Monday, May 7 ... Munich and the Bavarian Alps

We checked out of our hotel in Paris very early ... we had some distance to cover if we wanted to catch our train to Germany.

We were pleased that at this early hour (3:00 am!), the Paris traffic presented us with no problems.  We made our way to Charles de Galle Airport, caught a commuter train to the Paris East train station, then a cab to the Paris North train station in plenty of time to meet our 7:30 am passenger train that will take us to Munich.  This picture was snapped on the train station from Charles de Galle Airport to the Paris Eat train station. 

There were plenty of places this operation could have gotten derailed, but everything came together and we were able to grab a bit of breakfast at a cafe in the East train station.  I had the most delicious croissant filled with raspberry preserves ... Yummy! 

Our train was on time and after finding ourselves a seat, we settled in for the 5 hour ride, first to Stuttgart where we are set to catch a connecting train that will take us to our destination.  Our time in Stuttgart is very, very short.  We have exactly eight minutes to catch our connection.  We arrive on track one and have to make our way to the furthest most track, 16, to pick up our connection.  Hauling our luggage and negotiating a very full train station, we counted ourselves quite fortunate to board our connector, just as the doors were getting ready to close. 

An hour and a half later, we are in Munich.  It's been a very long time since I'd been to Munich  (Oktoberfest 1986, to be exact) and a first visit for everyone else.  Whilst Mom and Pa pick up the rental car, Jeff and I waited at the train station with the bags.

Here's Jeff and his very first German beer.

We planned on spending the night in Garmisch, but we can't leave Munich before a schnitzel and a couple of good beers at the Augstiner Brau Haus. 

After a terrifically satisfying lunch, it's back in the car on the Autobahn and we are pointed towards the Austrian Alps.  The sight of the Alps is so incredible ... it's impossible to describe.  We pulled into a rest stop so we could snap a couple of pictures, but since it was approaching 6:00 and we still needed to find a place to stay, we didn't dawdle.