Author Topic: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?  (Read 7791 times)

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Bebpo

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Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« on: June 03, 2015, 08:23:38 PM »
I'm taking a vacation soon and was going on a 1 week cruise to Alaska and then staying a week in Seattle/Portland with the SO.  SO can't make it, so I'm going solo and everything after the cruise is booked non-pre-paid and 100% changeable and I already have ok from work to have the week off and have caught up on my work. 

We were going to Portland because we've never been and it was nice and simple hop over from Seattle where I'm disembarking from my cruise since traveling distances is hard for my SO.  However, now that I don't have any travel restrictions, I can disembark in Vancouver which has an international airport and maybe instead of Portland, I'm thinking maybe jump over to Paris or Germany for the week?  I've never been to Europe and always wanted to go.  Or could always go to Sapporo since I haven't been to Japan for 4-5 years and never been up north, or I could go to Portland and drink craft beer and eat donuts.

I dunno, it's tough for me to get away from work since I'm pretty swamped so I kind of want to take the opportunity and do something really cool with the 2nd week.  But I also kind of hate flying tbh and two 10 hour flights in a week might be kind of awful and maybe just going down to Portland makes the most sense like originally planned.

Any thoughts?  The cost isn't that much more to do Europe than Portland, and it's more that finding the time off of work to go somewhere for a full week is rare, so the money isn't a factor here.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2015, 08:31:00 PM by Bebpo »

Olivia Wilde Homo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2015, 08:29:19 PM »
I was in Germany last week.  Loved it.  I knew a little bit of German but pretty much everyone there speaks English, at least in the cities anyway.  A lot of the signs are easy to figure out or it's in English.  A good "starter" European country IMO.

Anywhere but Portland, really.

Edit: Since you mentioned that money isn't a factor, be sure to fly Business Class at a minimum.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2015, 08:52:00 PM by Mary Tyler Whore »
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suppadoopa

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2015, 08:33:18 PM »
I had a trip planned to Sapporo but I ended up going to Osaka.
If you've never been to Osaka, I'd rec it

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2015, 09:09:40 PM »
I was in Germany last week.  Loved it.  I knew a little bit of German but pretty much everyone there speaks English, at least in the cities anyway.  A lot of the signs are easy to figure out or it's in English.  A good "starter" European country IMO.

Anywhere but Portland, really.

Edit: Since you mentioned that money isn't a factor, be sure to fly Business Class at a minimum.

lol

Replacing a $300 flight with a $1,300 flight is something that I can afford.  Business class is a never for me most likely my whole life ^^;

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2015, 10:01:40 PM »
My dad thinks I should go to Mexico.  I wish I wasn't so uninterested in Mexican resorts.

pilonv1

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2015, 10:37:51 PM »
France or Germany (or both via train)
itm

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2015, 11:56:29 PM »
Thinking about going to Munich.  It's about a 12 hour flight with one stop (amsterdam) on KLM from Vancouver.

I can get there on a Monday afternoon and stay through Sunday morning.  Gives me time to do a day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle (googled "famous german castles" and that was the first that came up), could get to Prague/Vienna for a day.  Or could go to Frankfurt and do Paris for a day.

ZephyrFate

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #7 on: June 04, 2015, 01:27:38 AM »
Portland is awesome, but those other places sound more interesting.

Cerveza mas fina

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #8 on: June 04, 2015, 01:41:04 AM »
Europe of course

Munich is nice but if its your first time go for one of the goat capitals like Madrid, Rome, Vienna, Paris

VomKriege

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #9 on: June 04, 2015, 01:48:50 AM »
Paris or Berlin would require you to stay at least 4 or 5 days to really get a feel for it, they are big cities and Berlin is sprawled out. Germany is a pretty large country and going from one city to another may take some time either via train or because you're in transit at the airport. Transport infrastructure is less centralised than France.

I hadn't had the chance to do Munich but on a whole I liked Bavaria. We went to Bayreuth, a good idea if the Wagner festival is not on (lots of good hotels at fair prices, etc...), and Nuremberg. Nuremberg is nice in the center, has a couple of majestic churches, good museums (The German history one, there's a big Judith with Holopherne's head painting which was marking) and foods.

If you really want to do a little bit of everything, keep in mind that with the Thalys train you can go from Paris to Antwerp then Amsterdam of from Paris to Ličge then Köln (both via Brussels) in only a few hours.

You shouldn't have too much problem with english speaking in all of those countries, especially with the people working with tourists : In France level should be decent, In Germany & Belgium good (you may meet a couple of non-speaking guys), in Netherlands excellent (pretty much everyone is bilingual, at least in the cities).

Anyway if it's Paris, let us know, I may surely be able to give you more info since I'm an autochton...
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Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2015, 01:56:34 AM »
Other places sound nice, but the flights are incovenient or more expensive.  Vancouver to Munich is pretty chill (very short layover in Amsterdam).

About to pull the trigger on flying into Munich and then:

-Check out Castle one day
-Check out old town historic Munich one day
-Check out Nuremburg one day
-Check out Salzburg, Austria one day
-Check out main town one day
-Fly out

All those places are pretty close by train from the central station (~1-2 hours).

Seems like a nice starter intro to Europe trip?  Obviously at some point in the future I'll do a big 2 week full one with the big hitters of England/France/Italy.  But for now I'd just like to see some historic castles, nice pretty scenery and eat some european food.  Would this layout work?  I think since I only have a few days I don't want to bite off anything really ambitious here going from city to city to city and would rather base at a single city nice relaxing hotel and explore locally + day trips for the days?

Also fwiw, things I like in traveling are castles, trees, lots of green nature, lakes, etc... I like the scenic stuff.

Only really, really, really downside is that all the flights back on KLM from Amsterdam to LAX which is like a 12 hour flight in economy have...no aisle/window seats left, so I'd have to sit in the middle of a row for the long ass flight which sounds super miserable.  Not much of a choice though, most planes to the US and Europe for mid/late-June are pretty full at this point.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2015, 02:02:13 AM by Bebpo »

Cerveza mas fina

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #11 on: June 04, 2015, 02:01:31 AM »
You can just fly between all eu cities for like 100 euro so you can easily do two. Just fly in to muncih and do three days and then go to Madrid. Just checked and flight are 110 euro

But dont go to shit like berlin on your first trip man



Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #12 on: June 04, 2015, 02:03:06 AM »
You can just fly between all eu cities for like 100 euro so you can easily do two.

But dont go to shit like berlin on your first trip man

Wasn't planning on going to Berlin, just doing southern Germany.

Also tbh, I really don't like flying so the less flying the better.  Would rather take trains.

VomKriege

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #13 on: June 04, 2015, 02:07:13 AM »
Nurnberg one day will be short to squeeze in Museums, I think. The city center is nice to visit though.

To eat I would recommend Zum Gulden Stern and Zum Spießgesellen. Later one is dead in the old city center.
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Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #14 on: June 04, 2015, 02:13:52 AM »
Since I can't speak anything other than English and Japanese and because it's my first time in a country where I don't speak the language and I'm traveling alone, I'm planning on doing guided tours in English from Munich for most of the stuff  :'(  This site seems to have trips to Nuremburg and stuff for pretty cheap and the price includes transportation and english speaking guide:
http://www.getyourguide.com/munich-l26/

I'm pretty shy and it's scary going somewhere I don't understand the language!  It's why I mainly stick to Japan & Canada for foreign travel.  I have no idea how any of europe works :X

Cerveza mas fina

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #15 on: June 04, 2015, 02:19:32 AM »
Well kudos on not going to London then. You can get by with English in any tourist place in Europe so no worries.

Guided tours can be really good and informative.

CatsCatsCats

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #16 on: June 04, 2015, 02:21:43 AM »
Portland does have nonstop to Amsterdam

Reb

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #17 on: June 04, 2015, 03:32:08 AM »
I always get by in European cities with just English, so that shouldn't be a worry.

I think you're on the right track with the German vacation!
brb

Cerveza mas fina

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #18 on: June 04, 2015, 03:43:26 AM »
Germans though  :zzz


Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #19 on: June 04, 2015, 04:00:41 AM »
Other places sound nice, but the flights are incovenient or more expensive.  Vancouver to Munich is pretty chill (very short layover in Amsterdam).

About to pull the trigger on flying into Munich and then:

-Check out Castle one day
-Check out old town historic Munich one day
-Check out Nuremburg one day
-Check out Salzburg, Austria one day
-Check out main town one day
-Fly out

All those places are pretty close by train from the central station (~1-2 hours).

Seems like a nice starter intro to Europe trip?  Obviously at some point in the future I'll do a big 2 week full one with the big hitters of England/France/Italy.  But for now I'd just like to see some historic castles, nice pretty scenery and eat some european food.  Would this layout work?  I think since I only have a few days I don't want to bite off anything really ambitious here going from city to city to city and would rather base at a single city nice relaxing hotel and explore locally + day trips for the days?

Also fwiw, things I like in traveling are castles, trees, lots of green nature, lakes, etc... I like the scenic stuff.

Only really, really, really downside is that all the flights back on KLM from Amsterdam to LAX which is like a 12 hour flight in economy have...no aisle/window seats left, so I'd have to sit in the middle of a row for the long ass flight which sounds super miserable.  Not much of a choice though, most planes to the US and Europe for mid/late-June are pretty full at this point.

All these places are pretty, but I personally much prefer having more than one or two days per place.
Munich in particular isn't huge, but there's still so many pretty or interesting places. The Isar. The breweries. The Englische Garten which still has nudists existing side by side with young families. The Deutsches Museum if you're into tech. The beer gardens. The churches with their towers, which are often accessible. Some castles and stuff...

Same can be said for Europe in general. It may not be huge, but the cities themselves often are, and visiting places like Paris or London or Barcelona or Hamburg or even stupid Berlin for less than maybe 5-7 days won't give you the chance to get a bit lost there and get a feel for it.

Overall, you're on the right track. The South is the prettiest part of Germany, apart from maybe some parts of the Rhine in the West.
Like VomKriege said, there are many, many great towns in Franconia. I have a soft spot for Bayreuth too, because my mom's from there.


Premium Lager:  :bolo

Cerveza mas fina

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #20 on: June 04, 2015, 05:34:04 AM »
Quote
More than 30,000 people in 15 countries were asked to rank the nations with the worst sense of humour and Germany came out on top.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8560815/Germany-officially-the-worlds-least-funny-country.html




Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #21 on: June 04, 2015, 05:44:09 AM »
I love that trope.

Means I can blame my lack of funniness on my culture, when I know for a fact it's just me.


Edit: Also, we have lots of jokes about the Polish!

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #22 on: June 04, 2015, 05:55:53 AM »
Yeah, the more I look into it, the more it just seems like there's so much to do even just from a single city.  Not sure if 6 days would even be enough time to get a worthwhile experience in Munich without feeling rushed.  I'm seeing a lot of interesting things to do, like the island towns at Lake Cheimsee which look amazing.  Starting to think maybe I should just save this for a longer trip in the future. 

Olivia Wilde Homo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2015, 05:56:22 AM »
I was in Munich for three days, which I think is an appropriate length.  I didn't see everything but I got to see most of the stuff worth seeing.  I second the Englischer Garten, which is huge but beautiful.  I took a bunch of pictures but here is a couple:


(Food area by the Chinese Tower)


(General view from the Monopteros)

I also stayed three days at Berlin.  This was not long enough.  I can't imagine getting the feel for any city by staying just one day.  I also wasn't a fan of the guided tours, they were expensive and you didn't do much except drive around; I preferred to walk around and check sites of historical significance on my smartphone instead.  I'd also take the bus, tram, and subway as well, especially if I wandered too far away, like going to the east side of Berlin.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2015, 06:04:31 AM by Mary Tyler Whore »
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Cerveza mas fina

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #24 on: June 04, 2015, 06:04:40 AM »
6 days is more then enough for Munich, its a cool city I've been there for Oktoberfest once for a weekend and that was already enough to get a good feel for it.


Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #25 on: June 04, 2015, 06:04:42 AM »
Been a while since I was at the Chiemsee, but as a child I loved the castles on the islands on the lake.

Also, definitely take these trips outside of town. You really don't have to go far to see a bit of the countryside and the mountains, and get a bit of a feeling for Bavaria as a whole.

Edit: Berlin is the only "real" city in Germany, but also really ugly. It has its special culture and feel, but you need a lot of time to get a round. I think you really need to drift through the night life for a few nights to get a real feel for it.

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #26 on: June 04, 2015, 06:06:55 AM »
One question, how do you order food off menus if they're not in English and you can't read German?  At least in Japan they usually have pictures of all the foods so you can just point and say "this please".

Cerveza mas fina

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #27 on: June 04, 2015, 06:07:08 AM »
Hey MET what's a Polish triathlon?

spoiler (click to show/hide)
Walk to the swimming pool and go home on a bicycle
[close]

 :goty2

One question, how do you order food off menus if they're not in English and you can't read German?  At least in Japan they usually have pictures of all the foods so you can just point and say "this please".

They will have English menus usually

Olivia Wilde Homo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #28 on: June 04, 2015, 06:07:31 AM »
One question, how do you order food off menus if they're not in English and you can't read German?  At least in Japan they usually have pictures of all the foods so you can just point and say "this please".

Most of the time it is in English or has it in English below German.  If not, Google Translate works well.
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Reb

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #29 on: June 04, 2015, 06:26:58 AM »
Most of Europe big city menu's:

Super touristy: pictures
Touristy: translated in English
Not touristy: you have to ask a person who is actually paid to tell you about the food there
brb

VomKriege

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #30 on: June 04, 2015, 06:42:01 AM »
One question, how do you order food off menus if they're not in English and you can't read German?  At least in Japan they usually have pictures of all the foods so you can just point and say "this please".

I'm pretty sure you could find and buy a guide that will give you some pointers on the most common meals. Some you'll be able to guess (Blutwurst is Blood sausage), some not (like Schnitzel, hence the guide). You'll probably have a lot of wurst, kartoffel (potato) and kraut (cabbage). Nurnberg is grilled little sausage country.

Food wise, you should try to have at least once a Weisswurst (in the south), it's a veal/pork sausage traditionnaly eaten just before noon. Also copious breakfasts with cheese and various kind of pork meat.

And well it's Germany, so beer obviously. Variety is insane and often regions (if not cities) will have their own specialty brands. Nurnberg is Tucher I think, Bayreuth has Maissel Weisse (great beer that), etc... German beer are in general white or blonde and on the lighter side. I personnaly prefer that to the often heavier, spicier Belgian beer. (On a side note : Netherlands kind of dissapointing beer wise.).

Oh yeah and Germans actually seems to respect traffic lights for pedestrians and such. Kinda weird from a Frenchmen perspective to be honest, jumping to Italy and its messy traffic afterwards (closer to what I was accustomed to) made me realize the contrast between "Latin" people and "Germanic" ones. Well to be precise quite a bit of France are actually Germanic people that thinks they are Latin and as such believe they are entitled to sunlight, but you get my drift.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2015, 06:46:27 AM by VomKriege »
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bork

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #31 on: June 04, 2015, 08:59:20 AM »
I've never been to Europe and always wanted to go. 

Go to Europe!   :)

Although I'm a bit confused here.  Is the cruise the only thing that's non-refundable?  If so, what about just going on the cruise and then waiting until later on to go somewhere with your fiancee?
« Last Edit: June 04, 2015, 09:04:59 AM by bork laser »
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Rufus

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #32 on: June 04, 2015, 09:19:59 AM »
Oh yeah and Germans actually seems to respect traffic lights for pedestrians and such. Kinda weird from a Frenchmen perspective to be honest, jumping to Italy and its messy traffic afterwards (closer to what I was accustomed to) made me realize the contrast between "Latin" people and "Germanic" ones. Well to be precise quite a bit of France are actually Germanic people that thinks they are Latin and as such believe they are entitled to sunlight, but you get my drift.
When I was in Paris I chalked their lack of respect for traffic lights up to big city folk being too busy to give a shit, but I guess that's just a French thing then. Explains the many dents and scrapes in the cars. (Whereas in Belgrade it was bullet holes, last time I was there...)

bork

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #33 on: June 04, 2015, 10:43:14 AM »
When I went to Italy, I was scared shitless when we hopped into a cab to go to the airport.  The driver ignored all the lights and gunned it as fast as possible.  This was very early in the morning and there were no other cars on the road, but it was still a pants-soakingly-bad experience. 
ど助平

Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #34 on: June 04, 2015, 11:50:06 AM »
Oh yeah and Germans actually seems to respect traffic lights for pedestrians and such. Kinda weird from a Frenchmen perspective to be honest, jumping to Italy and its messy traffic afterwards (closer to what I was accustomed to) made me realize the contrast between "Latin" people and "Germanic" ones. Well to be precise quite a bit of France are actually Germanic people that thinks they are Latin and as such believe they are entitled to sunlight, but you get my drift.
When I was in Paris I chalked their lack of respect for traffic lights up to big city folk being too busy to give a shit, but I guess that's just a French thing then. Explains the many dents and scrapes in the cars. (Whereas in Belgrade it was bullet holes, last time I was there...)

Some French guy once told me that in Paris, you don't pull the handbrake when parking so other cars can nudge you back and forth in small parking spaces.

Not sure if it's actually true.

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #35 on: June 04, 2015, 01:10:15 PM »
Well, double checking my e-mails from last night it looks like the hotel I tentatively booked in munich is completely non-refundable so I guess I am going to Munich for 6 days!

Time to pick up a german practice book to read on my cruise and learn some phrases.

Steve Contra

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #36 on: June 04, 2015, 01:18:59 PM »
Munich is rad, the people are nice, the city is beautiful, there's shit to see, it's relaxing.  Can't really go wrong.
vin

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #37 on: June 04, 2015, 02:47:09 PM »
So I've decided I definitely want to do Chiemsee and the castles and palaces.  Unfortunately the main tour that all the tour companies use is on Mondays only and I'll be flying in Monday afternoon and out Sunday so I don't have a monday.

Therefore this will be my big English-only speaking challenge, will try to find my way from Munich to Prien by train along the Salzburg line, and then to Stock where the boats are (about 4km), then get on a boat and go to one island, then to the 2nd island and then back to shore and take the trains back to Munich.  This is without me having any idea how the trains work or anything.  Any tips?  I figure I will either feel like a traveling badass when I accomplish this, or get lost in the Munich countryside and never be heard from again :(

This is the best info I found:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187309-i118-k6396650-Train_question_day_trip_from_Munich_to_Lake_Chiemsee-Munich_Upper_Bavaria_Bavaria.html

Steve Contra

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #38 on: June 04, 2015, 02:53:52 PM »
Fun fact, almost everyone in Germany speaks English.
vin

Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #39 on: June 04, 2015, 02:56:04 PM »
So you're not coming to Seattle now, right?
野球

Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #40 on: June 04, 2015, 03:36:42 PM »
So I've decided I definitely want to do Chiemsee and the castles and palaces.  Unfortunately the main tour that all the tour companies use is on Mondays only and I'll be flying in Monday afternoon and out Sunday so I don't have a monday.

Therefore this will be my big English-only speaking challenge, will try to find my way from Munich to Prien by train along the Salzburg line, and then to Stock where the boats are (about 4km), then get on a boat and go to one island, then to the 2nd island and then back to shore and take the trains back to Munich.  This is without me having any idea how the trains work or anything.  Any tips?  I figure I will either feel like a traveling badass when I accomplish this, or get lost in the Munich countryside and never be heard from again :(

This is the best info I found:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187309-i118-k6396650-Train_question_day_trip_from_Munich_to_Lake_Chiemsee-Munich_Upper_Bavaria_Bavaria.html

Go to a train station.

Look for one of these:


Tap the UK flag somewhere.

Everything else will follow. If not, ask someone.

Germany ain't scary, not even Bavaria. And our public transport systems are mostly easy to use. Also, most of the places you're looking for are somewhat tourist-friendly and might even have English information.

bork

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #41 on: June 04, 2015, 04:00:29 PM »
Well, double checking my e-mails from last night it looks like the hotel I tentatively booked in munich is completely non-refundable so I guess I am going to Munich for 6 days!

Time to pick up a german practice book to read on my cruise and learn some phrases.

You get more non-refundable reservations than anyone I know.   :lol
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Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #42 on: June 04, 2015, 04:34:27 PM »
So you're not coming to Seattle now, right?

Nah, still be there for a day and a half.  If you're free at all Fri before your marathon we can totally hang.

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #43 on: June 04, 2015, 04:35:09 PM »
So I've decided I definitely want to do Chiemsee and the castles and palaces.  Unfortunately the main tour that all the tour companies use is on Mondays only and I'll be flying in Monday afternoon and out Sunday so I don't have a monday.

Therefore this will be my big English-only speaking challenge, will try to find my way from Munich to Prien by train along the Salzburg line, and then to Stock where the boats are (about 4km), then get on a boat and go to one island, then to the 2nd island and then back to shore and take the trains back to Munich.  This is without me having any idea how the trains work or anything.  Any tips?  I figure I will either feel like a traveling badass when I accomplish this, or get lost in the Munich countryside and never be heard from again :(

This is the best info I found:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187309-i118-k6396650-Train_question_day_trip_from_Munich_to_Lake_Chiemsee-Munich_Upper_Bavaria_Bavaria.html

Go to a train station.

Look for one of these:
(Image removed from quote.)

Tap the UK flag somewhere.

Everything else will follow. If not, ask someone.

Germany ain't scary, not even Bavaria. And our public transport systems are mostly easy to use. Also, most of the places you're looking for are somewhat tourist-friendly and might even have English information.

Awesome, thanks!

VomKriege

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #44 on: June 05, 2015, 01:40:13 AM »
Oh yeah and Germans actually seems to respect traffic lights for pedestrians and such. Kinda weird from a Frenchmen perspective to be honest, jumping to Italy and its messy traffic afterwards (closer to what I was accustomed to) made me realize the contrast between "Latin" people and "Germanic" ones. Well to be precise quite a bit of France are actually Germanic people that thinks they are Latin and as such believe they are entitled to sunlight, but you get my drift.
When I was in Paris I chalked their lack of respect for traffic lights up to big city folk being too busy to give a shit, but I guess that's just a French thing then. Explains the many dents and scrapes in the cars. (Whereas in Belgrade it was bullet holes, last time I was there...)

Some French guy once told me that in Paris, you don't pull the handbrake when parking so other cars can nudge you back and forth in small parking spaces.

Not sure if it's actually true.

Urban Legend.
But bumping in or out of parking does happen sometimes.
Paris not the worst though, the stereotype goes that the further you go south, the worst the driving. For the little I can judge on, I would say there's an hint of truth to that.
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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #45 on: June 05, 2015, 03:40:51 AM »
Bebps book your train tickets now on bahn.de

It will be half price

Olivia Wilde Homo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #46 on: June 05, 2015, 07:15:06 AM »
Bebps book your train tickets now on bahn.de

It will be half price

Assuming they don't go on strike again.  I had to cancel one ticket and fly since they were on strike when I wanted to ride.
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Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #47 on: June 05, 2015, 02:24:13 PM »
When I told my dad (who I work with) about the Europe addition he got kind of mad and thought it was stupid going to Europe for just five full days (+2 flight days).  Then he calmed down and said I should take more days and he'll cover me at work, so I was able to extend it to a 10 day trip (2 flying, 8 full days).  Should give me a little more breathing room to relax and see a lot of stuff.  I mean it's totally possible to do a 1 day hop to another major city and back the next day, but I'll figure that out when I get there.  Definitely wanna do Salzburg, Nuremburg, Castle, Chiem and stuff within Munich itself.  That, at a relaxed paced is probably a full 7-8 days worth.

Maybe day trip to Prague or Vienna.  But it is tempting to do a day in Paris.

Pretty excited, but for now more excited for Alaska which is first.  Looking forward to seeing a glacier!

Olivia Wilde Homo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #48 on: June 05, 2015, 08:19:27 PM »
Prague and Vienna are both very nice cities.  You could probably get through Prague in a day, not sure about Vienna.
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Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #49 on: June 06, 2015, 03:39:15 AM »
So this is a dumb question and you're all gonna laugh at my ignorance, but all the stuff I read about Bavaria makes it sound like every food place serves a menu of basically Bratwurst, Beer, Pretzels, and Fried meats.  Which sounds great as that's totally my kind of eating (not big on more gourmet type dining, I live on Burgers, Hot Dogs, Fried Chicken, Sandwhiches and so on; yes, I know I should start eating better), but like is that the only type of good food in South Germany?  Because it doesn't seem like a lot of variety and feels like after a few days of eating sausages and drinking beer I'll kind of be bored of it.

In California we have great American, BBQ, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese food.  In Japan there's Sushi, Ramen, Yakiniku, Tonkatsu, shitty Italian, and weird ass psuedo-American Dennys everywhere.  In Munich will there be some good Italian, Spanish, Indian, etc... etc... type restaurants to mix up between all the Brat and Beer?  I tried yelp for Munich but I guess Yelp isn't really international because like 2 restaurants total showed up. 

Oh and in Europe (or Germany more specific) are most restaurants good?  What I mean by that is in America Yelp is popular for a reason; there's a lot of shitty food places.  If you just randomly walk into a restaurant it might be great, but it might be awful.  There's a huge range and it's a gamble without looking it up in advance.  Otoh in Japan you can walk into any food place and at the very worst the food is maybe average 3/5.  Pretty much every place is good -> amazing in Japan because they really have high food quality standards.  Just wondering what Germany is like in that respect, basically if I should look up food places in advance or just walk into places at random when I'm hungry.

Asking a lot of questions, but I'm on a boat in the ocean and there's fog everywhere and I can't shit and I got nothing to do but look forward to stuff.  Ship is pretty dead after 9:30pm.

Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #50 on: June 06, 2015, 04:15:54 AM »
So this is a dumb question and you're all gonna laugh at my ignorance, but all the stuff I read about Bavaria makes it sound like every food place serves a menu of basically Bratwurst, Beer, Pretzels, and Fried meats.  Which sounds great as that's totally my kind of eating (not big on more gourmet type dining, I live on Burgers, Hot Dogs, Fried Chicken, Sandwhiches and so on; yes, I know I should start eating better), but like is that the only type of good food in South Germany?  Because it doesn't seem like a lot of variety and feels like after a few days of eating sausages and drinking beer I'll kind of be bored of it.

In California we have great American, BBQ, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese food.  In Japan there's Sushi, Ramen, Yakiniku, Tonkatsu, shitty Italian, and weird ass psuedo-American Dennys everywhere.  In Munich will there be some good Italian, Spanish, Indian, etc... etc... type restaurants to mix up between all the Brat and Beer?  I tried yelp for Munich but I guess Yelp isn't really international because like 2 restaurants total showed up. 

Oh and in Europe (or Germany more specific) are most restaurants good?  What I mean by that is in America Yelp is popular for a reason; there's a lot of shitty food places.  If you just randomly walk into a restaurant it might be great, but it might be awful.  There's a huge range and it's a gamble without looking it up in advance.  Otoh in Japan you can walk into any food place and at the very worst the food is maybe average 3/5.  Pretty much every place is good -> amazing in Japan because they really have high food quality standards.  Just wondering what Germany is like in that respect, basically if I should look up food places in advance or just walk into places at random when I'm hungry.

Asking a lot of questions, but I'm on a boat in the ocean and there's fog everywhere and I can't shit and I got nothing to do but look forward to stuff.  Ship is pretty dead after 9:30pm.

Of course there's all kinds of food, it's a big city, pretty international, and Germans don't just eat wurst ;-)
Italian and Turkish in particular are big, as is pseudo-Asian.

I think Yelp isn't huge over here. Sometimes it helps looking at places' Facebook pages to see some reviews.

Can't answer the quality question too generally, but I don't think you'll have problems finding something to eat. I bet we're not Japan level, but you rarely get something outright disgusting.

When I told my dad (who I work with) about the Europe addition he got kind of mad and thought it was stupid going to Europe for just five full days (+2 flight days).  Then he calmed down and said I should take more days and he'll cover me at work, so I was able to extend it to a 10 day trip (2 flying, 8 full days).  Should give me a little more breathing room to relax and see a lot of stuff.  I mean it's totally possible to do a 1 day hop to another major city and back the next day, but I'll figure that out when I get there.  Definitely wanna do Salzburg, Nuremburg, Castle, Chiem and stuff within Munich itself.  That, at a relaxed paced is probably a full 7-8 days worth.

Maybe day trip to Prague or Vienna.  But it is tempting to do a day in Paris.

Pretty excited, but for now more excited for Alaska which is first.  Looking forward to seeing a glacier!

Europe isn't as big as the US, but it seems you're still somewhat underestimating the distances ;-)
Paris is at least a 6 hour train ride from Munich. Don't think that's day trip territory.

Paris is such a great city. Save it for when you have more time there.

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #51 on: June 06, 2015, 07:44:44 AM »
Even small sleepy towns like mine have several foreign restaurants, asian and mediterranean mostly, not to forget the Döner stands/delivery. No, not all restaurants are good. I don't know how our health inspectors stack up to yours across the pond, but if the Bavarian health inspectors specifically are as numerous as their tax inspectors I would be just a little bit worried. But I'm the wrong person to comment on restaurant quality.

As for Yelp, try setting it to German. http://www.yelp.de/search?find_desc=&find_loc=m%C3%BCnchen&ns=1 I'm seeing a lot more than two entries here.

pilonv1

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #52 on: June 06, 2015, 09:59:30 AM »
Oh and in Europe (or Germany more specific) are most restaurants good?

From my trip last year most places were good coming from what I was used to. Plenty of choices depending where you went. There's a chance of finding shitty places no matter where you go but if it's a new culture how will you know?

I used TripAdvisor which helped me find some awesome places in Paris.

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurants-g187309-Munich_Upper_Bavaria_Bavaria.html

First page has Greek, German, Italian, Austrian, Thai, Viet, French, German, African. Of course the bratwurst etc isn't only what they eat, it's the same as thinking Americans only eat burgers & hot dogs.

Paris is such a great city. Save it for when you have more time there.

Agreed. I had 5 days there and there was a ridiculous amount of stuff I didn't get to do or see. Just going up the Eiffel Tower would take a few hours this time of year unless you're there early.
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Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #53 on: June 06, 2015, 02:37:11 PM »
Thanks!  Didn't think about turning yelp to german or tripadvisor for food.  Good to know there's a lot of variety.

Yeah, not gonna do Paris or anything too far this time.  Will stick to within 2 hour distance for a day trip outside of maybe 1 day doing a 4 hour trip to Prague or Vienna.

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #54 on: June 10, 2015, 07:26:48 PM »
On the sea on my way back from Alaska, and heading to Munich in a handful of days.  Because I had terrible weather for all of Alaska (basically Alaska has been having great sunny clear weather for the past 2 weeks+ and a storm came in the day our ship first landed and followed us the whole way up.  Tons of hard rain, heavy cold winds, freezing as fuck.  There were some nice patches here and there and I had a bunch of good times, but the shitty weather really made the trip a lot less enjoyable) I've been checking the weather forecasts for southern germany every single day that I've had any internet reception.

It looks like it's going to be cloudy and occasionally rainy for the whole month of June in South Germany/Austria.  Now, looking around I see some Europe threads where people are saying rain isn't a big deal in western Europe as it's just like clouds pass by, it rains for a half-hour and you hang out in a cafe and then it's nice for a few hours then maybe another patch of rain.  At most you just carry a small umbrella with you on days where it's gonna rain.

Is that right?  Because that sounds fine and like it shouldn't detriment sight-seeing and vacationing.  In Alaska it was like non-stop hard rain + wind and I had to wear rain-proof paints on top of my pants and rain-proof jacket and the wind would still send bone chills and make your teeth chatter as it hit your face.  I just don't want more of that.  If I get a 3 week vacation for most of June and the entire thing is me getting rained on and cloudy skies so I can't get any decent pictures off...  :maf

lennedsay

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #55 on: June 10, 2015, 08:46:04 PM »
I was in Germany in June and its this misty rain, nothing major. No downpours or anything. It was basically like that for the entire 3 weeks in June I was there lol So you get used to it. I'm sure you have jackets, cause you'll need them.
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lennedsay

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #56 on: June 10, 2015, 08:48:39 PM »
Also get a doner kebab. And go to an ice cream shop and order spaghettieis ("spaghetti" ice cream). All the ice creams are super ornate and delicious at the Eiscafes.
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Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #57 on: June 10, 2015, 10:39:18 PM »
I was in Germany in June and its this misty rain, nothing major. No downpours or anything. It was basically like that for the entire 3 weeks in June I was there lol So you get used to it. I'm sure you have jackets, cause you'll need them.

Thanks, yeah that's fine.  I have a million jackets and warm clothes from Alaska.  As long as you can still have a nice time sight-seeing without getting completely soaked or freezing, I'm ok with it.

And I'll check out the kabobs!

Bebpo

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Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #58 on: June 11, 2015, 12:48:29 AM »
So I think I figured out where I'm gonna do 1 overnight stay.  I've been looking around for places that I can go easily from Munich central station, get somewhere and spend a whole day, stay overnight, then spend a whole morning/lunch and head back in the mid-afternoon.  There's Vienna but I'm gonna hit up Salzburg and from what I'm reading Austrian cities are pretty similar to Bavarian cities.  There's Prague...but I dunno.  Most of France is too far, Italy too far, etc...

But there's a train that runs from Munich to Verona Italy and back all day every couple of hours that's about 5.5 hours and goes through some scenic places.  And Verona, being Italy, is way different than Munich so I'll get too experience a little bit of that Italian feel, architecture, culture and food-wise. 

Does that seem like a good idea for a place to do an overnight from Munich for something different?

Re: Portland, France, Germany or Sapporo?
« Reply #59 on: June 11, 2015, 03:05:44 AM »
Didn't follow the weather all that closely, but I was in Munich about 2 weeks ago and it was around 77° F all the time. Looks like you might be somewhat unlucky though. Hamburg weather has been great for weeks now!

Verona is a pretty place. If you have a reasonable day trip schedule, do it.