Germany trip upcoming in June

The 9:00 departure during the week can be a little annoying .
The only time we had seating issues was going to Nuremburg for the Christmas
Markets on a Saturday.
The pass also works for all public transport, which we would use to get to the Munich Hbf
and busses and trams at our destination.

 

It may be just you remember the bad times more strongly than the uneventful times, but I've often had to stand, not only on RE/RB but even on IC/ICE back in the days when I used a rail pass (and didn't make a reservation). It's not 50%, probably not even 25% but enough that I avoid RE when possible for trips longer than an hour.

 

Got everything booked. I ended up getting direct trains (with reserved seats) to and from both Bamberg and Salzburg via the DB. I looked at what we paid a couple years ago and the routes weren't as good + the tickets cost more.

Since I know Bamberg pretty well at this point, I think I'm finally going to brave Kaiserdom. Their schedule is the most finicky one. I've only ever had one beer from them and it was a somewhat old tasting pils from a random store. I don't have any expectations, but I at least want to give them a shot. I'm also a little curious how the Kronprinz is doing down the street. They had a beautiful facility that looked more like Miami than Bamberg. While weird, it worked as a fun contrast. Why compete with tradition when you don't have any? On the other hand, the beers were pretty "meh."

Salzburg was a huge rush last time. We went on a hike and grabbed some food/beers at Augustiner, but didn't have time for much else. I'm looking forward to doing some touristy fortress things and maybe even catching a concert this time. I love how late things tend to be open in that region. Around here, things tend to start winding down after 8pm.

 

On one of our several visits to Saltzburg we stayed at the Von Trapp Family home - it is a small boutique hotel now. We also did a Sound of Music & Historical cycling tour for 5 hours, that was an absolute blast!

 

Years ago (like 20 or so) some friends of mine moved to Salzburg. She was an art restorer and was hired away from the Getty in LA and he was a high powered tourism consultant. He mostly worked in Asia/Oceana/Africa so Salzburg worked for him as abase as well as anywhere. They had a flat in one of those buildings built into the wall of the cliff, which was way cool. (The "Modern Mozart" statue was just about right out their front door)

He tried to get the local (official) tourism bureau interested in the Sound of Music, saying most of the English speaking world knew of Salzburg thru the Sound of Music. From his telling, they sort of sniffed their noses at him and said "Salzburg is about Mozart and the Festival and nothing so lowbrow as a movie." He thought it funny that governments paid him big bucks to help them attract tourists and he was offering his services for free and they weren't interested. Needless to say, private companies realized there was a market and stepped in.

 

First round of tickets showed up. They list our seat reservations on the receipt and via the DB app, but they're nowhere to be found on the ticket and there wasn't anything else in the envelope. Is that normal?

 

On my OnLine Ticket about half way down the page I see a section with my trains and on the right it has the seat reservations ("Stizplatz")

 

That's normal - the ticket is valid all by itself and the seat reservations are a separate thing. If something happens to the train your booked on - and it's DB's fault, you can take the next available train - but of course you then won't have a seat reservation.

 

Good to know. Last time we missed our connection in NBG (our train from Munich was late) and we just got on the next one. It was a commuter train so there didn't seem to be any kind of assigned seats anyway. The app and receipts clearly show seat reservations, so I'm just covering my bases.

We've only taken one nonstop train from Munich to Bamberg and that was 12 years ago. Rail Europe apparently just stopped offering that route.

I probably won't get into the nitty gritty of planning anything for a while, but I am thinking of doing Schiller this time. It seems both convenient and unique. Last time we ran out of time and they were randomly closed for a private event on our one free day.

 

If you're going to Salzburg, you may want to try this place (not affiliated with the better known Augustiner): https://www.augustinerbier.at/?L=1. The locals told me that "Stiegl is for tourists" and that this is what the locals drink (whatever, Stiegl is one of my favorite lagers). They mostly only make a Marzen beer, and it's pretty good. The brewery gives you stone mugs you have to wash yourself and then serves you the beer directly out of wooden barrels, and I think they have a little "food court" there too.

 

Yup, I've been there. My wife and I went to Salzburg a couple years ago mostly to visit that spot thanks to the Beer Drinker's Guide to Munich. They don't open until mid afternoon and they actually had a line of people waiting to get in (!) about a half hour prior. The food vendors were divided up by the type of food they served, so it did have a food court vibe. Last time they paired the schnitzel with the cold salads, which are apparently VERY popular to purchase by the bucketful. There were only maybe 5 people in front of me and it took like 20 minutes to get my food. Luckily both the food and beers were dirt cheap. Good stuff, too.

 

When we went to Salzburg, I didn't even know Augustiner existed until we were there for a day or so, and at that point, we couldn't fit it into the schedule. I picked up a 6-pack at the grocery store. Next time definitely though!

 

It's a neat experience. When we were there they opened at 3 or 4PM. Our train left at 5:30, so it was definitely more rushed than I would have liked. We had a liter and schnitzel/frites plate apiece (the total was less than 25 Euro) and had to high tail it back to the station. Rail tickets were cheap, so I don't regret it. I think it was only like 1/3 more than the outer-ring of the Munich S-Bahn.

This time we have a hotel pretty close to the station and our train doesn't leave until noon the next day. There should be plenty of time to hit both Stiegl and Augustiner while catching a show and doing some general sightseeing. I figure I'll grab some "Almdudler" sodas to bring back, too. Never had anything like it before or since.

 

I love Almdudler. You can occasionally find it at World Market in the US.

 

You can actually take any local train (e.g. RE/RB) even though your ticket has a specific one.

When going from Bamberg to Frankfurt I've often taken an earlier RE to Würzburg (where you catch the ICE) in order to have a longer connection.

Also, the only time your reservation gets looked as is if there is a dispute -- that is, you get on the train and somebody is in your seat and they won't leave. Or somebody gets on and says "these are my seats." Otherwise, they never check.

One other tip -- don't be shy about kicking somebody out of your seats. You don't have to be mean, just "excuse me, I think these are my seats." Don't be nice and take an empty seat because someone else might have reserved it and they won't be shy in kicking you out. We once had to kick a family with two small kids out of a 4-way with table. I felt bad, but the train was packed and I wasn't going stand for 3 hours...

 

We had to tell a self important guy a couple of times that he was in our window seats. He moved to the aisle seat, but from his tone and body language we could tell he was put out. We had interrupted his very important business phone call.
Typisch!

 

Sound like a great trip!

BTW, don't be nervous about driving in Germany. The only thing that takes some getting used to is the many, many roundabouts (in some areas, anyway). Make sure you keep track of which turn-off you're supposed to take and which lane you're supposed to be in to make that turn-off.

 

The minute you see the Alps you'll wish you'd brought a camera.

I had my 35mm or digital (one from the old days) with me on all my trips to Europe. I didn't bog down with equipment and was glad I had them.

Just saying, do what you feel comfortable with.