Munich's Tollwood festivals, whether summer or winter, are a great place to celebrate multi-cultural food, art and music. The summer fest is held near the Olympics grounds; the winter fest is right on the Oktoberfest spot. Entry is free for most of the fest attractions.
Information and photos about Mahrs Brau brewery and beer garden in Bamberg, Germany PLUS Karren Doll Tolliver's newest book, A Travel for Taste - Germany EXTRA.
A salad based on one I had at Goldmarie restaurant in Munich. The recipe seems French, however, because of the French lettuce and French cheese. It's a perfect accompaniment to rich mains like steak and lobster. Recipe is included.
The headquarters of the Munich Reinsurance Company in Germany resides in this imposing piece of architecture built just for their own purposes. Designed by architects Oswald Eduard Bieber and Wilhelm Hollweck; built in 1912/13, it's located across the street from the Munich Riding School on the edge of the English Garden.
The last site of Munich in our favorite guidebook: 111 Things in Munich You Shouldn't Miss. It's the Marienklause, a forest-dark chapel on the banks of the Isar built after a dangerous flood by the grateful watchman who survived it. Includes photos of the Isar on a summer's day plus the footbridge and raft route over the river.
A serendipitous visit to Bavaria's hops fields near Pfaffenhofen. Much of the world's hops is grown in this area and an Autobahn traffic jam forced me through the hops bines in Bavaria.
Medieval Castle Grünwald, just south of Munich, resides on the Isar near the Filmstadt of Bavaria. With artifacts from the Middle Ages and modern art like the sculptures of Schwanthaler, visitors can get a taste of the past while enjoying an upscale neighborhood.
A surprisingly delicious breakfast/brunch/lunch place on Autobahn A8 in Bavaria's Irschenberg just south of Munich in Germany. Dinzler roasts their own coffee, which you can also buy at other retailers, but it's worth a stop-in to sample their handcrafted food. While you wait on a table, you can tour their small coffee museum and catwalk through the roasting operation.
On a hilltop in Bavaria just south of Munich lies the Andechs Abbey, famous for the monk-made beer, beautiful hiking, organic dairy and produce and an all-around monastery/brewery German experience. Nearby are the lakefront towns of Dießen and Herrsching, known to German locals as relaxing places to kick back.
Stunning views of Chiemsee, freshwater lake in Germany near the Alps. On the Herreninsel island I visited Herrenchiemsee, "Mad" King Ludwig II's palace - and an exact scale replica of Versailles.