This morning we took the train from Salzburg to Munich. When this was booked there was an option to take the express train or the regular less expensive non-express one. I didn't pay close attention to Robyn asking me if we should take the express or the regular train but next time I will. Piece of advice-- ALWAYS TAKE THE EXPRESS. The trip started fine for the first 20 minutes; then we made our first stop. About 20 adolescent children got on the train. You know the old saying about how your own children are tolerable but every one else's are brats. Well, take that and multiply by 100 and add in that they are German. They were loud and obnoxious and they did not shut-up for the remaining hour and forty minutes of the trip. I knew something was wrong when the adults accompanying this group of hellions sat in a different car. Robyn was ready to throw each one off the train. One of the little b*****s kept yelling out "scheize" (which means sh_t in English) alternately with saying "Michael Jackson" (apparently the only words he knew in English.) Those little brats needed to be smacked around quite a bit. Amazing how unruly children act the same regardless of country especially when the adults are not around.


Anyway, I would like to share pictures of calm pastoral mountain views except that there are no pictures because Robyn LEFT THE DAMN CAMERA ON THE TRAIN. This was the new Panasonic that she had bought just before the trip. I take full blame because I was trying to get everything off the train in a rush and didn't tell her to see if anything was still on the train. As a side note, four years ago our daughter Melanie went to Europe and while she was in Vienna she dropped her new camera and broke it. I got a call from her as she was crying about the camera and asked her what I was supposed to do from 4800 miles away. Anyway, she bought a new camera while in Vienna. Today, we got to get yet another souvenir (to go along with the knee brace.) Robyn bought a new camera at Germany’s (or possibly Europe's) version of Fry’s Electronics--a store called Saturn. It was almost identical to the original camera, but this one cost $50 more. Oh well-- like mother like daughter. A funny side note: After purchasing the replacement camera we went to the information desk to get the paperwork for refund of the VAT taxes. The woman at the counter looked at my passport and said, "Oh, you are from Texas" (as if she somehow already knew that). Robyn asked, “Is it because of our accents?” and the woman replied, “No, it is because you are so loud.” Of course that got Robyn laughing and she said, “You should hear our daughter!”

Our hotel if the Hotel Eden Wolf. We had a simple, clean room that was rather large and it had a very nice restaurant. We primarily chose it because it was across from the train station.



Anyway, we went down to Marienplatz in Munich. When we got there, surprise--Robyn had to go to the bathroom. The Rat Haus in Mareinplatz has a public bathroom and we headed over there. There was a line to get into the bathroom that both men and women had to use to enter. Robyn went in and a few minutes later comes out laughing. She said that as she came out of the stall she saw several men and realized she had turned the wrong way and gone into the side that was the Men’s bathroom. She did not see urinals and there were no men visible, so who knew. She was just focused on getting to a toilet.

It was pretty warm in Munich. We then found a little cafe and Robyn finally found a place that actually served real iced tea-she was in Heaven. Unfortunately, we did not have much time to explore Munich and would have liked to find the time to visit a beer garden. Maybe next time!





Tomorrow we are going to Neus___ stein (the impossible to say and spell castle), otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty Castle. I may not get the blog completed tomorrow, so if not it will be sometime Sunday when we get to Paris before I upload tomorrow's pictures.