Munich scraps plans to build Transrapid train line

by Anna Brones on

It’s always exciting to build fast and flashy transportation, so when plans were made last fall to build a Transrapid maglev train in Munich, the celebratory champagne flowed. But according to German sources, those plans have now been scrapped, and the high-speed train which was to connect the Munich train station and airport, will no longer materialize.

The Transrapid train was to be a magnetic levitation rail link; a high-speed monorail that moves uses magnetic levitation. The only other city to have such transportation is Shanghai. But fancy transportation comes with a price tag, and the originally projected 1.85 billion euros quickly rose to 3 billion. At that price, the German government, the state of Bavaria and companies involved decided to ditch the project.

Maglev technology is exciting — Shanghai’s is the fastest train in the world — but unfortunately we will have to wait just a little longer before we see a European version.

Surfing in Munich, Germany

by Justin Glow on


When I was in Munich, Germany this past October, I heard about a place on the Isar River where you could surf outdoors any time of the year. “Long ago an urban designer placed three rows of rocks in the streambed to create some aesthetic roil,” wrote Scott Ostler for the San Francisco Chronicle, “and, voila, Surf City.”

The bridge overlooking the wave is on Prinzregentenstrasse at the south end of Englischer Garten. Here’s a map.

Be sure and check out the video above, and the gallery below. Fun!

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Photo: Hofbräuhaus Catastrophe

by Justin Glow on

And you thought those mugs were indestructible? Flickr user Slake B was at the right place at the right time, and captured this shot of two eager beavers slamming their Hofbräuhaus maß together. The results, as you can see, were unfortunate. You hit them at their bases, dude. Come on! [via]

How to Eat Weisswurst in Munich

by Justin Glow on

“It’s hard to find a restaurant in the German city that doesn’t serve weisswurst,” writes Chris Gray, a freelance writer living in Heidelberg, Germany, for World Hum. “But it’s said that the white sausages should never hear the noon church bells.”

If you’re heading to Munich for this year’s Oktoberfest, there should be no escaping the traditional Bavarian breakfast of weisswurst. But there are rules to follow — traditions to be aware of — before you can dip a cut off of the albino veal sausage into a pool of sweet Bavarian mustard.

You can never be too prepared.

On where to go: “Once you find the right restaurant, seek out the table with a centerpiece that looks like a huge cast-iron ashtray and is labeled “Stammtisch.” Never sit there. Grab the table nearest to it, however. In Germany, a restaurant’s stammtisch is reserved for the regulars, and it’s where all the action is.”

On eating technique: “Now comes the tricky part. Weisswuerste are eaten peeled, and while the traditional technique is to snip open the ends and suck out the meat, you’re best off using your silverware.”

On recognizing a good sausage: “When you cut open a weisswurst, it should smell fresh, and the filling should swell out the ends-proof that the meat is of a high -quality and has been properly cooked.”

Head over to World Hum for the full low-down on properly savoring Munich’s whitest sausage.

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Video: Carnival Rides at Oktoberfest’s Funfair

by Justin Glow on


If you wander just outside of the massive beer tents during Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, you’ll find the funfair. What’s cool about the funfair is all the crazy-looking carnival rides they have. In the United States, carnival rides are usually rusty death traps operated by drunk amputees, but the rides in the video above look absolutely amazing. Not only do they look safe, but I’ve never seen many of them before — they even have full size roller coasters. At a carnival! The coolest ride is at 01:26 (remaining) — the giant flipping, spinning, flower-like thing that dangles riders and shakes them about.

Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany runs from September 22, until October 7.

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