Austrian "Day" Trip

Glockenspiel
Munich, Germany

On 11 November, Joe came home and said that we were going to go with his coworkers, Jonny and Jay, on a day trip the following day, 12 November. The plan was to leave Regensburg by train early, 8:44am, arrive in Munich approximately 2 hours later, eat lunch and walk around, board a new train, and head to Salzburg, Austria, where we would spend the remainder of the day and return to Regensburg around midnight.

Glockenspiel
Munich, Germany

 In Munich we had perfect weather. The sky was a gorgeous blue with white puffy clouds. It was much better than the fog we had been dealing with, and served as a wonderful background for the pictures we were taking. We walked from the train station to Marienplatz. Here we listened to the band (complete with grand piano, outside) play some music while we waited for the clock tower to strike the hour. At this time, a jousting scene was enacted on the Glockenspiel. Luckily we were there for 12pm because apparently it only goes at 11, 12, and 5. It was cute, but as Joe put it, the music didn't really go with the actions, and he wondered what all the fuss was about.
We ate our lunch at Hofbrauhaus, another tourist attraction. This beer house is HUGE and very popular, the regulars can actually keep their personal steins on the premises under lock and key. The rest of us mere mortals had to hail down a haggard looking waiter to even hope to get beer. Even then it was a stretch, as these folks were clearly stressed by the huge number of clientele at lunchtime.

Hofbrauhaus
Munich, Germany

Hofbrauhaus knows it's a tourist attraction, and knows that because of it's name it can get away with a lot of things, such as crappy service, mediocre food and beer, and jacked up prices. I say it's worth it to go once, just to say you have been, but only order 1 beer and an appetizer to keep the cost down. We stopped in their gift shop, considering buying a stein, and their prices were outrageous. I just checked their website, and the prices don't match, probably because they know internet shoppers will not pay that price. A mug that says 6.50 on the internet was, I swear on my life, 35.00 in the gift shop. Outrageous. We did not make any purchases there, though now that I've checked their website, I may buy something . . . .

Salzburg, Austria

After lunch we returned to the train station for another 2 hour train ride into Austria. We didn't have much of a plan for our arrival, and ended up buying a guide book so we would know where to go. We wandered through the Mirabell gardens outisde the Mirabell palace. We went into a guitar shop where Joe tested out a 12 string guitar, but opted not to purchase it, as it was 500 euro. We had dinner at a small brauerei. Joe and his coworker Jonny split a meal, horse meat with polenta. I ordered pork loin, and Joe's other coworker Jay ordered seafood ravioli. The horse meat was actually tasty, it was chewier than beef, but tasted a lot like a roast. My pork loin was actually cold bacon. I tried to eat it, but I loathe bacon, and ended up just having bread, with the promise of something more substantial later.
Salzburg is more Alpine than Regensburg, though it's not quite in the Alps yet. This resulted in towering cliff faces surrounding the town, looming up behind buildings. Very imposing, but also beautiful. After that fail of a dinner, we found a bar attached to a modern art museum. This building was literally carved into the cliff behind it. Inside, the walls were stone, and we rode an elevator to the top of place, which was also on top of the cliff. We could see all of Salzburg at night, and the nearly full moon rising over another nearby "foothill". As the evening came to a close, we found ourselves at the train station munching on Mozart chocolate, delicious truffles named for Salzburg's most famous son, and waiting in the freezing cold for our train. As the minutes ticked closer to the time of departure, a voice overhead announced the train would be 5 minutes late. We continued to wait. 4 minutes later the voice announced the train would be 10 minutes late. This continued in 5 minute increments for some time. Around 25 minutes in, we gave up and we to sit in what I later called the hot box. This box was a room made of glass on the train platform, much like a bus stop, but all the sides and the roof were enclosed. There were some seats, and it was slightly warmer than outside but not because it was heated, because it wasn't. In here we met a German girl Jonny called Cameron Diaz. She did have similar hair. She was very nice, spoke English, and also waiting for our late train. We asked her if the German announcements gave any more information than the English announcements-they did not. At this point we knew the train was late due to a "disturbance in operations". Let's break this statement down, shall we? Disturbance: stop, interruption, departure from normal. Operations: functioning, working, activity. So the overhead voice tells us the train will be late because it has stopped running. Not much information to work with. Why did the train stop? Will it be starting again soon? She didn't see fit to inform us. I was having flashbacks to our late plane, delayed because of a battery exploding in a suitcase. Around 45 minutes into the delay, 6 women entered the hotbox with us, speaking rapidly in Spanish Spanish. This means they use the vosotros form and say words with esses using a slight lisp. It's easy to distinguish, but not as easy to master for someone who learned Latin American Spanish, though not impossible. We started conversing with them, and pretty quickly it became obvious I spoke Spanish. We chatted a little, and I told them all we knew about the late train, ie; nothing, and I told them about our theories why the train was late: it hit a cow. They looked confused, and asked if I were serious. I then had to explain about the cattle guards on the front of trains in the US. Apparently livestock on the tracks is not a common problem here. Shortly after reaching 95 minutes, a man came in and told us that a train was coming on another platform. I passed this information on the Spanish women, and all 11 of us trooped to platform 34. Here we were informed that hopping on this train to Friessling would help us get to Munich, as we could change trains at the next station. Everyone boarded the train. In Friessling, it became evident that there was no other train headed to Munich from that station. All the lights were off, and the only other train there was heading back to Salzburg. Cameron Diaz talked with the conductor who told her that there were no trains for Munich from Friessling that night, and furthermore, there were no train for Munich from Salzburg either. If we wanted to reach Munich we would need to get back on the train, change trains twice, take a taxi, and then change trains again. Even then, there would be no guarantee of making our connection to Regensburg. We wished the Spanish women good luck, after I told them what was up, and said we were returning to Salzburg where we would spend the night and try again in the morning. Jay and Jonny wanted to sleep on the cheap, and opted for 2 twin beds at the holiday inn. Joe and I just wanted immediate comfort, and settled for the 4 star best western we could see. This proved a much better choice. We had a lovely king sized (European style) bed, soundproofed windows, English television, and a heated towel rack. In the morning we were even able to obtain toothpaste and toothbrushes before headed down to our complimentary breakfast in the hotel restaurant/brewery. The only downside was the shower's water pressure. It was too much. When you turned it on, the shower head would dance around like a fire hose in cartoons. I was splashed in the face more than once, and Joe managed to get the ceiling when it was his turn. Jay and Jonny had a much less comfortable evening, well Jonnie did anyway. Apparently Jay snores very loudly. So loudly in fact, that Jonnie felt the need to grab all his bedclothes and sleep in the tub. Not a pleasant evening for him. We were able to catch a train into Munich without any issue, and we all slept the first hour. After arriving in Munich we decided lunch was in order, so we went to a brewery very close to the train station. The beer, service, and food were all great, and we even bought steins: for a whopping 6.50 each. Finally, we were able to board the train back home to Regensburg where we could change into some fresh clothes.