Friday November 27 to Saturday December 5, 2009

In case you did not know this blog has been silent for the past week. During the week Nancy and Bob have been in Germany soaking up the Germanic culture. It was a great trip. The following is a brief of our trip.

Friday November 27, 2009. We get to sleep in because our flight out of GR does not leave until almost 1. We are going to Chicago and then on to Munich, Germany. We are flying United all the way. Our flight out of Chicago left at 6 PM. The flight was smooth and we arrived in Munich at 0950 Saturday morning. We upgraded to Economy Plus and recommend it to all you folks that are taking a flight greater than 3 hours.

Saturday November 28, 2009. Our first problem was to find the best way to get to our hotel which is located 45 km from the airport. We took the train. We purchased an all day pass that allowed us to use all forms of public transportation for the day. The ticket machine was confusing but Nancy finally figured it out. When you purchase a ticket you have to validate it at a blue machine. The validated ticket allows you to get on any form of public transportation. There are no turnstiles, you just get on the train or subway. It is sort of like the honor system. If you get caught without a ticket you pay a big fine but we were never stopped. The train took us to the main railway station in downtown Munich. We walked to our hotel. We had a good map so we had little problem finding the hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Four Points. The room were clean and we got a free breakfast every morning.

After we getting settled in the hotel, we got on the subway and headed to the Marienplatz which is the center of the old city. During the Christmas season all cities have Christmas festivals. The festivals are like food and craft fairs. Food booths and small stalls selling Christmas ornaments and other Christmas items are set up in the streets. The streets are closed and pedestrians can walk around and purchase everything from beer and brats to ornaments. On this Saturday it was so crowded that we had trouble getting around. In fact we tried to get into the Hofbrauhause (?) but it was so crowded we could not find a seat.

We took the subway back to the Hotel and then walked around another festival near the Hotel. Dinner was at a local establishment. I had a traditional Bavarian Dinner that included sauerkraut and beer. We crashed before 7.

Sunday November 29, 2009. We slept in and then had breakfast at the Hotel. The breakfast was buffet style. It was very good. I usually had several types of bread, scrambled eggs, sweet roll, an apple and coffee. Breakfast was our main meal of the day. Our first order of business was to get our Eurorail Pass validated and find out how long it took us to walk to the train station. We accomplished our mission. It took 20 minutes to walk to the station. We took the subway to the Munich Science Museum. It was really good. We took an afternoon nap and then walked over to the Christmas Festival near our hotel.

Monday November 30, 2009. We got up early because we had a 0700 train to catch to Zurich. It was too early for breakfast but a cook did give us some rolls to take with us. The train was scheduled to leave at 0712 and it left at 0712. We reserved seats on this train but it was not full so for the rest of the week we did not get reservations. It was a 4 hour ride to Zurich. We were delayed a hour because some one jumped in front of a train and it took the authorities some time to clear the site.

I really enjoyed riding the train and looking out the window. I was surprised how much of the land is farmland. The farms look well maintained and prosperous. The small towns also looked quite prosperous. All the homes were multi level. I did not see a single story home.

I thought that Switzerland was able to remain neutral because it was surrounded by mountains. However, I did not see any insurmountable mountains on our trip to Zurich. It rained and snowed during our stay in Zurich. We walked around the old city. Zurich like Munich appears very upscale. We saw all the high end stores. Nancy had read about a chocolate shop that had the world's best hot chocolate. We stopped and each had a cup. The hot chocolate was 3.0. The price was $26. Europe is not cheap. The Euro was trading for $1.56. We took the 6 PM train back to Munich and got back after 10.

Tuesday December 1, 2009. Today we traveled to Innsbruck, Austria. The train did not leave until 0915 so we had a leisurely breakfast. The train trip only took 2 hours. Innsbruck is in the Alps but it was so foggy that we only caught an occasional glance of the mountains. Again we walked around the old section of the town. Innsbruck has created pedestrian malls by closing large areas to cars. Christmas and food booths were everywhere. We caught the 4PM train back to Munich. We had dinner at a local beer garden. I had the goulash soup and sausages and boiled potatoes.

Munich is further north than GR so it gets dark around 4 PM. All of our return trips back to Munich were in the dark.

Wednesday December 2, 2009. We stayed in Munich today. Our first stop was the museum of modern art. Yes folks I visited an art museum. We were provided recorders that had canned talks about the major pieces of art. I found the recorders very helpful. We spent 2.5 hours in the museum. I enjoyed the tour. After an art museum it is only fair that we head to the Hofbrauhause for a glass of beer. This time the place was not so crowded. We sat down had a leisurely beer and listened to the German band. We had another traditional German dinner at a local pub.

Thursday December 3, 2009. Today we have our longest rail trip. We are heading to Vienna. The trip took over 4 hours. The train was super streamlined. They had monitors showing the next stop and train speed. On one stretch the train speed reached 120 mph (200 kph). I had another great time looking out the window and watching the countryside. When we got to Vienna we had to take the subway to get to the center of town. This was the only time the train did not stop in the center of town. We spent about 3 hours walking around the old city. We got back to Munich around 10PM.

Friday December 4, 2009. We still had time on our Eurorail pass. I checked the schedule and Nurnberg was only 50 minutes away. Nurnberg was the surprise on the trip. Both Nancy and I liked Nurnberg. We walked around town. Looked in several churches and visited a castle. Nancy bought presents for the grand kids. They have done a great job making the city pedestrian friendly.

Saturday December 5, 2009. We get up at 0430 and get ready to head home. We had a 0900 flight to London. We had a little over an hour in London and then headed home. The flight to Chicago was uneventful. We had a 4 hour wait in Chicago. When we got to GR we noted several inches of snow. The snow was too deep to get the taxi up the driveway. I lugged the bags through the snow.

We spent a week looking around southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria. I had never been in Switzerland or Austria. I especially enjoyed the train trips. We travelled through farm lands, pine forests and small towns. I think I got a feel for the area. I never saw a beat up car, in fact I never saw a car over 4 years old. This area appears to have survived the recent economic downturn better than the US.

The US has been criticized for putting too much emphasis on Christmas. We can't hold a candle to Germany. It looks like the stores have been pushing Christmas for weeks. It was funny to walk into a store and hear the PA system playing Christmas songs in English. I also noted that every kid had a cell phone and was totally engrossed in their phone. It is indeed a small world.