8/8 Day 10: Intercity (ICE) train scheduled to depart from Munich at 1655 but departed at 1712. Our train car was missing and we had to look for empty seats in another train car. Scheduled to arrive in Hamburg at 2333 but arrived at 0012. Thankfully, Snälltåget waited for us! It was scheduled to depart at 2359. We found out eventually that trains in Germany are VERY unreliable! Being late and cancelled is very normal.
9/8 Day 11: Arrived back in Stockholm on 9 August at 1416.
Must-Incur Costs
(1) Snälltåget and ICE (Intercity Express) ticket - Described on my first day that a return ticket costs SEK3900.
Optional Costs
(1) Breakfast at Coffee Fellows - Sandwich avocado EUR4,30 and cappucino for EUR3,90
(2) Drinks at Beer garden - Bottled ginger drink for EUR3,40
That marks the end of our train adventure in Bolzano and Munich. I do not mind going for another train adventure, and next time, I will make sure there are sufficient hours between train rides or an overnight stay.
(3) Lunch at Augustine Stammhus - Meatloaf EUR9,95 and orange drink for EUR4,95
(4) Tips at Augustine Stammhus - EUR2,50
(5) Coffee latte at Coffee Fellows before taking the train back - EUR4,20
The Story
The Story
080822 - Breakfast at the same place at Coffee Fellows as it is located next to our hotel. Today, we check out from the hotel but since our train was at 1655, we left our luggage in the hotel.
We walked to the main square to watch the chimes in the clock tower at the new city hall - Glockenspiel. We were there by 11am to watch 32 life-sized figures play. It is good to stand at a distance otherwise, the neck aches! The show lasts about 15 minutes.
Every day at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. (as well as 5 p.m. in the summer), the clock tower chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century. The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V (who also founded the Hofbräuhaus) to Renata of Lorraine. In honor of the happy couple, there is a joust with life-sized knights on horseback representing Bavaria (in white and blue) and Lothringen (in red and white). The Bavarian knight wins every time.
This is then followed by the bottom half and second story: Schäfflertanz (the coopers' dance). According to myth, 1517 was a year of plague in Munich. The coopers are said to have danced through the streets to "bring fresh vitality to fearful dispositions." The coopers remained loyal to the duke, and their dance came to symbolize perseverance and loyalty to authority through difficult times. Source from Wikipedia.
We made our way to see a church with intensive architecture - Church Asamkirche (St. Johannes Nepomuk). It was built from 1733 to 1746 by two brothers, sculptor Egid Quirin Asam and painter Cosmas Damian Asam, as their private church. Interior restoration works were carried out from 1975 to 1983. I was really inspired by their work. They really use their skills to build a masterpiece! I doubt today's artists could design and sculpt this.
Then, we made our way to enjoy another beer garden. Beer gardens are ample in Munich. No more beer for me. I took a carbonated drink with ginger flavour. My companions had their beers for EUR3,20 a bottle which is cheaper than my ginger drink of EUR3,40.
For lunch, we went to Augustiner Stammhus again. We were there on our first day in Munich. No pork knuckles for us. My companions took grilled duck (EUR24,90) while I had today's lunch which was light. My companions were too stuffed from the grilled duck.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel to collect our luggages and had a coffee latte at Coffee Fellows. We made our way to the train station and had an adventure with a delayed train, missing train car and unable to utilise our booked seats, looking for available seats in another train car, communicating with the train attendant who spoke to me in German despite me saying that I do not understand German (ohmaigawd! thank goodness, a passenger sitting opposite us could translate for me) and finally able to catch our connecting train (Snälltåget) back to Stockholm. We spoke to a staff on the train and she informed us that she had contacted Snälltåget and the train will wait for us in Hamburg. WHAT A RELIEF! I had always the impression that Germans are tidy and orderly people but their train systems are VERY unreliable.
During the trip back to Sweden, we did not get checked for our passports. Phew! We did not have to wake up very early in the morning for that.
That marks the end of our train adventure in Bolzano and Munich. I do not mind going for another train adventure, and next time, I will make sure there are sufficient hours between train rides or an overnight stay.
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Here are the list of places I went. You can click on the link and be directed to the posts immediately.
Day 2 - Arrive in Munich. Visit Olympic Park & Augustiner Stammhus.
Day 3 - Morning: Odeonsplatz, Hofgarten Park, English Garden, Isar river. Afternoon and evening: Georg Elser-Gedenktafel, Church of St. Peter, Viktualienmarkt, Steinheil
Day 4 - Train ride from Munich to BolzanoDay 5 - Cable car from Bolzano to Soprabolzano, train from Soprabolzano to Collalbo. Hike to Earth Pyramid.
Day 7 - Wine tasting
Day 9 - Neuschwanstein castle
Day 10 - Back to Stockholm (this post)
I have mentioned some of my expenses in each post and I did have other expenses which are not illustrated in the respective posts. For total and different category of expenses, I will sum it here.
1) Transport - Train tickets SEK4.871,50 per person, cable car SEK519,80 per person
2) Accommodation (Hotel and Airbnb) - 4.055,82 per person
2) Accommodation (Hotel and Airbnb) - 4.055,82 per person
3) Food - SEK3.780,58 per person
4) Entrance fee (Neuschwanstein castle) - SEK191,33 per person
5) Car rental - SEK927,89 per person
Total Cost for the trip SEK14.346,93 for 10 days, 9 nights. Exchange rate used EUR1 = SEK10,396
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