Arrival

We arrived in Germany this morning, safely and on time. The pilot spoke German so rapidly that about all we could pick up was Muchen (Munich) and Danke schoen (thank you)! Fortunately the flight attendants were Americans (or bilingual). :-)

First impressions of Germany? Quiet, efficient, clean, modern, classy--and full of light. A German friend told me once that it is illegal to have an office without a window to the outside. I don't know if that is true but I do know that wherever we went in the termial, we could see outdoors--even the jetway had floor-to-ceiling windows.      

Bob did a great job with his German and we were able to purchase train tickets, get on the commuter train to the main train station and get on the correct train for the 1 1/2 hour trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. From time to time one of the under-40-English-speakers would lapse into English when they saw the blank looks on our faces but most of the time chattered away in German, the gist of which Bob could get with his trusty dictionary.

We are currently staying on the Kastrne-Breitenau US Army base, one of the smallest of the 25 installations in Germany. It has been a cool, rainy day so we have yet to see the beautiful sights around us. We did (sleep)walk around town a little this evening and were enchanted with the unique architecture, window boxes with flowers, and many quaint shops that we will return to visit--the chocolatier first on the list!

This posting time will be a little after 4 pm but it's after 10 pm in Gemany and bed awaits.

Guten nacht!