WW Places of Interest in Southern Germany?

[Mike Ontko]

I'll be travelling to Germany and Austria in April, staying or stopping in Stuttgart, Munich, Salzburg and Vienna, and would like to include any points of interest in those locations or along the way related to wood or woodworking. Does anyone have any particular experiences or know of any places that would be worthwhile to check out while I'm there? As informative as they are, Rick Steves' travel guides don't appear to cover this particular topic.

[Mike Henderson]

This isn't woodworking, but when you're in Salzburg, make sure you get to the Augustiner Braustubl beerhall. It's a bit difficult to find but ask anyone and they can give you directions. Look it up on TripAdvisor for reviews and information.

Mike

[Chris Padilla]

Not WW'ing related but one of the more amazing tours I've ever been on was to see the BMW plant in Dingolfing a bit north and to the east of Munich. The entire city is basically devoted to running the plant there. Pretty incredible.

[Max Neu]

If I was going to Germany, I would visit the Martin machinery factory, I love their quality, second to none in my opinion.

[John Sanford]

Contact Felder, ask them. ;)

[Pat Barry]

I agree - skip the woodworking - concentrate on the fine food and beer in Bavaria!

[John TenEyck]

There also is a BMW factory right in the city of Munich. I took a tour their about 12 years ago and it was well worth the time. I know a guy who's daughter works some place in Vienna restoring really old wooden instruments. If that might be of interest I can find out if they give tours. The area around Oberammergau is where they carve wooden figurines. And Mittenwald is where violins are made. Here's a link to some info.: http://www.bavaria.us/crafts-tradition-bavaria-germany There are several glass crystal factories in southern Germany as well, and most give tours. There's a really cool salt mine tour in Bad Reichenhall: http://www.bavaria.us/index?action=search&term=salt+mines#content Any wood worker would enjoy seeing the original Disneyland castle at Neuschwanstein: http://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/palace/

Have a great trip.

John

[Myk Rian]

Neuschwanstein Castle
Absolutely incredible.

308973

[John TenEyck]

I agree - skip the woodworking - concentrate on the fine food and beer in Bavaria!

Pretzels and Weisswurst with Weissbier, and a ham hock and dumplings with the dark stuff in Munich; yes please. Don't forget the Maultaschen and very good red wine near Stuttgart, and the even better stuff just a little further West in Pfalz, but forget the Saumagen unless you like Haggis. And the cakes in Austria are amazing. Oh yeah, Grinzing just outside Vienna (reachable by streetcar, which was and is a very good thing) is famous for outdoor wine gardens. Need a tour guide?

John

[roger wiegand]

+1 on the BMW tours!

Because of my other primary hobby I've enjoyed visiting the organ builders in Waldkirch. There are ~5 active organ factories in this small Black Forest town where they do both very high tech and very traditional woodworking, often side by side. The sheds where the wood is air drying are worth the trip.

http://carouselorgan.smugmug.com/Travel/Bbt-2005/i-4KdKsRM/0/S/B0000303-S.jpg (http://carouselorgan.smugmug.com/Travel/Bbt-2005/i-4KdKsRM/A)

[Brett Luna]

The last 4 years of my USAF career was in Germany and I spent a fair bit of time in Stuttgart with German friends and traveled a bit in Bavaria, as well. In the Stuttgart area, a visit to the Ludwigsburg Residential Palace (http://www.schloss-ludwigsburg.de/en/home/) in Kornwestheim is worthwhile. It's a baroque palace somewhat in the style of Versailles but rather than a lot of empty rooms, Ludwigsburg includes many original or period pieces.

If you find yourself in the Black Forest, you might be able tour a Triberg cuckoo clock factory. Tourist-type models aside, some of Hubert Herr's carvings are quite nice, so I think it would be a treat if they still offer tours. Triberg is also home to Germany's highest waterfall and the easy walk through the gorge is absolutely beautiful.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen (site of the 1936 Winter Olympics) is a popular destination and is convenient to a few of King Ludwig's castles (Neuschwanstein, Hohenscwangau, and Linderhof), Kloster Ettal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettal_Abbey), and other sights. If you spend any time near Munich, another of Ludwig's palaces, Herrenchiemsee is nearby, on an island in the middle of Germany's largest lake, Chiemsee. I seem to recall the tour guide mentioning that Mark Twain spent time there during his time in Germany.

A beautiful but sobering place to visit is Hitler's alpine retreat, Kehlsteinhaus (also known as the Eagle's Nest) near Berchtesgaden. It offers stunning mountain views extending into Austria and now hosts a restaurant on the premises. It was really something to recall photos and film of Hilter and Eva Braun taken there and finding yourself walking the same floors and seeing the same views. Also nearby is the Salzbergwerk (saltmine) Berchtesgaden that offers a fun and interesting tour. If you have kids or are one at heart, you can slide down a couple of wooden cart tracks; one of about 110 feet and the other about 130.

My last recommendation isn't in Bavaria but lies roughly between Stuttgart and Würzburg to the northeast: Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It's a small town that dates back to the middle ages and in spite of damage suffered during WWII, is one of the best preserved walled towns in Europe, IIRC. While there, I ate in a quaint little restaurant that was about 600 years old...although I believe most of that history saw use as a stable. Rothenburg is also the headquarters of the Käthe Wohlfahrt (http://wohlfahrt.com/en/christmas-stores/rothenburg-ob-der-tauber) chain of Christmas stores, where they actually have several shops with different themes and products. If you like Old World Christmas, it's the place to go.

[Mike Henderson]

My last recommendation isn't in Bavaria but lies roughly between Stuttgart and Würzburg to the northeast: Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It's a small town that dates back to the middle ages and in spite of damage suffered during WWII, is one of the best preserved walled towns in Europe, IIRC. While there, I ate in a quaint little restaurant that was about 600 years old...although I believe most of that history saw use as a stable. Rothenburg is also the headquarters of the Käthe Wohlfahrt (http://wohlfahrt.com/en/christmas-stores/rothenburg-ob-der-tauber) chain of Christmas stores, where they actually have several shops with different themes and products. If you like Old World Christmas, it's the place to go.
+1 on Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Interesting town. I stayed at a very old Inn there - don't remember the name.

Mike

[Chris Padilla]

During my BMW trip, we also visited, dined, and stayed in Rothenburg. Very cool little historic place.

[Brett Luna]

A perhaps unnecessary but amusing note about Rothenburg: if you're on a self-guided trip, it's "burg" with a "u" and not "berg" with an "e". My German friend told me a story of encountering a tourist couple who wound up in in Rothenberg (not far from Mannheim and Heidelberg) looking in vain for the city wall which was a couple of hours away in Rothenburg. Of course, this was back before most everyone had GPS mapping in their cell phones.

[Stan Calow]

There is an open air museum in the Black Forest area, that has some authentic and some reconstructed wood farmhouses and outbuildings from up to several hundred years ago. I found the joinery in the old frames, beams, mill, and interior carpentry to be very interesting. Should be easy to find on the map.

[Mike Ontko]

Thanks to everyone so far for the suggestions. And yes, there will be planned stops for dining, beer, and castles; all the usual tourist stops :) LOML is a concert violist (hence the side trips to Salzburg and Vienna) and we're both keeping our eyes open for any types of Bach performances, particularly if they involve old pipe organs. I've heard lots about the BMW factory tour and our hosts have been almost expecting to take us there.

[Rich Riddle]

Contact Felder, ask them. ;)

They are likely to tell him to visit Austria. You might get to see Festool, Fein, or Mafell though.

[Brad Schafer]

not woodworking, but Mercedes has a multi-story (read: BIG) museum in Stuttgart. if you like autos, it's a must see. not much of interest for the purely musically inclined, tho ...

[Halgeir Wold]

In Salzburg, of course the Scloss Salzburg, Mozarteum and other Mozart stuff :-), and Cafe Tomaselli, where Mozart used to frequent, and Konditorie Fürst on the other side of Alter Markt square, where the original Mozartkugeln was made.... outside the city, there is a rather peculiar plase called Schloss Hellbrunn, with its Wasserspiele, - a water driven music theatre.