Day Fourteen...

Today is another travel day, with a 4.5-hour train ride from Zurich to Munich. We started the day with a very nice European+American-style breakfast buffet at our hotel, the Zurich Marriott (a special buffet on Sundays only, and included in the weekend room rate -- always looking for the bargain!). Then we quickly pack and check out at 9am for a forced march to the train station.

The second picture above would have been a great "Abbey Road" shot, but the kids have gotten into covering their faces when a picture or video is being shot. John is ready to give up, so don't expect too many more pictures of the little rats for the rest of the trip.

Our 9:33am train to Munich is named the "Albert Einstein". It has a very nice restaurant car, and the nice Czech waiter serves us hot chocolate, Czech beer, and all sorts of good stuff. Meanwhile, Gina and Mike watch a DVD movie ("Face Off") on Mike's laptop.

 We arrive in Munich and John spends an hour as usual trying to figure out the phones for a data connection. It's another one of the stupid Siemens (Rolm) digital sets without an analog connection. They have a modem adapter at the front desk, but John quickly figures out that it's an ISDN (Incomparably Slow Data Network) modem. Then he fiddles around for a while with the hotel's management trying to enable an analog line in one of their conference rooms, and gives up on that. Finally, he finds a pay-per-minute analog linein the Internet Cafe at the Hauptbanhof.

We visit Marienplatz and are treated to a full performance from the famous glockenspiel, complete with moving characters and jousting knights. On the side streets we see Frauenkirche (right photo), and take in a little puppet show by a street performer.

Then it's on to the Hofbrauhaus where Gina's friend Minnie Daniels treats us to a nice dinner, ample beer, and of course a performance by one of the many oompa bands that regularly play there.

Gina and Minnie before enjoying a beer.

and after...

Strolling back through Karlsplatz, we stop at the famous fountain for a bit. Then it's home for a good night's sleep before the next day's amazing adventure!