Munich - Sunday

Long flight, not much sleep. For whatever reason, I just could not get comfortable. Wait, I know the reason, the plane has been reconfigured so there are three seats on each side and four in the middle and there is NO ROOM to move!! Also, the flight was completely booked, not one extra seat anywhere. I did get to watch a couple of movies. I started with Galaxy Quest on the flight from SFO to Toronto. I, could probably watch that movie a 100 times and still enjoy it. On the flight to Munich I watched Epic, a cartoon about saving the forest and a movie with Robert Redford and Shia LeBouef about capturing the people involved in the weatherman movement 30 years after their activities. For someone who doesn't often watch movies, I really enjoyed these and they helped pass the time.

Arrived in Munich a little after 10. My travelling companions (brother Don, his wife Fran, my sister Jackie and niece Lauren) were originally going to wait at the airport for me so it was a little disconcerting when they weren't there when I came out of baggage claim. But it all worked out and I found my way to the transfer desk and they were ready to go immediately to head to Passau. Since I didn't do a ton of research I was thinking the transfer was a short drive. Wrong - it was 120 km. I watched the scenery for awhile (I hated to miss anything), but finally fell asleep for a short time.

When we arrived at Passau the family was waiting for me

It was great to see all of them!! I dropped off my luggage at the ship and was told to come back after 4:30, so we headed into the city. I love the old buildings, the cobblestone streets and the little alley ways with surprises.

Pictures in the next post

We happened upon the Cathedral in Passau. What an ornate and beautiful church! The smell of incense hung in the air to complete the feeling of stepping back in time. This is a picture of the pipe organ.


The painted ceiling

The lecturn - Fran and Amanda - how would you like to preach from here?
The main Altar
The Cathedral Close with fountain and many old grave stones



From the church we walked around the old city

We stopped for lunch at the HofBrau Munchen. we all tried different dishes, bratwurst, white sausage, wieners and Pork and potato puffs. The couple who runs the place were very kind. Our German is pretty much non existent and their English was just so so, but we managed to communicate and it was fun. I, of course, left my german phrase book at home (boo!!)
We still had time to kill before we checked in and so we wandered some more, walking along the river, checking out the tourist gift shops and learning a few new German words along the way.

We finally checked in at the ship at 4:30. We were anxious to see how three of us (my sister, niece and myself) were going to fit in our cabin. Let's just say that it's going to be an interesting experience. The room is about 7' across and maybe 12' deep. There's a bed against the window and two bunk beds that pull out from the wall. Lauren tested the upper bunk....lets just say it seems questionable that it will hold her without scaring the heck out of both of us, so she may be putting the mattress on the floor. We'll see.


Good thing I brought the collapsable suitcase!!

The rest of the ship seems nice and I know we'll have a great time touring these wonderful old cities. We have the option of taking bikes out each day if we wish. I'm thinking no for now, but it's nice to have the option available to us.

We're off for orientation in a bit, then dinner and hopefully a really good night's sleep.

More tomorrow