Day 11 (Travel to Munich)

Today was another day of European Lessons. We are traveling by train which is always stressful. This time the first class seats are in the middle of the train. We had reserved seats this time and I was really confident with the location on the train. We entered and found our seats. Of course there was a guy sitting in them. I said excuse me but these are our seats. He snapped back with No! These are my seats. I immediately went on high alert as I am always reading about these issues on airplanes. In a stern tone I said well, I have a ticket here that says I have these 2 reserved. I showed him the ticket and waited for the situation to escalate. He then pointed out that I was standing in the #29 car and my tickets were in the #28 car. Dammit! Lost again! Where does it say #29 at, I asked? He pointed up at the monitor where the #29 was highlighted. Lori had already bolted in embarrassment while I tried to smooth over the error. It was one of those situations where you just couldn’t stop apologizing. I finally caught up to Lori and we located our seats. She nearly stripped me of my travel duties. It was a very long 1 hour trip. We just could not shake the feeling of embarrassment. Aboard the train were several drunk, loud people obviously on the way to Oktoberfest. That did not help things but maybe it distracted the guy from my subtle error.

We arrived at the Munich train station and had to locate train S7 on platform 36. We headed to S1-S8. Makes sense that S7 would be there somewhere. Well all of the S trains were there except for S7! We have about 6 min left before the train leaves and no idea where it is. If you have ever been in one of these major stations then you know the trains can be far apart. We decided to look for Platform 36 and found that it was up about 3 flights of stairs and almost beyond the capability of Pack Mule Inc. Before I hauled all that luggage up all of those stairs I had Lori stay put with the luggage. I ran up the stairs, through the construction area and found the Platform with the right train. The train was not there yet and we only had about 2 minutes before arrival. I ran back around the construction, dodging through other travelers and down 3 flights of stairs. Grabbed the luggage and ran back up with Lori trailing behind. By the time I rounded the corner to the platform I saw that the train was there and boarding. We sprinted to the closest car and forced our way on. It is about 80 degrees and humid. We are now sitting and waiting for the train to leave for another 5 min. Sweating with no a/c and watching people taking their time entering the train. Obviously still more education needed.

We are staying at a Holiday Inn for 2 nights and will be going to Oktoberfest tomorrow. Once we were settled in and I changed out of my clothes and tried to cool down. We decided to tour Munich on one of those Hop on/Hop off double decker buses. Not a tour that I would recommend in Munich. Berlin, definitely.

We exited the bus in downtown and found a nice cafe where I had some wine and Lori had a Campari Spritz. We waited for the Glockenspiel . At certain times of the day the clock tower at the New City Hall (not so new looking) is where these marinets start twirling around like an old Bavarian Clock. Lots of people with their phones in the air recording the 5pm event. Pretty cool to see a real one.

We wondered around for a couple more hours and found an area with very high end stores like Rodeo Drive in LA. Lots of really cool cars too! We found a small corner Italian Restaurant and ate some Focaccia.

We decided to take the Subway back. There are a lot of friendly people here but trying to figure out manners can be difficult. One minute you’re standing in line for the subway and people just walk right in front of you like you’re not there. Then when I stand firm in my spot I look like the asshole crowding everyone. Lori has grabbed my arm more than once to pull me out of the way. She might be catching on quicker than me.