April 13 2013

April 13 2013

LAT report

Left early for train station had an 0900 takeoff.  When we got there found out the train we had listed was only Monday thru Friday.  So we got the schedule for next train to Nurnenberg which was not leaving until about 1000.  We had time for coffee and breakfast.  We loaded the train and found four double seats together so we all could sit with our luggage and each other.  At one of the stops along the way a young man with shoulder length hair got on and sat in front of Linda.  He had a back pack and a guitar case so I figured he might be in a band.  About 45 minutes in a man stopped at his seat and asked him for his passport.  They compared it to a picture hey had.  Then another guy showed up and they were talking with him, he left his seat at one point and went up front with them.  They all returned and they wanted o see what he had so he pulled stuff out and showed them.  Then they wanted to take him to he back and search the pack themselves and things started to escalate.  He kept asking for his passport back and they kept telling him to go to the back to be checked.  Then all of a sudden another guy showed up and they kept talking about the back.  Tie went on and finally the newer guy ho was in charge said they will all get off at the next station....so when the train stopped with some minor resistance they all left...and got off...so now we don't know what happened next.  The guys showed there ID and it was from German border patrol...there was a bunch of police at one of the sops and a bunch of protesters...we don't know what that was about either...could not read the signs!      We are now in Munich and have arrived at the hotel...it is not a Hilton...it is a Holiday Inn and there is a difference.  We have our rooms and the hotel is packed there is apparently a game of some sort going on and there are a lot of Americans ...most appear to,be business types...not sure but they have monopolized the bar and are very noisy.  We asked the waiter for a tip and he suggested a little Bavarian restaurant across the street..it was great!  I had spatezle and Wiener schnitzel ...it was really good!  Very nice homey place...we then went back to the hotel and agreed on our meeting time 0700 and went to bed!l

LMR report

All day train, left the Hilton early to get to train depot.  Arrived to discover our train only runs Monday thru Friday, so we made an adventure out of it.  Caught a later train after a very nice breakfast.  Our transfer train to Munich was 35 minutes late so we caught another train.  Met nice people who helped us get off at Munich, because at an earlier stop we lined up to get out, we were following the wrong crowd!  Had an experience while on the first train.  A man got on and sat in the seat in front of me.  Three men came and took his passport and compared it to other pictures.  They looked through his backpack and violin case and then wanted him to go with them.  He kept refusing and calling people on his cell phone to tell them he was being robbed.  I'm not sure who was in the right, but three men had government ID, which they said was from "control".  The passenger continued to resist and with help was taken from the train at the next stop.  He told me he had been stopped by control many times.  Probably a coincidence but at an earlier station there were many protestors with banners and signs and uniformed police.  Arrived in Munich in time to settle in and have dinner.  Early tomorrow to Dachau.  Till then.