Hello all that are reading,
We posted some pictures today on the blog for some of the days, so you'll have to go back and check out Amsterdam and other days to see them. We were going to go to Freidrichshafen today but decided that we really needed to take an easy day, so we hung out in the city and drove a few places. We made breakfast, an omlette with ham, cheese, and spanish bacon with toast. Very tasty!
Our highlight of the day was mailing a package and some postcards, and having lunch at the Hofbrauhaus. First the package: Gabrielle told us where the Deutsch Post was so we found a spot to park and walked over. The "Schlange" (line or snake) was quite long so we waited and finally made it up to the window. Got the package taken care of but had to mention that the Deutsch is more than just a post office, it's also a bank and offices of DHL! A one stop place to take care of your mail, money, and if you need to ship something. No way would this go in the USA. We also saw some police park and get out of a car, they were wearing street clothes but had holsters on with a gun. They look like everyone else, you would never know until he/she flashed a badge at you.
Second: The Hofbrauhaus: Wow, it was crazy! You walk right in and just look for a seat, if you see one you ask if anyone is sitting there and if not, it's yours. We sat at a table with another German couple around our age and watched all the craziness as the soccer fans where in force. Lots of Team songs, and in between the Oom-pah band playing. Beer comes in 1/2 and 1 liter glasses here. The gentleman across from us polished off 2 liters! Mark and I had 1/2L, then split a 1 liter....very German to do so! We actually left before we finished it off as we are not quite used to drinking so much!
We got back home and spoke with Gabrielle and Joseph to find out we're leaving the day the Birthday celebration of Munchen starts taking place (850 years)! We sat around and drank some tea and had a pretzel, talked and relaxed. Started packing for tomorrow. We plan to leave for Berchtesgaden around 9am, and take the autobahn down into Austria and back into Germany. We will be out of touch for 3 or 4 days. We will post another blog when we get to Berlin, or if we find a Internet Cafe there. Take care all.
Pat & Mark
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Munchen Tag Sechs
Hello Again!
Es regnet mit donner und blitzen! (It's raining with thunder and lightning) right now and it's coming down hard, we are glad to be back home for the night. We had an exciting day. This was our "Castle Day", we went und saw Neuschanstein, Hohenschwangau, und Linderhof. We started early and pulled the car out to hit the road. The car has a nice navigation system and it came in handy today.
Top speed today: 223 Kilometers: 138MPH! That E-Class rocks! The highways are beautiful here, no pot holes, just pristine condition. They are a pleasure to drive. The Germans evidentally know the rules of the road (I would suspect that if your paying 1800 euros for your license, you ought to!) and no problems. The Mercedes just hummed on the Autobahn. We left before the rain started and as soon as we got off the Autobahn, it started. As soon as we got to Neuschwanstein, it cleared up, was cool und schon. We toured Hohenschwangau first, then up the hill to Neuschwanstein. If you have never been it is absolutely beautiful! After the tours, we went into Fussen to get something to eat. I had fresh strawberrys with cream. Then on the road to Linderhof......more rain. We crossed into Austria and went through a checkpoint, he waved us through but he had young travelers on the side with 3 or 4 agents going through every single bag they had! It's such a spectacular drive but we had rain the whole way to Linderhof. Once at Linderhof we had to run for the last english tour and when we finished it was still raining. We programmed the navigation and it led us back home, but when we got to the Autobahn, it wasn't raining. So we made very, very quick time back to Munchen averaging over 200 KPH the whole way, that's over 124MPH!
What didn't we see today? No wrecks. No cars pulled over on the side of the road. no trash on the roads. We really like it here, so much more than Amsterdam and even more than Italy. We've had a few trials and will elaborate on that later in a funny situatiuons blog for the trip. We have eins tag mehr in Munchen and feel a little sad to leave. If you've never been do yourself a favor and come and visit!
Pat and Mark
Es regnet mit donner und blitzen! (It's raining with thunder and lightning) right now and it's coming down hard, we are glad to be back home for the night. We had an exciting day. This was our "Castle Day", we went und saw Neuschanstein, Hohenschwangau, und Linderhof. We started early and pulled the car out to hit the road. The car has a nice navigation system and it came in handy today.
Top speed today: 223 Kilometers: 138MPH! That E-Class rocks! The highways are beautiful here, no pot holes, just pristine condition. They are a pleasure to drive. The Germans evidentally know the rules of the road (I would suspect that if your paying 1800 euros for your license, you ought to!) and no problems. The Mercedes just hummed on the Autobahn. We left before the rain started and as soon as we got off the Autobahn, it started. As soon as we got to Neuschwanstein, it cleared up, was cool und schon. We toured Hohenschwangau first, then up the hill to Neuschwanstein. If you have never been it is absolutely beautiful! After the tours, we went into Fussen to get something to eat. I had fresh strawberrys with cream. Then on the road to Linderhof......more rain. We crossed into Austria and went through a checkpoint, he waved us through but he had young travelers on the side with 3 or 4 agents going through every single bag they had! It's such a spectacular drive but we had rain the whole way to Linderhof. Once at Linderhof we had to run for the last english tour and when we finished it was still raining. We programmed the navigation and it led us back home, but when we got to the Autobahn, it wasn't raining. So we made very, very quick time back to Munchen averaging over 200 KPH the whole way, that's over 124MPH!
What didn't we see today? No wrecks. No cars pulled over on the side of the road. no trash on the roads. We really like it here, so much more than Amsterdam and even more than Italy. We've had a few trials and will elaborate on that later in a funny situatiuons blog for the trip. We have eins tag mehr in Munchen and feel a little sad to leave. If you've never been do yourself a favor and come and visit!
Pat and Mark
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Munchen/Nurnberg Tag Funf
Hey out there in the USA!
How's everyone doing? We had another fine day, das wetter war dewerked (the weather was cloudy) and cool and since Nurnberg was supposed to be warm and sunny we decided to go. We lounged around this morning, ate fruhstuck und trinke kaffee. We caught the ICE 1508 at 11:22 and got to Nurnberg at 12:32.
We headed for the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelande. Germany has done a great job of documenting National Socialism and this museum was sehr gut! From the beginning to the end it's all documented here. We spent 3 hours going through the exhibits, and then walked to the Zeppelin field.. It's a hike from the museum and we were quite disappointed to see trash everywhere! They evidentally had some sort of festival or soccer game and the park and the rally grounds were trashed. They were busy cleaning up but, what a disappointment to see this in such a beautiful place. We got to the Zeppelin Tribune and climbed up and took some pictures. After we were through we headed back to the Altstadt and decided to have dinner. Mark had Cordon Blue and I had Bavarian pot roast. Dinner was very good and we headed back to the hauptbahnoff. We caught ICE 721 with 2 minutes to spare at 18:02! We got back into Munchen at 19:04, the highest speed today:289 kilometers!
Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelande
Congress Hall
Zeppelin Tribune
Pat on Tribune speaker platform
Structures that supported flags and cauldrons surrounding the field
Dinner in Nurnberg
Trains here in Germany are very good, always clean and tend to be on time unless there is a problem. Very different from Amsterdam! Our country really needs to learn how to set up mass trasit like it is here, Mark and I are very impressed with their system.
Es regnet heute Abend mit donner (it is raining tonight with thunder) and the weather is going to get cooler. We plan to go to the castles tomorrow, I hope that we are able to get some clearing but the forcast is not hopeful. Hope everyone is well, send us a comment!
Pat and Mark
How's everyone doing? We had another fine day, das wetter war dewerked (the weather was cloudy) and cool and since Nurnberg was supposed to be warm and sunny we decided to go. We lounged around this morning, ate fruhstuck und trinke kaffee. We caught the ICE 1508 at 11:22 and got to Nurnberg at 12:32.
We headed for the Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelande. Germany has done a great job of documenting National Socialism and this museum was sehr gut! From the beginning to the end it's all documented here. We spent 3 hours going through the exhibits, and then walked to the Zeppelin field.. It's a hike from the museum and we were quite disappointed to see trash everywhere! They evidentally had some sort of festival or soccer game and the park and the rally grounds were trashed. They were busy cleaning up but, what a disappointment to see this in such a beautiful place. We got to the Zeppelin Tribune and climbed up and took some pictures. After we were through we headed back to the Altstadt and decided to have dinner. Mark had Cordon Blue and I had Bavarian pot roast. Dinner was very good and we headed back to the hauptbahnoff. We caught ICE 721 with 2 minutes to spare at 18:02! We got back into Munchen at 19:04, the highest speed today:289 kilometers!
Dokumentationszentrum Reichsparteitagsgelande
Congress Hall
Zeppelin Tribune
Pat on Tribune speaker platform
Structures that supported flags and cauldrons surrounding the field
Dinner in Nurnberg
Trains here in Germany are very good, always clean and tend to be on time unless there is a problem. Very different from Amsterdam! Our country really needs to learn how to set up mass trasit like it is here, Mark and I are very impressed with their system.
Es regnet heute Abend mit donner (it is raining tonight with thunder) and the weather is going to get cooler. We plan to go to the castles tomorrow, I hope that we are able to get some clearing but the forcast is not hopeful. Hope everyone is well, send us a comment!
Pat and Mark
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Munchen Tag Fier
Glockenspiele
Memorial to Hans and Sofie Scholl
Odeonsplatz
Hitler's office in Munchen
Fussball Fans at Hofbrauhaus
Mein Mann bei Hofbrauhaus
Hello Everyone!
Mal wieder, das wetter ist schon! The sun is shining and it's warm, just beautiful. We have zwei tours scheduled today. a general walking info tour and a Third Reich tour at 3pm. We had yogurt and bread with butter for breakfast, and headed out. We bought another 3 day pass for the bahn here in Munich and made it to the tour office a few minutes ahead of the scheduled tour. Laura was our guide this morning, an Irish girl that said she had a mid-life crisis and moved from London to Munich a year ago (No way mid-life!). It was an entertaining tour, we went to four different churches and some other locations. We ended the tour at the Glockenspiel and watched the joust. We then went to the Weisses brauhaus for lunch. Mark had a magnificient weinerschneitzel that was huge! I opted for potato dumpling that were made with egg and sausage. Everything was fantastic! This is a restaurant that the locals go to, not a big tourist place. We walked around after lunch to just kill time, the headed back to the Hauptbahnoff to meet the next tour.
The next tour was the Third Reich tour. Nick was our guide, he was from South Africa. The tour was quite long and we walked from one end of the city to another. We probably walked 5 or 6 miles today and our feet hurt! We headed back home, stopped and bought some fruit and pastries that looked really good.
We sat outside and listened to the birds, drank a glass of wine, spoke with Gabielle a few minutes and came in. For dinner we had Eier and speck (eggs and bacon). I'm not sure what it is but the food seems much fresher here, the eggs had thick shells on them and the yokes were almost orange. The bacon was very lean and tasty. Perhaps because it's not from a big farm 500 miles away? They were both awesome and we are enjoying our fresh groceries.
Well, enough for tonight. Hope everyone is doing well.
Pat and Mark
Monday, June 9, 2008
Munchen Tag 3
Nymphenburg Palace and Grounds.
Eins, zwei, drei!
Today was our first day to actually live off the German Economy. We walked around the corner and went to a grocery store and picked up some items. Beer, Weisswurst, brotchen, cheese, Rittersports...mmmmmmm! I was able to speak with the deli woman (in German) and find out which bacon was the best, I was really proud of myself! Grocery stores that I have seen here are not the humongus things that we have back in the US. We bought grocery bags to haul our goodies home (if you want a bag from the store they charge for it!). Germans are conscience of their environment. After getting back and putting away the food, we were scheduled to go and pick up the rental car....but first Mark found out from Gabielle where a camera shop is so he could pick up a card reader.
We got to the camera store and found the things we needed, asked for some help and a gentleman came over and spoke perfect english! (Did someone pull out the "That was Easy Button"?). Off to the car rental place which we found with a little difficulty but no major problem till we got inside.......seems like you have to have your passport upon your person to rent a car in Gemany! The paperwork never said anything about it and we had all the documents that the paperwork said to have. Mark was rather upset but he asked them to hold the car, so we decided that being such a lovely day we would go to Nymphenburg Palace.
Oh the glory to have been a Wittelsbach! The place was just stunning and we walked the grounds (not all of it!), toured a couple of the buildings and then headed back to the appartment to pick up the passports. Once more we headed back to Sixt to get the car. We had requested a BMW 325, and ended up with a Mercedes 22o CDI. Funny, I always wanted one of these! It has a navigation system in it and we used it to get back home.
Finally, back to our appartment! Wir sind nicht dreißig mehr! Doing all the activities that we are really wears us both out, and I have to keep slowing Mark down because he gets cock-eyed! I keep telling him we are not 30 anymore. We cooked weissbrats, sauerkraut and had fresh bread. It was very tasty. Took a shower and we hit das bett, wir sind mude!
Pat and Mark
We got to the camera store and found the things we needed, asked for some help and a gentleman came over and spoke perfect english! (Did someone pull out the "That was Easy Button"?). Off to the car rental place which we found with a little difficulty but no major problem till we got inside.......seems like you have to have your passport upon your person to rent a car in Gemany! The paperwork never said anything about it and we had all the documents that the paperwork said to have. Mark was rather upset but he asked them to hold the car, so we decided that being such a lovely day we would go to Nymphenburg Palace.
Oh the glory to have been a Wittelsbach! The place was just stunning and we walked the grounds (not all of it!), toured a couple of the buildings and then headed back to the appartment to pick up the passports. Once more we headed back to Sixt to get the car. We had requested a BMW 325, and ended up with a Mercedes 22o CDI. Funny, I always wanted one of these! It has a navigation system in it and we used it to get back home.
Finally, back to our appartment! Wir sind nicht dreißig mehr! Doing all the activities that we are really wears us both out, and I have to keep slowing Mark down because he gets cock-eyed! I keep telling him we are not 30 anymore. We cooked weissbrats, sauerkraut and had fresh bread. It was very tasty. Took a shower and we hit das bett, wir sind mude!
Pat and Mark
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Munchen day 2
Storm at Dachau
The living to honor the dead for the remainder.
Never Again!
Memorial at Dachau
Entrance at DachauToday we took a tour through Radius Tours to Dachau. Our guide was Robert. The tour started at the Bahnoff in Munich. We took the S2 subway to the city of Dachau, and then a bus to the camp. Robert came to Munich as an exchange student about 8 years ago from El Paso, Texas and never went home. Now he is an instructor, student, and tour guide for the last 4 years. The tour was five hours total, including over 3 hours on site at Dachau, and travel time there and back.
There is a new visitor center that the government is building outside the camp, but it is not completed yet. Robert explained the land is owned by the German federal government, and the city of Dachau makes no income from the memorial. There is no fee to enter the memorial. Dachau Concentration Camp since the war has been a thorn in the side of the citizens of Dachau, in 1947 the US government built a dirt berm around areas of the camp so it could not longer be seen. In 1955 the city of Dachau almost succeeded in having the camp torn down and dismantled, but because the ashes of the unknown prisoners that died there are interred there they were unable to because it is considered a war grave and protected by treaty as such.
The original entry and administrative building is intact, and that is our point of entry into the memorial. Through the gate with the "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes you free) on the iron gate. Robert explained this was one of many 'jokes' by the SS. While a few were set free from this camp before 1938, 1939 brought the war and none were ever set free again except through death.
The tour started by going through the administrative building and explaining in detail how a person was processed through the building. It really made you feel the terror that so many people felt. To imagine being a free person one day, and then arrested without any provocation, and taken to a camp and stripped of your identity, your papers, your clothes, your hair, and out into a labor camp with no hope of any recourse. No judicial system, no one to reach out to, nothing you can do. This happened to increasing groups of people of the years. Then being feed a diet of only 400 calories a day while you worked, wasting away.
This was all possible by the German government passing a law that removed the citizens bill of rights, and gave total power to the Chancellor. If this law had not been passed, or if the people had revolted over losing their rights, this may never have happened. Perhaps there is a lesson that we should be learning from this.
The administrative building is full of memorial items and displays and it is emotional to work your way through the building. There is also a 30 minute movie that plays in different languages at different times throughout the day. The movie has actual video of the camp and the history.
After the memorial building tour we headed out to the barracks buildings. Two of the barracks have been rebuilt so you have a feeling of what they were like. The outlines of the other barrack buildings are now marked with an outline of blocks filled with gravel and stone, so it is possible to tell where the buildings once stood. Many of the original guard towers still stand, as well as the much of the perimeter fence system. This system consited of a 'no entry' area, followed by a sloaped concrete ditch over 8 feet deep. Once in the ditch there is no way to climb out. After the ditch, there is a row of electrified coiled barbed wire. Followed by a 10 foot high fence of more electified barbed wire. Looking over all of this were numerous guard towers that looked right down the line of the ditches. Escape was virtually impossible. Robert pointed out that the wall in Berlin during the cold war was modeled after this system. That wall was designed and built by ex members of the SS who were now working for the secret police in East Germany. They modified the design slightly by adding a final wall behind the barbed wire fence, and the addition of mine fields on both sides.
In the rear of the field are now religious memorials that have been built. There is also a nunery that now resides on the site. They pray daily to help remove the pain from the site. I really don't believe that this will ever be possible.
Lastly we went to the gas chamber and crematory buildings. The gas chamber was never used at Dachau as it was never considered a "Death Camp", but the crematory was used. Dachau was the first, and model test camp for the entire concentration camp system. So everything was tried here first, including the first crematory. The original is preserverd and still there. In the larger crematory is an example of an 'improved' crematory with chambers that were better designed for mass usage. These are original also.
As we were leaving the site a very large storm that had been developing during the day finally came to a head. It developed into a very large dark clouds and started moving over Dachau. The wind was howling and it became cool, then started to rain. We just made it back to the bus when it started. We were back at the S-Bahn station waiting for our train back to Munich when it started to rain harder. We were under cover now so it was just nice to watch the rain and know we did not have to go out into it. We thought of the many people who stood out in weather like this day after day with no hope.
Well, we made it back to Munich and then back to our apartment. We went out and got some roasted chicken (See Funny Things) and came back to the apartment to eat, and have a large beer!
Tomorrow we are picking up our rental car, going shopping for some food and supplies, and then on to Nymphenburg palace grounds. When we get back from that we are going to go to one of the beer halls for dinner and of course.....some beer!
Mark and Pat
There is a new visitor center that the government is building outside the camp, but it is not completed yet. Robert explained the land is owned by the German federal government, and the city of Dachau makes no income from the memorial. There is no fee to enter the memorial. Dachau Concentration Camp since the war has been a thorn in the side of the citizens of Dachau, in 1947 the US government built a dirt berm around areas of the camp so it could not longer be seen. In 1955 the city of Dachau almost succeeded in having the camp torn down and dismantled, but because the ashes of the unknown prisoners that died there are interred there they were unable to because it is considered a war grave and protected by treaty as such.
The original entry and administrative building is intact, and that is our point of entry into the memorial. Through the gate with the "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work makes you free) on the iron gate. Robert explained this was one of many 'jokes' by the SS. While a few were set free from this camp before 1938, 1939 brought the war and none were ever set free again except through death.
The tour started by going through the administrative building and explaining in detail how a person was processed through the building. It really made you feel the terror that so many people felt. To imagine being a free person one day, and then arrested without any provocation, and taken to a camp and stripped of your identity, your papers, your clothes, your hair, and out into a labor camp with no hope of any recourse. No judicial system, no one to reach out to, nothing you can do. This happened to increasing groups of people of the years. Then being feed a diet of only 400 calories a day while you worked, wasting away.
This was all possible by the German government passing a law that removed the citizens bill of rights, and gave total power to the Chancellor. If this law had not been passed, or if the people had revolted over losing their rights, this may never have happened. Perhaps there is a lesson that we should be learning from this.
The administrative building is full of memorial items and displays and it is emotional to work your way through the building. There is also a 30 minute movie that plays in different languages at different times throughout the day. The movie has actual video of the camp and the history.
After the memorial building tour we headed out to the barracks buildings. Two of the barracks have been rebuilt so you have a feeling of what they were like. The outlines of the other barrack buildings are now marked with an outline of blocks filled with gravel and stone, so it is possible to tell where the buildings once stood. Many of the original guard towers still stand, as well as the much of the perimeter fence system. This system consited of a 'no entry' area, followed by a sloaped concrete ditch over 8 feet deep. Once in the ditch there is no way to climb out. After the ditch, there is a row of electrified coiled barbed wire. Followed by a 10 foot high fence of more electified barbed wire. Looking over all of this were numerous guard towers that looked right down the line of the ditches. Escape was virtually impossible. Robert pointed out that the wall in Berlin during the cold war was modeled after this system. That wall was designed and built by ex members of the SS who were now working for the secret police in East Germany. They modified the design slightly by adding a final wall behind the barbed wire fence, and the addition of mine fields on both sides.
In the rear of the field are now religious memorials that have been built. There is also a nunery that now resides on the site. They pray daily to help remove the pain from the site. I really don't believe that this will ever be possible.
Lastly we went to the gas chamber and crematory buildings. The gas chamber was never used at Dachau as it was never considered a "Death Camp", but the crematory was used. Dachau was the first, and model test camp for the entire concentration camp system. So everything was tried here first, including the first crematory. The original is preserverd and still there. In the larger crematory is an example of an 'improved' crematory with chambers that were better designed for mass usage. These are original also.
As we were leaving the site a very large storm that had been developing during the day finally came to a head. It developed into a very large dark clouds and started moving over Dachau. The wind was howling and it became cool, then started to rain. We just made it back to the bus when it started. We were back at the S-Bahn station waiting for our train back to Munich when it started to rain harder. We were under cover now so it was just nice to watch the rain and know we did not have to go out into it. We thought of the many people who stood out in weather like this day after day with no hope.
Well, we made it back to Munich and then back to our apartment. We went out and got some roasted chicken (See Funny Things) and came back to the apartment to eat, and have a large beer!
Tomorrow we are picking up our rental car, going shopping for some food and supplies, and then on to Nymphenburg palace grounds. When we get back from that we are going to go to one of the beer halls for dinner and of course.....some beer!
Mark and Pat
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Hello Germany, Goodbye Amsterdam
Please do not enter!
Pat
Mark 
Our train in Amsterdam.Well last night (our second) in Amsterdam was even more restless than the first. We were staying at the Golden Tulip, about five minutes walking south of the Bahnoff. In this location, when the bars let out at 4 AM, there are crowds of rowdy, drunk people roaming the area on their way back to their homes/hotels. I could hear them cussing at each other and just carrying on. Then one came to his room directly above our room in the hotel. I could hear every step he took, back and forth about the room. I could even here him peeing in the toilet, and then a few minutes later throwing up in the toilet, and flushing several times. He kept me up from 04:00 until after 05:00. Then we were up at 06:00 in order to get ready to catch our train at 08:00. Next time in Amsterdam we we not stay in this part of town.
So... Off to Munchen, which encompassed a long day when your "ICE' train decides to breakdown. We were up early at 6am to get ready, and catch our train at 8am for Munchen. We had to register our Eurail Passes at the station and then proceded to the train. We got off about 20 minutes late, and then about 10 minutes later, the conductor came on and said that they were having problems with the train (it had stopped) and they may have to go back to the station. A few minutes later we started up again heading towards Germany. We changed trains in Koln (not scheduled). Our train was taken out of service - replacement train brought on-line. The passengers in our car were all waiting for the new train, everyone rather jolly. The new train pulled up (actually two trains hooked together) and everyone looked at each other, then they all started running for a certain car. Needless to say we followed too! Everyone ended up in the same seats just as before. The first train, fastest rate of 130 KPH (80 MPH). Had English tea on the train. The replacement train hit 300 KPH (180 MPH) . We got to Mannheim and changed trains as scheduled. We had vegetable and meat soup with bread on the train. It was quite good! We arrived in Munchen at 16:30 hours (1 hour late). We then purchased a 3 day metro pass at station, and hit the subway heading to our apartment.
Met the owners, Josef and Gabrielle Hubmann, VERY nice apartment on the top floor, slanted roofs, kitchennette, wireless internet, and a garage for the rental car we will be getting, very nice.
We have lots of pictures, as we are in typical Bavarian architectural building. The home is what I remember as a typical German home - very well kept, neat, tidy, everything in its place.
Raining tonight. It stopped and we walked to a nearby Italian restaurant recommended by the owners. Very nice food and extremely reasonable prices. The owners have really put together a nice welcome package for their guests, including sight seeing information, some dinner recommendations, dishes, TV, satellite cable, the works! We walked back to our apartment just in time, jumped in the shower. It's now raining hard. Sounds nice on our windows that face the sky. We both fell asleep right away.
Back to Amsterdam, a very expensive city! What we paid for 2 nights we have rented this apartment for a week here in Munchen! No drunks, just birds chirping and quiet. Church bells this morning sounded quite beautiful, a very nice touch. If we go back to Amsterdam I think we would have to find an apartment there not so close to all the crap........
So... Off to Munchen, which encompassed a long day when your "ICE' train decides to breakdown. We were up early at 6am to get ready, and catch our train at 8am for Munchen. We had to register our Eurail Passes at the station and then proceded to the train. We got off about 20 minutes late, and then about 10 minutes later, the conductor came on and said that they were having problems with the train (it had stopped) and they may have to go back to the station. A few minutes later we started up again heading towards Germany. We changed trains in Koln (not scheduled). Our train was taken out of service - replacement train brought on-line. The passengers in our car were all waiting for the new train, everyone rather jolly. The new train pulled up (actually two trains hooked together) and everyone looked at each other, then they all started running for a certain car. Needless to say we followed too! Everyone ended up in the same seats just as before. The first train, fastest rate of 130 KPH (80 MPH). Had English tea on the train. The replacement train hit 300 KPH (180 MPH) . We got to Mannheim and changed trains as scheduled. We had vegetable and meat soup with bread on the train. It was quite good! We arrived in Munchen at 16:30 hours (1 hour late). We then purchased a 3 day metro pass at station, and hit the subway heading to our apartment.
Met the owners, Josef and Gabrielle Hubmann, VERY nice apartment on the top floor, slanted roofs, kitchennette, wireless internet, and a garage for the rental car we will be getting, very nice.
We have lots of pictures, as we are in typical Bavarian architectural building. The home is what I remember as a typical German home - very well kept, neat, tidy, everything in its place.
Raining tonight. It stopped and we walked to a nearby Italian restaurant recommended by the owners. Very nice food and extremely reasonable prices. The owners have really put together a nice welcome package for their guests, including sight seeing information, some dinner recommendations, dishes, TV, satellite cable, the works! We walked back to our apartment just in time, jumped in the shower. It's now raining hard. Sounds nice on our windows that face the sky. We both fell asleep right away.
Back to Amsterdam, a very expensive city! What we paid for 2 nights we have rented this apartment for a week here in Munchen! No drunks, just birds chirping and quiet. Church bells this morning sounded quite beautiful, a very nice touch. If we go back to Amsterdam I think we would have to find an apartment there not so close to all the crap........
Pat & Mark
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