Wernigerode to Munich
Day 56. This is the end of our eight week on the road. Tomorrow we go home.
Today started with packing up some, then grabbing breakfast, then packing up the rest of the way. Since this is a hostel, it involved busing our own linens and vacuuming the floor of our room. Once we got that done we wrestled our stuff downstairs.
At this point Kathy was really feeling unwell. While we were waiting for the cab she had to bolt for the bathroom to give breakfast back. Sigh.
We had called the same cab driver we'd had earlier in the weekend. He crammed our stuff in the back of his cab and took us to the train station. Once there, we settled in on the platform and I went off to check on the times. Our train was for 12:43 and we were there very early. In fact, we were early enough to make the 10:43 train going to the same place, So we decided to take it and spend the time in Halle instead of Wernigerode.
While waiting there, Brigitte showed up so we got to see her one last time before her train left just before ours. We made it onto our train and put our stuff in the bike area, then settled in to seats. Kathy actually slept a little so when we got to Halle she was feeling much better.
The next train to Munich was the one we were going to take anyway so we had a 4 hour layover. Kathy took it easy on a bench and I explored a lot of the station. I got one last toy, a model of an 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen by DeAgostini that looks so cool.
We bought a lot of fruits and juices from a really nice little fruit shop in the station, and croissants from LeCrobag that were good. Then we saw Gudrun shopping in the same fruit stand so we went and hung out with her and her guy while waiting.
Then off to the platform in time for the train. Getting on was fairly easy, and we found good places for the stuff. Then we could sit back and take it easy for the next 4 hours 48 minutes. I watched the scenery a lot and Kathy slept a fair amount.
At Munich we offboarded pretty easily and headed into the station. From there we had to go down a lift to the S-Bahn, then down another lift to the platform. We waited for the next train heading to the airport, which was S8. Got on and settled. Then 4 stops before the airport everyone got off. I asked one of the other passengers what was going on, and he said that because of trackwork, there would be a bridge bus. Yikes.
Onto the platform to find, no lift. Carried everything down, then back up, to find that the bus had gone. So we waited, with a women who spoke Hungarian and a little German. We were both straining our knowledge of German to communicate with each other. She kept us from getting on the wrong bus, though, which was nice.
Our bus finally came, and took us .. somewhere, and some of the people got off. Then on to the next S-Bahn stop, where we found a taxi. Since we were now one stop away from our actual destination, we took the taxi (and gave the wonderful Hungarian lady a ride, who was going about 3 blocks from where we were), who got us to our AirBNB booking.
To find it a dark and deserted business. Fortunately, our taxi driver agreed to call the number and they came out and let us in. They are a very nice couple who speak reasonable English, and now we are settled in for the night.
All in all, a trying day, but tomorrow we sleep in our own bed.
Today started with packing up some, then grabbing breakfast, then packing up the rest of the way. Since this is a hostel, it involved busing our own linens and vacuuming the floor of our room. Once we got that done we wrestled our stuff downstairs.
At this point Kathy was really feeling unwell. While we were waiting for the cab she had to bolt for the bathroom to give breakfast back. Sigh.
We had called the same cab driver we'd had earlier in the weekend. He crammed our stuff in the back of his cab and took us to the train station. Once there, we settled in on the platform and I went off to check on the times. Our train was for 12:43 and we were there very early. In fact, we were early enough to make the 10:43 train going to the same place, So we decided to take it and spend the time in Halle instead of Wernigerode.
While waiting there, Brigitte showed up so we got to see her one last time before her train left just before ours. We made it onto our train and put our stuff in the bike area, then settled in to seats. Kathy actually slept a little so when we got to Halle she was feeling much better.
The next train to Munich was the one we were going to take anyway so we had a 4 hour layover. Kathy took it easy on a bench and I explored a lot of the station. I got one last toy, a model of an 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen by DeAgostini that looks so cool.
We bought a lot of fruits and juices from a really nice little fruit shop in the station, and croissants from LeCrobag that were good. Then we saw Gudrun shopping in the same fruit stand so we went and hung out with her and her guy while waiting.
Then off to the platform in time for the train. Getting on was fairly easy, and we found good places for the stuff. Then we could sit back and take it easy for the next 4 hours 48 minutes. I watched the scenery a lot and Kathy slept a fair amount.
At Munich we offboarded pretty easily and headed into the station. From there we had to go down a lift to the S-Bahn, then down another lift to the platform. We waited for the next train heading to the airport, which was S8. Got on and settled. Then 4 stops before the airport everyone got off. I asked one of the other passengers what was going on, and he said that because of trackwork, there would be a bridge bus. Yikes.
Onto the platform to find, no lift. Carried everything down, then back up, to find that the bus had gone. So we waited, with a women who spoke Hungarian and a little German. We were both straining our knowledge of German to communicate with each other. She kept us from getting on the wrong bus, though, which was nice.
Our bus finally came, and took us .. somewhere, and some of the people got off. Then on to the next S-Bahn stop, where we found a taxi. Since we were now one stop away from our actual destination, we took the taxi (and gave the wonderful Hungarian lady a ride, who was going about 3 blocks from where we were), who got us to our AirBNB booking.
To find it a dark and deserted business. Fortunately, our taxi driver agreed to call the number and they came out and let us in. They are a very nice couple who speak reasonable English, and now we are settled in for the night.
All in all, a trying day, but tomorrow we sleep in our own bed.