Munich, Germany

When my friend called to say that he scored tickets to an Adele concert, I was elated. I love Adele’s music and her stage personality and was excited to see her live. Her Royal Albert Hall performance is one of my all-time favourites. If the live concert would be anything like that, it would be worth the travel to wherever it was that she was playing.

To my surprise, her concert was in Munich, Germany! I didn’t have much time leading up to the concert to understand why she chose Munich, but upon researching it, the short story was that Munich chose her. Due to Munich’s history of hosting large scale events like Oktoberfest and the temporary stadium they designed specifically for her concert at the Messe München, she felt that it would provide a unique experience for her fans.

“The cost however was worth it as the vibe was indescribable. When Adele asked the crowd to turn on their mobile phone lights to add to the ambience, the glow of 70,000+ lights was like looking into deep space and seeing all the stars up close.”

She was absolutely right! The temporary stadium was spectacular and I can’t write anything more without first mentioning the incredible screen. The €40 million (US$44,160,000) LED screen the implemented measured 220 metres (721 ft 9 in) wide and 30 metres (98 ft 5 in) high, making it the largest screen of all time used for a stage show. For me, the screen along with the design of the temporary stadium made the event super special. Billboard reported the whole setup cost US$100 million to build.

The cost however was worth it as the vibe was indescribable. When Adele asked the crowd to turn on their mobile phone lights to add to the ambience, the glow of 70,000+ lights was like looking into deep space and seeing all the stars up close. Speaking of stars, as night fell, the crisp Munich air allowed for a beautiful clear view of the real stars in the sky.

Journey from Hong Kong to Munich

While the concert was completely satisfying, the journey to get to Munich was quite something. We had to fly 14 hours from Hong Kong to Frankfurt. Then make our way onto a train to Munich, check in at the hotel, figure out were Adele World was and then take a train or Uber to get there before 5PM. With our flight landing at 7AM, and the train to Munich taking 3.5 hours, we didn’t have any room for mistakes or problems as we ideally needed to be at Adele World at 3PM that same day. 

Immigration and customs were surprisingly quick at Terminal 2 where our Cathay Pacific flight landed, with no line-up for immigration and only 20 minutes for the luggage to arrive. We had read that Frankfurt Airport has issues with long luggage delays and we saw hints of this as they have an app you can download to track the flight’s luggage. 

Once we got our luggage, we had to make our way over to the long-distance train station which was located at Terminal 1. We boarded a decidedly low-tech airport bus to transfer from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1. The bus only took 15 minutes, but I was surprised that a country known for engineering and efficiency would be using a bus to transport visitors between terminals! We would later find out there’s a small train within the airport that can be taken, but it too has some issues which we’ll talk about later.

Deutsche Bahn  

Due to the faster than expected flight, immigration and customs, we arrived at the Frankfurt Long Distance Train Station more than two hours earlier than planned. As is normal in every city we’ve visited before, we made our way over to the Deutsche Bahn (DB) help desk to change our tickets to an earlier train from Frankfurt Airport to Munich HBF. My research had told me that the staff at train station help counters can be rather curt, so I made sure to wait patiently to be acknowledged to come forward, put on a big smile, said “Good morning!” to the frowning DB agent.

The tactic seemed to work as she immediately unfurled her frown to reach a 0-degree lip angle. Upon patiently explaining our situation of being early and requesting her advice on what potential options we have, she dropped the bombshell that DB tickets cannot be changed. We would have to cancel our tickets, which were no longer cancellable without losing the entire fare, and rebook the earlier train. Since we had bought First Class tickets, this meant we would be out of pocket €400+.

“Something to note when taking DB trains, they may or may not come, they may or may not be on time, and your seat may or may not be occupied by other people.”

We thanked her for the insight and then went away to buy some breakfast. While at breakfast, we decided to bite the bullet and book new Second Class tickets on the earlier train to give us more time in Munich to get to Adele World in time. The Second Class tickets were €200 and in hindsight, much better value as the seats were pretty much the same as First Class, with the only exception being that First Class includes access to the train station lounges, which we didn’t have time to use.

Something to note when taking DB trains, they may or may not come, they may or may not be on time, and your seat may or may not be occupied by other people. On top of that, the stations often change the track for the train’s arrival, and they board two trains on one track, so you not only need to keep on top of what track the train is coming on, but also which part of that particular track to stand at. It’s a bit comical and unnecessarily chaotic as you see people running around when the train finally arrives. 

Once in the train, the experience was excellent and what we’ve come to expect of high-speed rail around the world. The trains were clean with decent Wifi. If you didn’t pay the €13 for selecting seats, you have to look for seats that have a little digital sign showing the seat status. At the time, we thought this was a strange customer experience choice to have so many unassigned seats, but on our return journey to Frankfurt at the end of our trip, we learned why this may be required in Germany! More on that in a future Berlin post. 

Compared to global standards we’re accustomed to in countries like Japan and China, the poor customer experience, lack of timeliness, inability to change tickets (unless the train is cancelled or delayed) and the rather poor organization at the train station made the German rail system seem like it has room for improvement. When I think of my previous Porsches and their extraordinary engineering design and efficiency, the German rail system came as a big shock. 

Munich Old Town

Because we only had two days in Munich, we stayed near the Old Town at the Excelsior by Geisel. The hotel was excellent with the perfect location to the Munich HBF, the main train station (4-minutes’ walk), the subway right outside the door, and the Old Town within a 5-minutes’ walk.

The street outside of the hotel was a bit sketchy with some homeless people around, but we found this to be the case throughout the area, including the Old Town and it didn’t appear to bring any personal risk; they did their thing, and we did ours. 

In the Old Town itself, we were quite surprised to find some parts of it devoid of Germans. I had no idea Munich was so multicultural. There were many, many North Africans and what appeared to be Syrians or Afghanis or perhaps Turks? It was a bit of a culture shock at first, but then we became accustomed to it. At night, we saw the more expected mix of Germans and non-Germans.

“The Old Town was very beautiful with its old well-preserved architecture. A great view we found was to go up to the top of the New Town Hall.”

The Old Town was very beautiful with its old well-preserved architecture. A great view we found was to go up to the top of the New Town Hall. Tickets were only €12 and included an elevator ride to the top (current pricing appears to be €6.50). At the top, it’s quite tight up there when it gets busy, but since there’s no time limit, you can wait until the crowd thins out; it ebbs and flows so you’ll definitely get a chance to take the perfect picture.

Our time was very limited in Munich, but if we could do it again, we would go up there at sunrise or sunset. We had dinner plans that night so we had to go up mid-day, but I was still quite happy with the images; at least I’ll have some memories to look back on from all the walking we did in the Old Town.

Servicewüste

Our Deutsche Bahn experience was a precursor to what we’d experience especially in Munich and a bit in Berlin too. Service staff were difficult to read and click with. We’ve travelled all over the world and each country or city has its own vibe that requires us to adapt to the local environment. 

In China, if you’re in the posh and modern city of Shanghai, simple eye contact or a graceful slight raise of the hand will immediately inform the service staff that you need something. In Canada, raising a hand will be considered rude so we do the eye contact dance or signal with our cutlery. 

“After a day or two in a city, it becomes easy to click into the local way of doing things, but in Munich, we were completely lost because each shop and restaurant seemed to have their secret code.”

In Seoul or Bangkok, raising a hand is completely normal. In Beijing, it’s still quite normal to yell “shuài gē” (handsome guy) if it’s a male or “fúwùyuán” (service staff). After a day or two in a city, it becomes easy to click into the local way of doing things, but in Munich, we were completely lost because each shop and restaurant seemed to have their secret code and were not shy to inform us that we weren’t following their way of doing things.

Läderach München

We went into this famous chocolate shop that sells chunks of chocolate by the kg. Our intent was to buy a few hundred Euro worth of chocolate to take back to Hong Kong and Beijing. Upon entering the store, the lone staff member was looking at her phone and didn’t acknowledge or look over our way.

This was fine with me as I wanted to browse the store anyhow as they have an endless assortment of chocolate to choose from. However, I did want to try some flavours my friends had recommended. I made the incorrect assumption that the staff member was available to help me and politely said “hello, when you have a moment, could I please try out a flavour?” 

“The response, with the eyes of a cobra about to devour its prey came swift and hard. “Can’t you see I’m busy right now? I’ll be with you when I’m done!”

The response, with the eyes of a cobra about to devour its prey came swift and hard. “Can’t you see I’m busy right now? I’ll be with you when I’m done!” We waited for another 5-minutes, upon which time a German customer had come in and taken something to the till. The staff completed her sale and then came over to us. She let one of our party try some flavours, but then got busy again when it came to my turn.

She again helped a German customer at the till and remained there after the sale. I wasn’t brave enough to ask for her help again and decided to leave without spending the money I had intended. For a city like Munich that wants tourism to be part of its GDP, it needs to think about how tourists can navigate this kind of environment. Money was left on the table in that shop and 19%% VAT for the government too.

Hirmer München

With each interaction when travelling, we learn about the local way of doing things, so with the chocolate shop under our belt, we knew that we should not ask for help, but instead wait for the staff to finish whatever it is that they’re doing. We entered a luxury clothing store which was empty.

We wanted to check if they had our size for a particular item. We made eye contact a few times with the staff, but we didn’t want to get yelled at again, so we didn’t ask for help; just patiently stood there and waited, and waited and waited. When we were finally about to give up, we decided to ask the staff if he could help us out.

“Of course I can help you! Why didn’t you let me know? I can’t read your mind!” And with that, Munich lost another sale and further confused our thinking of how to approach service staff.

Ratskeller München

Our friends had made a reservation through sevenrooms.com, a popular restaurant platform in Hong Kong. The German restaurant was on the platform in Munich and had confirmed our 8-seat reservation via email.

When we arrived at the restaurant, a surly young staff made us wait for more than 10 minutes while he did something on the computer. He spoke German to people waiting alongside us but not in our party. 

When he finally asked us what we wanted, we shared our reservation with him; just like in the scenes from Little Britian, he said something similar to “Computer says no!” and then walked away. We weren’t sure what to do so we waited another 10-minutes for him to return to the front desk (which was getting chaotic with so many people waiting).

“Just like in the scenes from Little Britain, he said something similar to “Computer says no!” and then walked away.”

We showed him the reservation and asked him to check again. His response, “talk to the manager, it’s not in the system” and he left again. Just by chance, an older middle eastern man was walking around in a suit so we asked him if he knew how we could get our reservation to work. It turned out he was the manager and checked the computer and found our reservation in less than 10 seconds.

After being seated, I asked the manager if the front desk guy was always like that, he replied, “yes, only cares about money and hoiidays; he’s always like that”.  I was flabbergasted that a company would keep someone like that employed! Germany must have very strong employee rights to give that kind of confidence to a staff!

Biergarden

Our final strange experience turned out to be a positive one. We were trying very hard to enjoy the stunningly beautiful and warm (33C) last day in Munich by having some sausages in a beergarden. The Old Town is lined with several beergardens with many empty seats. Trying to get the attention of the staff however was impossible; they would make eye contact and then walk by without saying anything.

We tried at two beer gardens to get a seat to no avail. One beer garden said the outdoor seats are all reserved and the other didn’t bother to reply to any questions. Seeing several Germans easily get seats while we were waiting, we started to feel frustrated and perhaps even wondering if racism may be coming into play.

“The staff member suddenly went from a sour face to a big smile, ‘Well let me tell you that here in Munich we have a special way of doing things.'”

I hate to lean on racism in a new country experience, so I was determined to confirm or deny this feeling. I took the bold step to walk up to one of the staff and said, “I’m sorry, we’re new here and are trying to figure out how things work. We really want to have some beer and food in the outdoor area, what’s the process that we should follow?”

The staff member suddenly went from a sour face to a big smile, “Well let me tell you that here in Munich we have a special way of doing things. You need to find an empty seat and ask the people there if you can join them. Sometimes there’s not even a seat and you may bunch together or stand around the table. Once you’re seated, the girls will come around to take your order.”  

He then proceeded to go into the patio and found an American couple at a four seat table. He asked them if we could join and we did. After ordering our food, we still felt a bit sad that we weren’t seated with Germans because we wanted to see how they do things. Fortunately, after the Americans came, a quintessential German couple came and joined our table.

What ensued was a raucous fun time. The German couple was all-in on ensuring we had a great beer garden experience. They were telling us hilarious stories about Germans, the food, culture and how to overcome the service challenges that we had faced. While the service industry was a downer, the real first Germans we encountered were as friendly as could be!

Castles

Everyone said that if you go to Munich, you must go see the castles, so we boarded a bus at 8AM with the most charming older German lady as our guide. Her name was Barbara and she spoke with such a glacial and calm pace that we could take naps in between syllables. Her soothing voice made the bus ride like being in meditation. 

Linderhof Palace

Our tour included two stops. The first at Linderhof Palace. I loved this castle as the interior was designed when King Ludwig II was at the peak of his wealth. The attention to detail and finishings were astounding. If you visit Linderhof Palace, be sure to add a bit more time to tour the beautiful surrounding gardens. Our tour was sadly very short so we could only do a brief walk through the gardens.

I should mention the guide inside the palace. She has the most impeccable verbal timing I’ve ever seen. She would wait for everyone to enter the room, would stay silent until everyone automatically went to silence, and then without notice, a roaring voice would start the storytelling by calling out the room name, “Dining Room!”. She added to the whole experience!

Neuschwanstein Castle

The second stop was the Neuschwanstein Castle complex. I’d highly recommend starting your castle complex tour by going to Marie’s Bridge to see the castle that inspired Disney’s from a perfect vantage point. You can either take a bus up the hill to the bridge or can walk. The bus took less than 15 minutes including waiting for the bus, whereas walking up would have likely taken 30-40 minutes. It was 33C when we were there, so we took the bus.

While the exterior of the Neuschwanstein Castle is stunning, the interior demonstrated that King Ludwig II’s wealth had started to diminish by this time as the attention to detail and luxurious finishings were not as present as in Linderhof Palace. 

Etiquette in Foreign Countries

It’s disappointing that this needs to be mentioned but seeing the way a small number of people conduct themselves from all over the world bears some repeating. When travelling to a foreign country, please observe the local customs and rules, especially when the rules have been explicitly articulated. In these two castles, the guides made it clear that photos were not to be taken. This was either to keep the flow of people going or to protect the interiors. 

“Regardless of the reason, they made the rules clear and we, as tourists, must adhere to them. If we don’t, we may find these beautiful and important sites off limits to future generations.”

Regardless of the reason, they made the rules clear and we, as tourists, must adhere to them. If we don’t, we may find these beautiful and important sites off limits to future generations. Unfortunately, at every stop of the tour, we saw people disregard the clear instructions from the guides, by either taking holding people up and taking pictures, not checking in their backpacks and then accidentally hitting some rare artifact as they spin around to talk to their spouse, or by talking while the guide was speaking. 

I appreciate that each country has their own culture and in some cultures it’s acceptable to talk while others are speaking or that rules are mere suggestions rather than requirements to be followed, however when you’re in Rome, do as the Romans do. Let’s follow the local customs and requirements so that we can protect access to these beautiful sites for future generations. 

New Town Hall Tower

Since we didn’t have much time in Munich, we took the easy route to see the city by buying tickets at €6.50 per person to reach the observation deck of the New Town Hall Tower. There’s no time limit so you can stay up there as long as you’d like and the fencing in place has holes big enough to fit even GFX lenses through them. I would recommend going early in the day or at sunset. We didn’t have the luxury of selecting the time, so we went when the light was not so favourable. However, we still got some images that we ultimately ended up happy with.

Conclusion

We didn’t spend enough time in Munich to really see its treasures, but we did get a taste of it. We were getting more comfortable with being direct and picking up the subtle cues from the locals, so our impression was rapidly improving, but in hindsight, we’re very happy to have sacrificed time in Munich for what was to come next in Berlin!