Europe itinerary

"What are some good trappist brews in Leuven and Brussels we could visit and maybe just take a picture in front of Stella? (although if she wants to visit, I will risk my beer card suspension...) I would like to visit Delirium" Just to repeat, hardly any breweries in Belgium offer tours to the general public. Some operate restaurants, though. There are no Trappist breweries around Leuven, and none of them offer tours of the brewery anyway. You can visit the abbey of Maredsous, but you can't tour the brewery. Hoegaarden isn't too far from Leuven, but once again, the brewery is closed to the general public. If you want a good place to down some suds in Leuven, head to the cafes on the Oude Markt. On a weekend with good weather when the university is in session, it's one of the best spots in Belgium for a beer.

"This, for me, is a brewery trip with Pilsner Urquell (Czech), Oktoberfest (Munich), Stella (Belgium) and Heineken " At least for Stella, all you'll be doing is staring at the massive brewery from the outside. They don't offer regular tours to the general public. The only "brewery" that offers regular public tours in Belgium (that I know of) is De Half Maan in Brugge. Even here, though, the company brews most of it's beer in a modern facility outside of the old city. You seem kind of young, though, so for a trip that's covering a lot of territory in not that much time, I'd recommend spending more time in nearby Ghent. But if you REALLY want to be near the home of Stella (as James noted, the Budweiser of Belgium is a pretty good description), Leuven is also a pretty hopping university town. I'll let others explain why a rail pass will probably not save you any money...

You're sprechen my language, but lost me on Stella...You'll be in Belgium, dude! Stella is the equivalent of American Budweiser. You go Belgium, you go trappist, or get your beer card pulled. Agree with your analysis of Stella. I have it on tap at the house and it is one of my girlfriend's favorite beers, hence the stop. And yes, since we are in Belgium, we do plan to visit some trappist brew houses. As far as Pilsner Urquell goes, now I'm thinking more along the lines of skipping the brewery in Plzen and just spending the entire time in and around Prague with my travel companion. Neither rated overwhelmingly high on beeradvocate.com...so why waste the time and travel if Plzen isn't such a great town? I've been planning this trip for years, so made sure to score accommodations in Munich first before anything else. Trying to keep my beer card safe. Here is what I did to score my accommodations...visit http://vrbo.com and search for local apartments for rent. You can score a place early and sometimes cheaper than getting a hotel. As far as our Belgium stay goes, we were thinking about visiting Stella in the morning and heading back to Bruge by way of Brussels in the afternoon. What are some good trappist brews in Leuven and Brussels we could visit and maybe just take a picture in front of Stella? (although if she wants to visit, I will risk my beer card suspension...) I would like to visit Delirium, so maybe some time in and around Ghent and a stop at the Huyghe Brewery is a better plan? Curious about the thoughts on train passes, though. Thanks! This is why I posted here...much appreciated.

Greg: You said, "We also want to visit BMW in Munich and we would also like to rent a car and go for a cruise on the Autobahn." Don't they already call GA Hwy 400 north of Atlanta the 400 Autobahn? It's nice to do a brewery tour of Europe, but you don't need to go to such geographically diverse places. So much train travel is not pleasurable. You should simplify your trip. Start in Prague, run down to Vienna, and over to Salzburg to visit "the brothers" at Augustiner. Then take in Munich the right way; hitting BMW and all the beer gardens. And, don't forget to get out to Andechs; another monk run brewery 45 minutes SW of town. Remember that beer in Europe generally goes from great to really GGRREAT! Even the small towns of Europe have their own small breweries, and they're even great.
Don't overlook small breweries.

"Don't they already call GA Hwy 400 north of Atlanta the 400 Autobahn?" Yes, I've heard GA 400 north of Atlanta has been called that. Unfortunately, law enforcement sort of doesn't agree with treating GA 400 like it is the real Autobahn. Otherwise, I'd take the AMG out more often. But figured since we would be where the REAL Autobahn is...so why not take advantage? I am learning more and more that there are many tiny little breweries all across Europe. I am getting the feeling that I will be making plenty of trips across the pond to search for and discover these in the future. Thanks for the tips on Vienna and Salzburg. I am thinking those will be destinations for future trips. Am also planning a future Irish/Scottish/English pub crawl and (later) a whiskey tour of Ireland and Scotland when I retire (hopefully). I figure that would be a good retirement gift to myself.

Remember that drinking and driving are not tolerated in Germany, or the rest of Europe for that matter. There have been recent posts here painting the reality of the Autobahn which would be worth reading.

Drinking and driving will not be on the menu in Germany or any other country we visit. I will scan through the postings on the Autobahn here, though. Thanks!

In short, unless you're driving far from a major city at 7:00 on a Sunday morning, it isn't nearly as fun as it sounds. Involves mostly very short bursts of blazing speed, followed by breaking to a screaching halt for no apparent reason, then long stretches of barely driving 90 km/hr (about 54 mph).