, 2022 - Munich
Today we were meeting Vitali's good friend Bartos from his SCAD swimming days. We took the subway over to his neighborhood.
And spent some time chit chatting about life. We also took some shots of Ukrainian Vodka for "World Peace".
Prior to coming to Germany we had ordered some stuff online that we would need for trekking and had it shipped to Bartos' apartment, so we unboxed our new goodies while we were there too. We ordered trekking poles, a pair of boots and insoles for Leandra, two pairs of wool socks for us both, and gloves.
We headed out for our walking tour which would have us crawling all over town! My tendon was doing much better at this point. I was able to walk 12 miles with minimal discomfort during, and only some soreness after getting back and resting.
We passed by countless interesting buildings.
And then we stopped for lunch in a small cafe.
After lunch we stopped by an outdoor retailer where Vitali was able to find some trail runners. We now had everything we needed to trek!
We headed over to the historic town square, Marienplatz, passing the Viktualienmarkt, beautiful parks (where no one seemed to be working), learned about "wegbier" and the general work life balance of a German in Munich. Hint: it's fantastic.
Then we headed over to a spot on the river where people surf. Yes, you read that right... There was an orderly line and a lot more folks than one would expect on an early Wednesday afternoon...
Then we walked by the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, the museum of German Art, and the first monumental building of Nazi architecture, which was also utilized as an instrument of propaganda. It is hulking and massive, and certainly feels like a powerful symbol of presence and the Third Reich's will to dominate. As Nazi architecture goes, it featured the usual oversized openings and exaggerated scale. Bartos pointed out bullet holes in the facade...
After the end of the war it was used by American occupation forces as a mess hall. Today, it is used for temporary exhibitions.
Outside there were two art installations that we could see. One being a series of Chinese porcelain pots pinned between the columns with bamboo rods and the other a banner with giant Yiddish phrases like 'kibbitzer' and 'meshugener', which translate to 'wise guy' and 'crackpot'. There was also a cafe out back.
We continued our walk.
Eventually arriving at a beautiful monument to peace.
We walked by the Bavarian State Parliament building which was quite impressive, nestled in a green space.
We headed back towards town walking through seemingly endless public green spaces, parks, and forested pathways.
We walked by more interesting architecture and through the Königsplatz which had a few pieces of neo-classical architecture.
Leandra was getting tired at this point so she went back to the pension while Vitali and Bartos caught up over dinner.
June 30th, 2022 - Munich to Mayrhofen, Austria 🚆
Today we were leaving Germany and heading to Austria. Before that though, we had one more place to visit -- the Nymphenburg Palace. We headed to Bartos' house where we left our bags and then took the subway out to the palace, the main summer residence of the former Bavarian rulers.
It was already quite hot out, and we were sweating in the sun.
We bought tickets, which were a little expensive, and walked around inside with an audio guide.
As you might expect... the interiors were lavishly decorated with frescoes, intricately carved wood, and gilt elements as far as the eye could see...
Below, the Gallery of Beauties... Bavarian King Ludwig I had his official painter of the court paint various young women he had seen and deemed worth collecting, from various backgrounds -- royalty, nobility, and even regular middle-class women like seamstresses and a shoemaker's daughter. What a creeper.
We headed outside after to take in the exterior, once used for hunting grounds and pleasure making. We headed towards the three smaller buildings (that we paid extra to enter!) scattered around the grounds that straddled the line of functional and folly.
It was beautifully groomed forest, field, and garden. Can you imagine, being a prince or princess here for the summer, playing outside all day?
The first little building we came across was the Pagodenburg, so named for its oriental interiors, as was haute couture at the time.
Downstairs was done up in a beautiful blue and white porcelain theme while upstairs had a green French regency room for relaxing and a Chinese salon and cabinet. If I was summering here you wouldn't find me for days.
We continued our walk through the grounds, passing various follies and sculptures carefully placed.
Periodically there were axes which provided vistas back to the palace. The swan below is real and we walked by quickly, fearing an attack.
Then we made it to the Badenburg, a building solely used for bathing. My kind of place!
Inside, a spectacular main hall and a two story bathing area/pool, lined with lead. This is the type of pool for walking around in contemplatively.
Finally, after getting more and more tired as the heat of the sun beat down on us... we made it to the last building, Amalienburg, a hunting lodge used during pheasant hunts.
The interiors had incredible illustrations of flora and fauna, and a huge amount of gilt silver ornamentation.
After that we headed towards the last thing included in our ticket -- a small museum to the royal horse livery and other objects of the Bavarian rulers. There were carriages, sleds, carriages on sleds with fur blankets... Ornamental armor (or a coat?) for a horse covered in bells, and a really nice set of fish themed serving platters.
Where would our art and architectural legacy be without the patronage of wealthy families with too much time on their hands???
After our visit to the palace, we went back to Bartos' place to grab our bags and say goodbye before starting our journey to Austria. We had 3 trains to take to get to Mayrhofen, a village at the head of the Zillertal in the Austrian Alps.
Our first train was to Kufstein, just over the border in Austria, which we were able to use our 9-euro pass for. In Kufstein we experienced our first train that was late. We were shocked -- I thought trains in Europe were always on time??? We worried about making our connection in Jenbach, but eventually it showed up -- and on the platform behind where it should have been! It cost us 35EUR to get from Kufstein to Mayrhofen.
As we approached Jenbach we began seeing the foothills of the alps running along side the railway.
In Jenbach we got off and quickly found the Zillertalbahn, an adorable older red train that goes up and down the Ziller valley. We ended up missing the train we had planned but
fortunately this train runs every hour and we were able to get on the next one.
Once we were on the last train the landscape began to change -- the valley walls became steeper and closer together. These were not the wild mountains we were used to though -- these had the marks of long human occupation. Neatly cleared lawns and fields denuded the hillsides -- and the ubiquitous white and brown of Austrian high country vernacular dotted the expanses of green.
We decided to ride to the end of the line, to Mayrhofen, to pick up some groceries before walking 20 minutes to our guesthouse on the outskirts of the village.
We had been craving mountain landscapes since leaving Patagonia in March -- and right at the end of the line the landscape changed with the promise of some dramatic alpine beauty.
We got off the train and headed towards town, stopping at a Billa, a grocery chain we would later find throughout Europe.
We power walked to our guesthouse as it threatened to rain and poked around outside until someone appeared and checked us in. Once we had dropped our bags a thunderous clap rolled through the valley and the sky began to pour. Good timing!
Check out the camera shaking thunder below.
Somehow I managed to find this place for only 62EUR/night which was a steal for the area. It had a full kitchen, dining area, and an adorable balcony with a million dollar view.
The air was clean and wholesome.
The cooler weather and intensity of green around us felt quite restorative.
We indulged in a wonderful self-made home-cooked meal for the first time in what felt like ages and watched the sun set.
July 1st, 2022 - Mayrhofen
The clouds interacted with the mountains in interesting ways the next morning.
When the sun made it over the adjacent ridge the grass turned so green.
I made a delicious breakfast and enjoyed the view, quite content to be back in the mountains.
My tendon was doing quite well by this point. I could walk many miles without pain. I was gaining confidence that we'd be able to start the trek on July 20th and complete it. All we had left to do was get our trail legs back.
I had found some new ultralight boots by my favorite hiking boot brand -- La Sportiva. I have a very narrow, low volume foot and their designs are made for feet like mine. I was excited to test them out.
The guesthouse had free bicycles for use so we took advantage and biked back into town for more supplies. There's never enough yogurt!
Our little place up on the top floor. The owner dropped us off a discount card today for staying in the valley that would save us a few dollars on attractions.
July 2nd, 2022 - Mayrhofen
Today we would be testing my tendon for the first time, by hiking up the Ahornspitze. We woke up early and rode bikes into town and to the Mayrhofen Bergbahnen and were there before it opened at 8am. This was EXPENSIVE! Our discount card saved us about 5 dollars. It was 48EUR for us both, round trip. The cable car saved about 3,000' of gain.
It was totally overcast when we got there. We loaded up into the very large car and ascended into the mist...
Before long, we pierced what we learned to be low-lying fog in the valley, and found ourselves thrust into brilliant sunshine.
At the top we could look back down to the valley shrouded in fog.
And we continued on our merry way. It was quite cold up here!
First we had to walk through a network of paths -- passing by a restaurant, man-made wading pool, and what looked like agricultural outbuildings.
Once we were on the trail proper we lost a bit of elevation traversing towards the summit.
After about 1,000' of gain we came to the Edelhutte and had a snack before continuing.
After the hut, the grade steepened significantly.
We passed a lot of sheeps!
As we ascended up through the cirque the flora ceased.
Near the top of the cirque we ascended to a saddle and then headed towards the summit.
Near the summit the trail turned a little scrambly and then into a secured route as it went behind the first false summit and to the actual summit a little ways up the ridge behind. This was our first encounter with a Via Ferrata, an "Iron Way", first used by the Italian military in WWI to get men and equipment up mountains and to advantageous positions. These are not yet popular in the US but apparently are everywhere in Europe. To me, it seems like a step between hiking and sport climbing. You are secured to the mountain like sport climbing, but generally have iron steps, footholds, and handholds (in the form of rods and rebar), instead of relying on friction from your shoes or grip from your hands. As a result you can end up in pretty dramatic places -- like the sheer granite face of a mountain, with much more ease and much less risk.
This looked to be the lowest grade -- grade A, equivalent to a class 2 scramble. We were able to traverse it with just a little bit of scrambling.
Below, looking back at the route. You can see the little red and white blaze in the lower center that Vitali was standing by in the previous picture.
At the top we signed the log book and had a good look around. Elevation: 9,754'.
We headed back down. Zoom in to see the little people on the ridge way below!
Once we were back down out of the talus the trail was much gentler.
We walked back by the Edelhutte which had now sprouted 20 colorful umbrellas and probably 100 people eating sausages and drinking beers! Below left, the alternate trail up to the mountain hut. The trail network here was extensive and appeared well-signed.
Auf Wiedersehen!
There were lots of people milling about up here now. Who would spend $25/person just to mill about up here, I don't know. Although we did fork over the cash, making it one of the more expensive hikes we paid to do.
A nice sign and the Ahornspitze in the distance.
We hopped on the car and rode back down, the fog having totally lifted.
We biked back to our place and noticed there were a lot of paragliders in the sky. At times, the sky was full of them! They were mostly landing at a property we could see across the road from our guesthouse.
After we were fed and showered we laid in the grass and enjoyed the buzzing of the bees. My tendon had performed well! Almost no pain, although it was sore after.
July 3rd, 2022 - Mayrhofen
My tendon felt okay this morning so we rode about 4.5 miles over to a trailhead to see some waterfalls. There was a nice bike path that followed the valley.
I learned that the area were were in is part of the historic region of Tyrol, an estate of the Holy Roman Empire, which is now a modern-day Euroregion spread across Austria and Italy. The ubiquitous "traditional" Tyrolean architecture was in fact... invented! I read a very interesting exploration of the phenomena by a German urbanist, worth reading here if you are interested in how politics and identity can shape architecture.
Regardless... the buildings are quite picturesque.
After doubling back once or twice to take a photograph I couldn't live without... we crossed through some fields and spied the hill that would take us to the trailhead. All of the farmland seemed to have single lane paved tracks for access and equipment transport. Vitali biked up this hill but I had to push my bike up and walk. The picture makes it look almost flat but it was NOT, averaging about 10% for most of the climb and 19% near the top.
Not knowing where we'd end up we locked the bikes to the trail signage and followed where it was pointing -- to the Talbach Wasserfall. I really appreciated while we were in Germany and Austria seeing and hearing how many words from our shared Germanic origins were similar or even the same.
The hike started out with a climb... that didn't last too long. We found the waterfall quickly, and watched some people climb a C/D section of Via Ferrata.
Further up the trail was a better view of the upper falls.
We followed the trail onwards, passing through beautiful forest.
We continued towards the second waterfall, Laimacher. I wasn't aware how much gain would be involved today... and we were definitely feeling yesterday's exertions.
Eventually we made it to the waterfall and were a little disappointed. It was just okay.
After that we tried to follow google maps back to where we started but ran into a property where the road didn't pass through. So we had to double back and take the long way around...
We didn't think through where we parked our bikes and had to walk back up that hill again to retrieve them. Oy.
Once we picked the bikes up we flew down the hill and then got back on the bike path to go home. The Zillertalbahn passed us!
We were pretty tired by the time we got back.
July 4th, 2022 - Mayrhofen
We walked to the grocery store again and took the opportunity to photograph the cute little town.
July 5th, 2022 - Mayrhofen to Villach 🚆
Our final morning we had some nice sunlight and cloud action on the adjacent valley wall.
We packed up and walked to the train station, passing a peculiar sight.
And hopped on the bahn back down to Jenbach. At Jenbach, there was a pretty cool steam train.
We were headed towards Slovenia so we decided to break up the five part journey into three and two. The second section today dropped us off in Schwarzach - St. Veit, where we waited again for a late train.
Eventually it came and took us to Villach, where we would stop for the night before continuing. In Austria, only about half of the time did anyone come to check our train ticket. This trip cost 89EUR.
We got off at the main hauptbahnhof and walked 15 minutes to where we were staying, a small hotel for 70EUR/night.
Since we only had the afternoon here we dropped our bags then went out to explore.
But first -- McDonalds. In Austria (and a few other countries), McDonalds offers a gluten-free bun and the french fries are made in a dedicated fryer. This was the first McDonalds I'd eaten in over ten years. Tears of joy. We felt bad as Americans walking into a McDonalds in Europe but it is what it is.
The bun was not bad and the burger itself was actually really good. We had to pay an extra 2.10EUR for 3 ketchup packets though...
After that, I had to go buy some Rennie acid reflux tablets. 😂 12EUR for a pack of 30!!! We had noticed retail stores, compared to in the US, had a different delineation of product categories. In the US in a grocery store like King Soopers you'd find OTC medicine, hair products, other toiletries, along with a full assortment of fresh and packaged food. Here, grocery stores sold mostly food with a small selection of essentials, like deodorant. In smaller grocery stores, we often only found packaged food with very limited fruit/veg. We found ourselves having to go to stores like DM (drogerie market) to buy things like shampoo and contact solution. These were more like a CVS in the US. One thing I could not find -- lactase enzyme for my lactose intolerance.
The small downtown area of Villach was quite lively with summer in full swing, although everyone was old. Hardly any young people walking about.
Across the bridge seemed to be newer construction.
We stopped by another Billa where I found a ton of gluten free junk food. Schar is available in the US but made in Germany so I was delighted to find snacks straight from the source.
We got back to our hotel in the afternoon just as it started to rain.
Tomorrow, we'd take the train to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, where we'd continue our training in Triglav National Park.
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