planes, TRAINS, and automobiles

Jet lag was tough our first night. Neither of us slept more than a few hours. I couldn't sleep past 3am local time. I decided to walk around Aschaffenburg at about 5am. Things are quiet and peaceful this time of the day. I found a bread and pastry shop open and bought a variety to take to the room. I wish we had this type of bakery back home. The pastries were delicious!. Later at breakfast, we all got food from the hotel's buffett. My brother arrived a bit late and when he did I noticed a horrible smell. I figured maybe he had stepped in a diaper and had you-know-what on his shoes. We quickly discovered it was stinky cheese he had on his plate. Why would anyone eat something that smells so bad?

The next few days we spent time in the Bavarian Alps. We took an early train out of Aschaffenburg and arrived to Garmisch about 3 hours later. Train trips are easy once you learn what to do. Some trains have both assigned seats and open seats. It took us a while to figure out out how it works. I felt like Forrest Gump--every time we went to sit down someone would say "seats taken" or "can't sit here" in German. Now we know how it works and it's better.

After our arrival in Garmisch we stepped off the train to see BMW flags everywhere. This weekend is BMW bike week, a huge biker fest for BMW riders. We were told that 35,000 bikers were in town for the event. This is not the same crowd of bikers we see back home during bike week. No leather, no tatoos, only well-dressed, clean cut looking people. The country here is amazing. Huge mountains everywhere, absolutely stunning. The next thing we noticed was a Mexican restaurant and a gentleman's bar right next to the station. Interesting place.

We went about 1/2 a mile to our hotel, the Reindl's Partenkirchner Hof. It is a very nice establishment. My family had a group of 3 rooms with an outside yard on the ground floor. The kids and Grandpa loved playing and getting dirty. Weather here in the mountains is much colder, only about 74 as a high. We ate at the hotel's 5-star restaurant. Most everyone had normal food, but my brother ate calf kidney. He ate it, i tred it and would not try it again or recommend it. Chewy and tasted like it would smell bad is the only way I can describe it. We explored around town a bit, had a beer, then headed on to bed.

2009 7-2.5