Im going to Germany in 2 weeks and would like to know of some fun things to do. Ill be around Frankfurt for 12 days. We are already planning on touring some castles, but we dont yet have 12 days worth of stuff planned. Id like to know of some other fun stuff to do, new foods to try and good beers to drink. There is also a train to Paris that we could take for 100 bucks but im not sure if I want to do that yet.

4/25/2006 1:23:57 PM

try toytownmunich.com, expats in Munich that could probably give you some general tips about Germany, and of course, if you are interested in a day/2 trip to munich they can definitely recommend stuff there

4/25/2006 1:28:14 PM

Paris is nasty and gross, don't bother. In Germany there are these local delicacy things called snowballs. I remember the whole time I was there everyone was like omg you have to get a snowball. I finally did and it was gross as hell. They're basically giant balls of mushy dough with stuff rolled on them.

4/25/2006 1:35:53 PM

I have never heard them referred to as snowballs, and I lived there for 6 months.

4/25/2006 1:39:39 PM

ive heard the same thing about paris so i guess ill scratch that off the list
one of my friends was telling me about somthing similar to the snowball thing but it had a german name

4/25/2006 1:52:32 PM

hah i dont know where you went in Paris, but i enjoyed my week long stint there.

In Munich, go on a Beer Hall Crawl, and maybe one of the "Joe's Bike Tours" things, (i dont remember if its "Joes" or not, but its something simple and it came highly recommended)

4/25/2006 1:58:34 PM

i dont really know if munich is a possibility. i am staying with one of my friends that moved over there and she lives about 2 hours outside of frankfurt, so im pretty sure that frankfurt is as far as she is willing to drive (because of gas prices). but ive heard that the train system there is really good so i guess that could be a way to get there

[Edited on April 25, 2006 at 2:02 PM. Reason : run on]

4/25/2006 2:02:00 PM

Paris is not nasty and gross... it's just like any city, there are sectons that you dont want to go to but but not all of Paris is like that.

4/25/2006 2:09:19 PM

I was in Germany last fall for 2 weeks, we took the trains everywhere. I went from Berlin, to Dresden, to Prague, Munich, Fussen, Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Frankfurt, and back to Berlin.

I defiantely recommend going to Fussen if you want to see castles. The Neuschwanstein castle is at the base of the Alps overlooking Fussen. (thats the castle Walt Disney made the Cinderella Castle after)

You could make a weekend trip to Munich and go to fussen for a day.

4/25/2006 2:19:41 PM

Ive done germany many times and havent really had a bad experience anywhere. A month ago on my way home from work in eastern europe i decided to spend a few days in Heidelberg (also sorta had business there but it was optional). It is really easy and cheap to get to from frankfurt and pretty fun for a small town. worth looking in to.

4/25/2006 5:43:59 PM

Quote :

"I have never heard them referred to as snowballs, and I lived there for 6 months."

I have been in Germany for 10 months now, and I too have never heard of them called "snowballs". You are probably referring to the "Knödel". It's a bavarian specialty served with pork and gravy mostly. THey're not my favorite thing here, but they're not bad. It's mostly just the shock of feeling and tasting something that you completely did not expect - they have a very weird texture.

anyway - you can take a look through my photo gallery's i've made over the last year and see if you see anything interesting. I can give you more information about anything you see. Unfortunately, I actually haven't done much travelling in Germany except for Munich and south. All my other travelling has been in other countries. I have galleries from Paris and Prague that I haven't put online yet
http://joelion.com/gallery/europe

My wife and I went to Paris last fall for our anniversary. It was cool. It's not "nasy and gross", but it's definately dirty, at least compared to Germany. The subways, for example, could be considered gross, especially after riding on the nearly pristine German trains.

4/25/2006 6:38:02 PM

good beers to drink: all of them

4/25/2006 7:07:03 PM

I went to Koln (Cologne) and I loved it when I went, I'd recommend seeing the Cathedral there it's pretty impressive. Heidelberg is also nice if you like the whole castle thing (I wouldn't recommend the tour, they move through incredibly too fast). Frankfurt was kind of blah during the day but at night (in the right sections) it's got a pretty fun night life as far as talking and socializing with people the language barrier wasn't much of a big deal for me. And the trains are super easy to use, you could go pretty much anywhere in Germany with them.


Oh God, how could I forget the "Turkish Pizza" oh my GOD, you MUST have one. They are at those "ka-bop" (again, SP?) stands... it looks like a mini trailer on the side of the road, like a hot dog vender in NY, but far cleaner. Trust me. You will be addicted. In fact, I'm going to Germany again this Christmas just for the beer and food. It's awesome... but I really do recommend going into the actual cities and not just focusing on the tourist areas.

[Edited on April 25, 2006 at 7:44 PM. Reason : TURKISH PIZZA]

4/25/2006 7:25:38 PM

I haven't been to Germany in years but pretty much ditto on ^
I didn't have any issues with speaking English to people and having them understand me. I think we poked around some of Austria to shop (can't remember specific parts though) and I really wanted to go to the swiss salt mines in Switzerland (heard they are really fun to visit). I also saw the world's biggest cuckcoo clock in the Black Forest. When I went I was too young to really do the "social" scene but some friends and I snuck into several bars that looked fun and there were beer and cigarette vending machines in most of the hotels we stayed at. I really miss their bread

4/25/2006 7:40:20 PM

Go to Prauge...It is really cheap. There are countless pubs with great beer. Awesome cathedrals and architecture. Went with my family in High School and was amazed at how most of the areas were very clean and friendly.

4/25/2006 8:10:55 PM

thanks everyone, keep em comin

4/25/2006 8:13:59 PM

Quote :

"Paris is nasty and gross, don't bother."

I'm sure everyone agrees with that.

I haven't been to Germany but I do think that Paris is definitely worth the trip if you decide to get the train ticket. It's really an amazing city if you like art and French culture.

4/25/2006 8:47:43 PM

^Sorry for the sweeping generalization, but I really didn't care for Paris. Yeah the Louvre is pretty nice and it was cool to see the cathdrals, Eiffel tower, and the biggest ass Virgin store ever, but I really could have lived without it. The people there were absolutely disgusting, and I am from a big city. I do not like big cities, so maybe this is why I was not particularly endeared. Just about every tourist shop you go into has naked women all over the place and the black guys trying to sell you crap and rob you are just creepy as hell. West of France is a much better experience as far as I am concerned.

Quote :

"You are probably referring to the "Knödel"."

Nope, that's not it. This was more of a really bad doughnut and they sold them in a bakery. They were in Rothenburg.



[Edited on April 25, 2006 at 8:59 PM. Reason : meh]

4/25/2006 8:47:47 PM

So I've been in Germany since last July, and I haven't heard of a "snowball" until last night when reading this thread.

Well I'll be damned - check this out. This morning I was having an email discussion with some friends about where to go this upcoming holiday weekend. We were thinking of driving to Zurich or Vienna or somewhere else in driving range of Munich, and one of my colleagues wrote this:

Quote :

"Suggestion for a trip this weekend: - http://www.rothenburg.de/ it's just a small town and definitely not a party place but it's a nice place to see... Rothenburg is quite picturesque, there's a tasty local sweet (schneeball) and a torture museum "

as you've probably guessed, schneeball = snowball, and she was referring directly to Rothenburg.
.... weird how that happens. Within 10 hours of hearing about it on here, I hear about it directly from a German, unprovoked. Makes you wonder how many other times i've heard it, but just haven't paid attention....

(we decided on a weekend getaway to Wien (Vienna), btw )

4/26/2006 10:45:23 AM

the torture museun in rothenburg is awesome

4/26/2006 11:14:55 AM

definitely check out Heidleburg.. I got some great picts there umm Braunfels is fairly near Frankfurt. I stayed w/ my Uncle in Geissen (sp) which is an hour south of Frankfurt. We also did a boat tour of the Rhine, and that was pretty interesting. Umm... of course there are small castles EVERYWHERE. There's a fairly good sized flea market in Frankfurt on Saturdays It's a great place to pick up some souveniors for cheaper. And if you really dig around, you can find some great stuff. That's about all we did in Germany we spent a few days in Amsterdam and went to Strausburg in France for the day.

4/26/2006 11:31:17 AM

^I think that's where I saw the random giant Timberland outlet store too.

4/26/2006 11:31:57 AM

If you have time, run over to Austria, there is a little town called Hallstatt and it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. You can ride the funicluar up into the mountains and visit the salt mines. Its really really cool because unlike Americans, they aren't sue-happy, so they haven't destroyed the place in making it "safe." Just google hallstatt salt mines for that. I dont have any pics of it cause my camera batteries died then, but its really neat. http://www.hallstatt.net


^on the ferry to hallstatt, you ride the train there and then take a ferry from the train station to the town across the lake

Also the castle in Fussen is spetacular. I haven't been to any others though. This one is called Neuschwanstein. Theres another littler castle next to it, and you can tour both, but I haven't actually been in that one.


^Neuschwanstein

I also highly recommend Rothenburg ob der Tauber, like some others have. They are a traditional little german town and they have a cool museum of medival criminal stuff. Its on the Romantic Road, so you can take a bus tour of it for a day and stop at all these little towns.



My whole gallery: http://www.pbase.com/violetdawn/europe

[Edited on April 26, 2006 at 2:11 PM. Reason : ]

4/26/2006 2:04:29 PM

Hey
If you get to go on a tour of the Rhine River, I highly suggest two cities:
1.Marksburg Schloss: An awesome castle. They do tours in English as well as German, and they have the most awesome swords in the gift shop. I bought one and had only minor trouble getting it into the US.
2. Rudesheim: Lots of neat pubs and such, but a locally famous torture museum. Don't know if you're into torture--I'm not a huge fan but it was very interesting.
Hope you have an awesome trip!

4/26/2006 9:42:22 PM