Short Day, Long Night?

Well, this one I'm writing from the train on my way to Munich. No, I didn't give up cycling, but I got 28 miles in, and since I was close enough to Munich to take a 1 hour trip there, I figured I would take advantage of the chance to meet up with Phil So, a friend of mine from Wednesday night hockey. He got into Studtgart today and is taking a train that gets in to Munich 10 minutes after mine.

I should go into details about how this is totally the way to do Oktoberfest. At the hotel it was no problem to get a room, it's a 10 minute walk to the train station, and it takes an hour to get to Munich. Now without any discounts, the ticket cost as much as the hotel room almost, but I suppose as I get closer to Munich, the hotel prices wll go up, and availability will go down, but the train fare will go down too. I'll find out tomorrow how it works to get a place closer to Munich. Last train to kaufburen will be at almost midnight, so to be sure I'd better get on that one. There's an earlier one too that may be a better idea.

It was neat riding over some of the same countryside I had seen two years ago. Still some construction in Marktoberdorf that screwed me up, but it was cool to see the same landmarks and remember how clueless I was about Germany as a whole. I mean I still am clueless, but it's a lot more comfortable getting around since I figured out how to follow the signage a little better. I'm also getting a little better at understanding the language. At least the written word if not what people are saying. Speaking is another issue. I can't put together sentences yet to save my life. At least I don't have to ask people if they speak English. I have enough of an accent to make them start on their own right away.

Oh, and I had a self- taught lesson in laundry terms when I tried out the self-service waschesalon this morning. Didn't get started until around 1300 because of that adventure.

Who knows, I might have an oktoberfest update on the way back from Munich on the train. I've already been splashed with lagerbier suds by some German kids on the train, so it's bound to be quite an evening.