Day 1 – Berlin – September 28
We arrived on the southside of Berlin at the Südkruez station around 2:45 in the afternoon. We had been unable to get our tickets from Hamburg to Munich until entering the country, due to our particular rail pass, so we waited in a long line of people only to find out the tickets we wanted were sold out. Elizabeth accidentally dropped her phone on the clerk’s hand, he was not happy about it. Maybe that’s why we couldn’t get seats, or maybe everyone wants to go to the last weekend of Oktoberfest, there’s no way to know for sure. After some schedule finagling, we were able to buy a couple of tickets then boarded the train towards the city center. Our Airbnb host was out of town and we were staying in her room, so she left the house keys in a drop box near the city center.
It was a nightmare getting there. We didn’t realize the Berlin marathon was this weekend so everything was packed. We barely made it onto the subways with our big bags, squished between dozens of other travelers, some with their bicycles. Eventually we got the key and continued north to the Turkish district and our Airbnb. Berlin has the largest Turkish population outside of Turkey and we were excited to eat Döner Kebab. We settled in and checked the weather – looked like it would be a cold rainy weekend in Berlin.
We grabbed a taxi and headed over to our first stop, the Prater Biergarten. This place was a sprawling field of picnic tables and tall trees hidden within a residential area. It had stopped raining at this point, so we wiped off a picnic table and grabbed some beer and food. The pretzel was the most amazing thing Elizabeth had ever tasted, and the bratwurst with potato salad was good too. Again, we were under buckeye trees and startled by the frequent bang of them smashing on the surrounding picnic tables. We finished our beers and decided to check out some other bars.
Our first stop was called NEMO. The bar was really cool, playing American classics from the 90s and Ryan found Wernesgrüner beer on tap, a beer he and his Papa drink in Waco together. Germany passed a nationwide smoking ban and we’d been told by our German hosts in Vienna that it wouldn’t be an issue. Well there were ashtrays everywhere and it didn’t take long for the place to fill with smoke. Apparently, there is a loophole that if a bar is below a certain size, and doesn’t sell food, people can smoke indoors. With all the rain and cold no one was smoking outside.
We finished our beers and headed to another bar called Bar Central Berlin. We grabbed some more beers and ran into the same issue, we even tried moving to the other side of the bar, but it didn’t help much. I guess this is just something we’ll have to get used to during our week in Germany; it’s a shame, or as the Germans say: schade. We are both still recovering from our colds, so I guess we look great hacking up a lung from phlegm and smoke. We finished our beers and taxied home through the rain.
Day 2 – Berlin,– September 29
It was cold and overcast again when we woke up the next day. Across the street is a gorgeous red brick catholic church and we wandered over for 10:30 mass. It was a very eclectic mass beginning with traditional organ music, followed by children singing along an acoustic guitar; then during communion traditional African tribal music was sang by women in traditional garb, and at the end we wrapped it up with more solemn organ.
We were pretty hungry, and after getting on the wrong train, found ourselves back in the city center. Our first stop was a bar/brewery/restaurant called Brauhaus Lemke. We drank beers and hot mulled wine while enjoying more pretzel and sausages. Ryan even got a dished called Lebensmittel, which tasted like spam with an egg on top surrounded by roasted potatoes. But like the best spam you’ve ever had. It looked like the marathon finished up around 2 pm as we started seeing people pour in with medals on.
We next wandered to a bakery called Zeit für Brot (time for bread) to get some pastries. The place was packed. We grabbed a cherry cinnamon roll and coffee and headed back out. Luckily it wasn’t raining hard so we walked around the park with views of the big “TV Tower” in the background. The cinnamon roll tasted phenomenal.
After warming our bellies, we went to another bar called BraufactuM Berlin am Alexanderplatz. We grabbed a couple beers and had to pay for tap water. Ryan did the analysis and 1.5 liters of tap water for 5 euro was better than 0.3 liters for 2 euro, so we had plenty of water to drink. We sat in a booth surrounded by more tourists and marathon runners and planned ahead for future trips. A group of Indian men sat down behind us and complained to the waitstaff about having to pay for water, they said even in their country water is free.
We decided to head back towards our Airbnb to find more bars and eventually dinner. Our first stop was to F Bar. This was a real dive. They had just opened when we arrived at 6:15 pm and didn’t have any cash in the register yet. The bartender sounded Irish and told us just to take a seat, he’ll charge us when we leave. We sat in the back of a very dark room with inappropriate drawings covering the walls, ceilings and lampshades. Two men sitting back there were discussing film, they were filmmakers, in an artsy-make-you-never-wanna-see-a-film-again way. Eventually one of them began smoking and we left after our beers. We luckily had exact change to pay since they only took cash and couldn’t break a 50. Next, we headed to another bar called Offside Pub & Whiskey Bar. There was a soccer match on between Berlin and Cologne so people were chain smoking and cheering at the TV. By the time we left, the whole bar had a thin haze. The bar itself was really cool and there was a model train and replica of the city glued to the ceiling.
Hungry and tired we decided to grab dinner and head home. Since we were in the Turkish district, we need to get doner. We found a little kiosk and got a pita doner and a French fry box. It may have been the best doner of Elizabeth’s entire life. Filled with sauces and vegetables, it was all she could do not eat it on the walk home.
Day 3 – Berlin to Hamburg – September 30
When we woke up the rain was gone but had been replaced by a crazy wind storm. We got dressed in our rock climbing clothes then headed out to a Turkish bakery. The walk felt like we were in a hurricane, being buffeted by gale force winds. We got a few pastries and some cappuccinos and ate them quickly inside the little store; one was a burek, a meat pastry similar to what we ate in Croatia, and the other was a chocolate napolitana. We got to the gym and spent a few hours rock climbing. They had an outdoor area but we weren’t able to use it due to the weather. The gym had a bunch of routes and some seriously high walls with aggressive overhangs, it was great. They also required you to have shoes on (socks would not cut it) while you walked around the gym for ‘hygienic’ reasons, which didn’t make much sense to Ryan.
After getting in a good workout we showered at the Airbnb and headed towards the train station. The Berlin main central station was huge. We quickly wolfed down cheap pizza and cheese pastries at a kiosk only to find out our train was delayed due to the weather. We settled for sharing a beer and some fish and chips at a small greasy restaurant right near our platform. Good thing we did, because they train came earlier than the delay reported and left before it was supposed to. We sat across from each other, window side and watch the storms as we made the 1.5-hour ride to Hamburg.
We arrived in Hamburg to torrential downpours. We tried to walk the 12 minutes to our Airbnb, but were getting too wet for our comfort, so we ducked into a bar called GoldFischGlas to wait it out. We sipped our wine and beer while the work crowd poured in. About an hour later the rain paused and we made the final dash to our hostel, Backpackers St. Pauli.
This hostel was awesome and the lady running it was the friendliest German woman we’d ever met. We checked in at the bar then made our way up to our 7-person room. Elizabeth slept on a creaky bottom bunk and Ryan in the twin next to her. Our roommates were quiet and polite, all boys, but someone reeked. No way to know who for sure, just that it wasn’t us this time. After settling in, we went to find some dinner. We walked about 5 minutes in the rain and found a restaurant called Krug. We didn’t realize we’d accidently stumbled into an elegant romantic restaurant, but hungry for a good German meal, we decided to stretch the budget for an evening. We shared a bottle of red German wine and Ryan ate the veal something while Elizabeth had cheese dumplings in a mushroom sauce. Everything was so fantastic and exactly what Ryan was looking for from a menu: upscale, modern takes on local, traditional flavors.
Day 4 – Hamburg – October 1
It was pouring rain again the next morning, so we packed up a backpack and headed out to find some breakfast. We found a table at a cute café called kraweel. We ordered coffee and tea with a ham and cheese grilled croissant and had a granola yogurt. We sat with the other café loungers for an hour or so hoping the rain would pass for our 20-minute walk north to Braugasthaus Altes Mädchen which opened at noon.
We were in luck and made it to the brewery right before the next big wave of storms began to fall. We walked up when they were opening the doors and nabbed a couple seats by the window. We spent the afternoon sampling their beers and planning some logistics for our upcoming trips to France and Egypt. Around 5 we started to get hungry and decided to try out a different brewery that opened at 6 down by the river. Leaving ended up being a more difficult endeavor than we arriving, the plaza was bustling now, and we accidentally wandered into a private wine tasting. We were quickly stopped by a German woman asking if we needed help; Ryan got so flustered he forgot all of his German and simply squawked a ‘Danke!’ and they scampered out. We braved the rain and hurried to the nearby bar Katze, to down another pint and wait for the next brewery to open. When we left, we broke down and paid the 8-euro taxi fee to take us the mile and a half down to the river.
Astra brewery had a cool set up that specialized in pizza and beer. We sat in silence scarfing down our two Neapolitan pizzas and drinking more beer. We hung out for a while then decided to walk along the Reeperbahn, a famous street in Hamburg. We thought it was famous for bars, but really, it’s a street full of shops, fast food, and nudey bars/stores. Apparently, this is where the sailors used to come and why prostitution was and is still so rampant here. We stopped in a few bars, but nothing grabbed us to stay, so we went home and went to bed.
Day 5 – Hamburg – October 2
We decided to go rock climbing at a huge DAV center (climbing gyms that are subsidized by the government). We packed up our climbing gear and stopped into a restaurant called Pauline’s for breakfast. We shared yogurt with porridge and delicious French toast, carbo loading prior to our workout. Next it was a tram and bus to get to the northern portion of the city.
We spent almost 6 hours climbing at the center, the most continuous climbing we’d ever done. They gym was absolutely stacked with routes of all sorts of difficulties and styles and it wasn’t too crowded – the perfect setting. That being said, Germans don’t seem to have the best climbing etiquette and would often climb beneath/next to us even though the gym had plenty of space. They had an outdoor climbing area but every time we tried to go outside, a huge storm would roll in.
By the time we left, we’d worked up a big appetite and headed back down towards the Reeperbahn to get some Indian food at a restaurant called Maharaja. The food was pretty good and we shared the Himalaya Kofta and Butter chicken. Their rice had pomegranate and a ton of vegetables in it which was surprisingly good. We ended the night in our hostel bar, having a few happy hour beers and listening to the traveling youth attempt to solve the world’s problems.
Day 6 – Hamburg to Munich – October 3
We woke up to a finally clear day and headed out to grab some breakfast at Brot und Stulle. Hamburg is known for a particular pastry called the Franzbrötchen. We got one plain and one with struesel on it. So sweet, rich and flaky – basically a German croissant mixed with a cinnamon roll.
After we walked about an hour, going towards the port and seeing all the big boats and cranes. It’s a shame we weren’t able to do more in both Berlin and Hamburg, but considering in the last 3.5 months we haven’t had a lot of weather issues so we’ll take this bad spell in stride.
We made it to the train station early to buy some snacks for our 6-hour train to Munich. It was delayed, but we got lucky when it arrived as our assigned car pulled up right in front of us on the platform. Today is German Unity Day, and we didn’t realize so many people had the day off. The train was absolutely packed. Luckily, we reserved our seats because people were sitting in all the aisles and in entrance ways. It made walking to the bar car quite the tricky situation. The train ride was long and riddled with screaming kids and delays. Finally, we made it into Munich around 7 pm.
We walked towards our Airbnb and were surrounded by drunk people from all walks of life. This was Oktoberfest’s final weekend and people who trained in during the morning were stumbling back on their trains home. Every other man was wearing Lederhosen and every other woman Dirndl. We made it to our overpriced bedroom and dropped our stuff off. We walked down the block to a traditional German restaurant called Lindwurmstüberl. We got half liters of beer and split the Jäger Schnitzel – it was delicious and gave us the fuel needed for our drinking binge the next morning.
Day 7 – Munich – October 4
We got up the next morning around 7 and luckily it wasn’t raining. The fairgrounds open at 9 and the tents open at 10. Since we didn’t have any reservations, we wanted to make it there early to get in line and find a table. We hoped it wouldn’t be too busy as it was a weekday. Dressed in our jeans and normal clothes, we had neither the luggage space nor the funds to purchase traditional clothing, we went to the bakery across the street to grab some breakfast. We ate a cinnamon pinwheel, a sweet cheese croissant, and a cheesy pretzel that tasted like an asiago bagel.
Our Airbnb was only a 5-minute walk to the fairgrounds. We didn’t know what exactly to expect, but walking up reminded us of going to a state fair with all the carnival rides and food. We wandered around the grounds, happy it wasn’t packed, and lined up at 9:45 outside of the Löwenbräu tent that had a giant animatronic lion.
At 10 the doors opened and people rushed in to nab an open picnic table. We were able to find one right near the stage and were drinking our first liter of Oktoberfest beer by 10:10. Our friend, Ryan K, and some of his high school friends were also in town, but struggling from their previous night out. We held the table as the place started to fill in. An Australian couple asked to join us, they normally fit 8-10 per table, and we happily let them in. Bridget and Doug were visiting from Brisbane and it was Doug’s 28th birthday.
We had a great time with them, and not just because we were starved for human interaction; eventually Ryan K. and his friends Brent and Daniel joined us. We drank several large liters of beer, ate a few sausages and pretzels, and listened to the live music. Everyone stood up on the benches when a popular song was played and a lot of John Denver was sang. They also played Sweet Caroline a few times and the Germans knew all the words. Around 4 PM, a very drunk Ryan needed to take a lap, so we made the mistake of exiting the tent, which was now full and couldn’t get back in. We took it as a sign to walk the 10 minutes home and have a beer nap. After a couple of hours, everyone else was drunk and asleep, so we went for some late-night Chinese food.
The restaurant turned out to also be a doner shop. Elizabeth got a doner and Ryan ordered some turkey curry that was microwaved right in front of us. Overall, we’d say it was a pretty successful Oktoberfest. We could have gone back for another day, but it isn’t the cheapest activity, a liter of beer cost 13 euro.
Day 8 – Munich to Füssen – October 5
The next morning, we slowly made our way back to the train station and headed towards Füssen in southern Germany. The ultimate plan is to visit Neuschawnstein Castle and the rail delivered us, of course, into pouring rain. We made the 10-minute walk to our hostel but couldn’t check-in, even though we were there after allotted check-in time. In fact, the sign said they were giving their hard-working hostel staff their daily break between 12:00 and 4:30 PM. Seems like there’s a contradiction there. So, we walked into the unlocked door and left our bags in a corner then returned to the downtown. The fog was so thick and dense we couldn’t see any of the surrounding mountains and forests. After wandering around for a bit, dodging the rain showers, we settled for lunch at a gastropub called Gasthof Weizenbraueri, where we split another Jäger Schnitzel. Are you detecting a pattern in our eating habits?
We tried to walk around a souvenir shop after, but the rain kept us at bay and eventually found a quaint market bar to hide in for a couple hours. They had a wine kiosk and a beer kiosk, so we got one of each. We didn’t realize until we ordered and sat down, but they were actually closed. There were lots of people inside so we figured they were staying open since they had nothing else to do. Finally, we got back to our hostel to check in.
The reception man was kind of a dick, but we found our bunk bed room and got comfortable. We laid in bed watching TV on our tablet for a couple hours until the rain lessened and we could find some dinner. Our plan was to go to a Thai restaurant, but a huge group of Asian tourists walked in right ahead of us. Luckily for us this town has literally 15 Asian restaurants so we didn’t have to wander far to find another option. We split the crispy duck and a couple beers. Photo below is of the town the next day, when it wasn’t raining. Füssen is a cute, sleepy mountain town and it would have been fun to explore.
Day 9 – Füssen to Feldkirch – October 6
The next morning, we got up around 7 and were happy to find all of our bunkmates were also up and moving. It’s nice to not have to worry about waking anyone up. We packed our bags and dropped them in the luggage storage. It was only sprinkling rain so we walked to the bus station to grab a ride to Neuschwanstein Castle, a beautiful castle commissioned by King Ludwig II. The castle doesn’t open until 9 but you can begin buying tickets before. The bus line was packed with tourists, but we managed to make it on the first bus and got to the small town below the castle. Some people started sprinting up the hill to get to the ticket office.
There was a slight line when we got up there, arriving around 8:30 and we were able to get on English tour at 9:55. We wandered around the bottom of the town, there is a lake and views of the other castle Hohenschwangau the castle of Ludwig II’s father King Maximillian II. To get to Neuschwanstein you have to walk about 30 minutes through some gorgeous woods up a steep incline. Or you can take a horse drawn carriage. The early morning chill and a deep fog gave the walk an eerie and almost supernatural feel. It was fantastic. We finally made it to the base of the castle and everything was blanketed in fog. We still had about 45 minutes before our tour, so we walked the castle ground and took photos as the fog rolled through.
Finally, when our time came, we went through the turnstiles and our group of 50 headed into the castle. Our guide was a mousy German man and took us through the completed rooms. Only 1/3 of the interior of the castle was completed before the King died, under mysterious circumstances on a lake near Munich. Ludwig II was widely considered an eccentric, nicknamed the Fairy Tale King, who dedicated this castle to the works of Richard Wagner, the German composer. The finished rooms are decorated in various themes, such as Tristan and Isolde etc. Unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to take photographs in the castle, so we don’t have any for the blog. He was also obsessed with swans, so much so that he is sometimes called the Swan King, and is allegedly the inspiration for the ballet Swan Lake.
He had great rooms where he could sit out and feel like he was in the clouds or look out for miles over his surrounding farm land and forest. We were allowed to take pictures out of one terrace and could see the mountains and nearby waterfall. After exiting the castle, with our toes ripe to fall off from frostbite, we walked back down the hill. We stopped about halfway to buy warm, overpriced doughnut holes – totally worth it.
Back down at the ticket office was a huge queue waiting to get their entrance to the castle, we were grateful we got out butts out of bed early. We hung out at a small snack bar near the bus stop drinking beer and hot chocolate and splitting a cheese covered pretzel. We bussed back and stopped in a pastry shop looking for Bavarian cream, since we are in Bavaria, but no luck. We researched the history of Bavarian cream to write this section of the blog and found out that it originated in the U.S. Who would have guessed it?
We went back to our hostel to collect our bags and headed to the train station. We had 3 short regional trains to navigate today to get us to the Austrian city of Feldkirch. We want to spend a day in Liechtenstein and it’s so much cheaper to stay in Austria and take the bus in. We ended up getting lucky and were able to hop on some earlier trains that our railway app didn’t tell us about, so the whole journey only took us about 4 hours and we had seats on every train. The walk from the station to our hotel was more of a workout than we’d imagined. We booked a room at an old family estate turned hotel with great mountain views; it never occurred to us that you’d have to hike up to get the city views. Upon arrival we were greeted by a live band blasting “You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog” and the pungent odor of fresh goulash. What an entrance. They hadn’t made our beds yet, so they upgraded us to the honeymoon suite with incredible views over the city and surrounding mountains.
There were a lot of older people hanging out in the common room and kitchen but we were too tired to mingle, so we escaped back down the giant hill to an Italian restaurant, Pizzeria Rossano. We ate pizza (DiGiorno would have been better) and a pasta with schnitzel covered in cheese and egg (outstanding). Since we had such an incredible room to return to, we hiked our way back and enjoyed the stunning view, opening our windows and letting the cool night air lull us to sleep.
Day 10 – Feldkirch and Liechtenstein – October 7
We had a beautiful sunrise the next morning and laid in bed watching the commuters pour in from a single-lane mountain road. The sun was finally out! We walked back down the hill, stopping to enjoy the grazing goats then got on a bus towards Liechtenstein. The bus made ~40 stops and took 45 minutes before we reached the capital city of Vaduz; by then we’d driven through over half the country.
The mountains are beautiful, and since it was finally clear, we could see all the snowcapped peaks of the Swiss Alps in the distance. The whole country is 160 km2 and has a population of 37,877. For a frame of reference for our readers, Council Bluffs, Iowa is 113 km2 with 62,421 people, and Kingwood, Texas is 57 km2 with 81,696 people. We got off the bus around 10:30 AM in the middle of downtown Vaduz. It takes roughly 10 minutes to walk the whole downtown area. Our first stop was to visit the St. Florin Cathedral. It’s a gorgeous little church situated right at the base of the mountain.
We walked over to the tourist information center where people were lined up to pay 3 euro to get a passport stamp. We would have been interested if we weren’t worried about filling up our passport pages. We then found out that Liechtenstein celebrated it’s 300th year as a sovereign principality in January of 2019. Good timing for us. Hungry, we popped into a restaurant called Brasserie Burg (recommended by several travel blogs) to pay for an outrageously overpriced lunch. For $46 we got two small burgers, one order of French fries, a coffee, and a beer. Hopefully that’ll keep us full.
Next we hiked up to the Vaduz castle where the prince still lives today. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the castle grounds and we got to hike through enjoying the views of the surrounding town and mountains and read the information plaques along the way to teach us about the country.
We made it to the top and walked around the outside. You can’t go inside since the prince still lives there, but once a year he invites the entire country to come have a beer in his garden.
Next, we headed back down the hill to go to the Cellars of the Prince of Liechtenstein vineyards. We were able to do a tasting and tried 4 Liechtenstein wines grown right outside and in Austria, where the royal family is originally from. Ryan thought they were good, but Elizabeth was unimpressed. We tried two whites and two reds.
After the tasting, we walked through the vineyard outside where goats were grazing between the vines. We had a spectacular view of the mountains and the castle.
Next, we went to find some postcards and went to the post office to send some with official Liechtenstein stamps – from what we’ve read it’s a stamp collector’s dream. We’d heard they were famous for a macaroni dish made with three cheeses and onions. The post office lady suggested a restaurant/Inn down the road to try it. Unfortunately, they only serve it for dinner and since it was only 3 in the afternoon, the kitchen was closed. Ryan vowed to make it for me on our house-sit in Switzerland in a few days. We enjoyed a few beers on the patio and eventually caught the bus back.
We got off the bus in downtown Feldkirch to walk around the city center and find a place to grab an early dinner. We chose a restaurant called Poncho’s because it was open and we figured we had to try Mexican food in Austria. We started with the chips and cheese (not queso) that tasted like exactly like ballpark nachos; Elizabeth loved them. We also split the chicken fajitas, which were mixed with several strange Indian spices. It was a fusion we weren’t expecting but still pretty good. Our waiter had never been to Mexico, but he had plans to go in 2020 and we shared our beach resort experiences. He plans on going to Mexico City.
We decided to spend the night lounging on the patio of our room drinking wine and enjoying the warmth of our provided bathrobes. Elizabeth fell in love with this hotel and this view.
Day 11 – Feldkirch to Basel – October 8
We said a hard good-bye to our dream room and lugged our bags down the hill to a coffee shop and bakery. We ate a savory ham and cheese bread roll and some sweet and savory croissants. We walked to the train station and caught our train from Basel to Zurich. The ride was beautiful as we passed back through Liechtenstein and numerous small mountain towns. We changed trains in Zurich and finished our short journey to Basel.
Things we’ve learned in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein:
- There is no such thing as too much pretzel and beer.
- Smoking indoors can really ruin a night out.
- Liechtenstein is super expensive, but we’d love to live there.
- Neuschwanstein Castle should be on everyone’s bucket list.
Ryan and Elizabeth Goss 