Food and Beverage of the Day
Apfelsaft
Pretzels
Pre Tour: Minor Attractions of Munich
We fly to Munich the day before the tour is scheduled to start. We were in Munich before on a Christmas 2013 trip, so we are already somewhat familiar with the city, although we have not been in the airport before. We arrive early in the morning and take the train into the city center. After some looking, we find a locker big enough to take both our bags and set out to spend some time in the city.
As we walk through Munich, it is a beautiful, sunny Sunday. The street musicians are out, so there is music in the air. And it feels like every tourist in the city is in Marienplatz waiting for the glockenspiel. I quickly get that "Ah, vacation" feeling, as well as the "I'm in Europe!!!" feeling.
After the theater we stop in a beer hall for lunch, contemplate doing more sights in Munich and decide to push on to Salzburg instead. We return to the train station, collect our bags, and take the next train to Salzburg. It is an easy walk to Hotel Hofwirt, and the folks at the desk are very nice. I have a tradition of always taking a picture out my hotel window when I'm in Europe. It doesn't matter whether the view is spectacular or mundane because looking at those photos later always transports me immediately back to that place and time. So here's a photo of our view from the Hofwirt.
Waiting for the glockenspiel
Obligatory Glockenspiel photos
After the glockenspiel we head over toward the Residenz with the intention of doing the theater. On the way we happen upon a puppet show. I love unexpected discoveries!
The theater at the Residenz does not take long to see, but is worth a look.
I'm glad we saw it.
We round the day out with a trip back to the train station to visit the supermarket and buy picnic food, having found that the supermarket across from the hotel is closed. We are pleased to find apfelsaft (not as sweet as American apple juice) and fresh pretzels, and it's a good first evening in Europe.
View from the train: Munich - Salzburg
Practicalities
City: Munich and Salzburg
Weather: Sunny, 80ish
Hotel: Hofwirt
Sights: Glockenspiel
Theater
Returning to Munich and Salzburg
We visited Munich and Salzburg on a December trip in 2013, so we were excited to come back in the summer.
In Munich we had visited the Residenz and tried to buy combined tickets for the palace, treasury, and theater, but the clerk would not sell us those. She said we did not have time to do all three and would have to choose (it was such a German experience), so we opted for the palace and treasury and skipped over the theater. (The same clerk was very apologetic that there were only 80 rooms in the palace open that day – 80! It took forever to walk through them all, and it was a one-way route, so you couldn’t skip any.)
We also somehow missed the glockenspiel; I have a vague recollection that it was not playing at that time. So we had those two must-dos in Munich.
In Salzburg we had visited Mozart’s house, did a trip to the Silent Night Chapel on Christmas Eve (very special experience, by the way, and if you are ever in Salzburg on Christmas Eve, I highly recommend it), and took the Sound of Music tour, mostly because we thought a drive through the countryside on Christmas Day would be really nice, and it was. But if you are only in it for the countryside, you wouldn’t need to do the Sound of Music tour on the My Way Alps trip because you get much the same experience driving to Hallstatt. We also did a concert at the fortress, but didn’t get a chance to tour it.
So our Salzburg must-dos for this trip were the fortress, the trick fountains at Hellbrunn Palace, which weren’t running in the winter, and a concert at Mirabell Palace. I also hoped to have time to do the Monchsburg walk.