2007 Trip to Munich, Salzburg, Slovenia, Croatia and more..
Munich, Sept 18.
We flew from Tampa, FL yesterday. We had 2 connections - in Chicago (1 hr short connection) , 2.5 hrs in LHR and finally arrived to Munich.
This is first time we flew from Florida, our new home. While from JFK we most time flew nonstop, however JFK is very unfriendly airport (this is my humble opinion). Tampa airport is small and we live nearby. So I would rather take one connection but fly from Tampa.
We were lucky with all flights so far and they arrived on time. In Chicago, we had gate in the same terminal so it was close and 1 hr connection was OK at this time since we arrived on time.
In London as usual, large airport, long distance between terminals . But we had enough time there to decompress. We could not use laptop there because of special UK plugs. We only had European plug. UK is different. We decided will not buy it although they were available in the store at terminal waiting area.
LHR shopping made me depressed since the stores I liked and usually buy there one thing or two, were terribly expensive for us Americans. Harrod's had 50% on seasonal merchandise however it was still expensive. Anyway we found our favorite sandwich chain Pret A Manger and had nice lunch. Turned out that we also had sandwiches on BA flight to Munich. So I skipped BA sandwich later on even though it was good.
We arrived Munich on time. All three flights were good, not that crowded. On flight to London and to Munich, we had extra seat. I still do not sleep well on the planes. Our luggage also made it fine.
We picked up car at Avis and soon were on our way to Munich. Airport was about 30 miles from the city. I am not sure how much taxi would cost.. Plus we will need the car to go to Austria. As for hotel, It was fair period and also Oktoberfest. All hotels were booked however I got a space at small family hotel in a "schloss" (castle) - small renaissance villa near Nymphenburg Palace 3 km from old town "Alstadt". The hotel's name is Laimerhof. It has free parking on the street and located in a lovely residential area near Nymphenburg Palace. When I booked it, I noticed it had rating #1 on trip advisor!
It is owned by a nice young couple Sebastian and Alexandra. Sebastian and his assistant Simon brought our luggage and Sebastian showed me two rooms. When I booked, I told him we will need to work, so he offered to us larger room. It was nice, decorated in Bavarian style. Not too much space for clothes, however we travel light and it was enough for us.
He also offered to use public space where breakfast room is if we need to use wireless laptop (24 eur for 48 hrs). Rooms have wi-fi as well. He has public computer for free which is connected to printer in case we need something to print.
This lovely young man showed us around, gave us info on local restaurants and ran home to put to bed his 2 yr old twins. His wife Alexandra showed later on and asked if everything is fine. It was very nice family atmosphere!
We planned to go to beerhaus restaurant Sebastian's assistant Simon recommended but it started to rain and we ended in restaurant nearby which was also mentioned to us at hotel. It was Yugoslavian restaurant. It had good beer and German fare and was well priced and attended by locals. The owner did not speak English but we found out they are from Split, Croatia and this is where we are going later on on this trip!
We understand Slavic languages so we ended up talking in Russian and they replied in Croatian and we managed just fine. Desert was typical Eastern European - Palacinkas (crepes) with jam, it was delicious.
I am sure we will enjoy Slovenia and Croatia! Looking forward to their food as well
We came back to hotel and George stayed at reception using computer and talking to Simon and I went upstairs to do some work.
Speaking about driving... This time we brought our GPS with us. We especially upgraded our Garmin for European trip and it turned out to be very handy. We only had one problem since we rushed to turn it on in garage and "she" could not acquire satellite. I prepared for that and printed directions to hotel in advance. As you know, German autobahns have speed up to 130 km per hour and it is a new country to drive for us.. So we I can say successfully navigated for about 20 miles, and we kept turning GPS on, finally "she" acquired satellite and took over my job. Thanks!! So George followed her directions quite well, I do admire his calm and ability to adjust to different car with different position of a stick shift (a bit different then in US - rear gear is in pushed ahead, not back like in US).
We found parking and made it fine to hotel.
Tomorrow, we will take a tram (3km) to Old Town and explore Marienplatz and surroundings..
We flew from Tampa, FL yesterday. We had 2 connections - in Chicago (1 hr short connection) , 2.5 hrs in LHR and finally arrived to Munich.
This is first time we flew from Florida, our new home. While from JFK we most time flew nonstop, however JFK is very unfriendly airport (this is my humble opinion). Tampa airport is small and we live nearby. So I would rather take one connection but fly from Tampa.
We were lucky with all flights so far and they arrived on time. In Chicago, we had gate in the same terminal so it was close and 1 hr connection was OK at this time since we arrived on time.
In London as usual, large airport, long distance between terminals . But we had enough time there to decompress. We could not use laptop there because of special UK plugs. We only had European plug. UK is different. We decided will not buy it although they were available in the store at terminal waiting area.
LHR shopping made me depressed since the stores I liked and usually buy there one thing or two, were terribly expensive for us Americans. Harrod's had 50% on seasonal merchandise however it was still expensive. Anyway we found our favorite sandwich chain Pret A Manger and had nice lunch. Turned out that we also had sandwiches on BA flight to Munich. So I skipped BA sandwich later on even though it was good.
We arrived Munich on time. All three flights were good, not that crowded. On flight to London and to Munich, we had extra seat. I still do not sleep well on the planes. Our luggage also made it fine.
We picked up car at Avis and soon were on our way to Munich. Airport was about 30 miles from the city. I am not sure how much taxi would cost.. Plus we will need the car to go to Austria. As for hotel, It was fair period and also Oktoberfest. All hotels were booked however I got a space at small family hotel in a "schloss" (castle) - small renaissance villa near Nymphenburg Palace 3 km from old town "Alstadt". The hotel's name is Laimerhof. It has free parking on the street and located in a lovely residential area near Nymphenburg Palace. When I booked it, I noticed it had rating #1 on trip advisor!
It is owned by a nice young couple Sebastian and Alexandra. Sebastian and his assistant Simon brought our luggage and Sebastian showed me two rooms. When I booked, I told him we will need to work, so he offered to us larger room. It was nice, decorated in Bavarian style. Not too much space for clothes, however we travel light and it was enough for us.
He also offered to use public space where breakfast room is if we need to use wireless laptop (24 eur for 48 hrs). Rooms have wi-fi as well. He has public computer for free which is connected to printer in case we need something to print.
This lovely young man showed us around, gave us info on local restaurants and ran home to put to bed his 2 yr old twins. His wife Alexandra showed later on and asked if everything is fine. It was very nice family atmosphere!
We planned to go to beerhaus restaurant Sebastian's assistant Simon recommended but it started to rain and we ended in restaurant nearby which was also mentioned to us at hotel. It was Yugoslavian restaurant. It had good beer and German fare and was well priced and attended by locals. The owner did not speak English but we found out they are from Split, Croatia and this is where we are going later on on this trip!
We understand Slavic languages so we ended up talking in Russian and they replied in Croatian and we managed just fine. Desert was typical Eastern European - Palacinkas (crepes) with jam, it was delicious.
I am sure we will enjoy Slovenia and Croatia! Looking forward to their food as well
We came back to hotel and George stayed at reception using computer and talking to Simon and I went upstairs to do some work.
Speaking about driving... This time we brought our GPS with us. We especially upgraded our Garmin for European trip and it turned out to be very handy. We only had one problem since we rushed to turn it on in garage and "she" could not acquire satellite. I prepared for that and printed directions to hotel in advance. As you know, German autobahns have speed up to 130 km per hour and it is a new country to drive for us.. So we I can say successfully navigated for about 20 miles, and we kept turning GPS on, finally "she" acquired satellite and took over my job. Thanks!! So George followed her directions quite well, I do admire his calm and ability to adjust to different car with different position of a stick shift (a bit different then in US - rear gear is in pushed ahead, not back like in US).
We found parking and made it fine to hotel.
Tomorrow, we will take a tram (3km) to Old Town and explore Marienplatz and surroundings..
posted by Sophia Kulich | 12:48 PM
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