Still getting the hang of this time zones thing. As in I fell asleep at 8pm last night and woke up at 3am. The alarm was set for 5.30am. But 3am in Paris is 1pm in Sydney right now. No wonder my body is confused.
Despite all this extra time we still manage to leave the hotel later than planned. Down to the metro, riding to Gare l’Est. But we want food! So three takeaway baguettes later we are walking to the platform after scanning out seat reservations. Not the rail pass ticket.
And more walking. This is two TGV Inoui high speed trains couples together and we are in car 16 near the far end of the second set.
We make it to our seats in the upper deck, a set of four facing each other across a table. There is no reservation for the empty seat, something you can tell from the small screens above them.
It looks very clean and modern, compares well to the Tokaido Shinkansen. There is mains power to the seats, a buffet car with a number of overpriced food options, but the toilet has no water for washing hands.
The TVG sets out into the dim morning light, out through the suburbs of Paris and into farmland of low rolling hills and tiny villages. It is very picturesque.
The display shows the train running at up to 319 km/h, but it also shows we that we have a problem. Despite leaving on time we are going to be late into the German stations, so late that we should miss our connection.
The problem lies just after interesting Strasbourg and the German border at Kehl, where they are supposedly doing passport checks. I say apparently, because it seems to consist of two German border police in shiny black uniforms walking through the carriage without checking anything.
Presumably this has something to do with the French protests expanding to Germany.
I have a play with the timetables and it looks like we can still make our train if we get off at Karlsruhe and transfer to a German ICE for Stuttgart, where we can meet the original ICE.
We arrive in Karlsruhe earlier than the delayed timetable predicted, making me wonder if we should just stay on board. It’s cold under the platform canopy in Karlsruhe, but there are a nice variety of trains to watch, including one regional service that looks more like a tram than a train.
The ICE arrives and there are plenty of seats together. It is comfortable. There are no electrical outlets that we can see, but plenty of luggage space. It is not as fast as the TGV, but there are good views of the autumn countryside and German freight and passenger trains. Flat cars, box cars, covered wagons, car carriers, their goods wrapped in paper. These railway scenes evoke memories of my old Marklin and Lima model train sets.
At Stuttgart it is a long walk to the platform for our next train. It is crowded and our original seat reservations are gone! B finds a seat, but Alex and I are left standing until eventually seats open up as passengers leave at intermediate stations. There are a few entitled German seat hogs who get scolded by the female conductor. They argue back too.
After 6 hours of travel, we pull into Munich Hbf, then quickly make our way to the S-Bahn, the local train to Isartor, from where we walk the rest of the way to the Hotel Admiral, hidden under scaffolding, passing Vietnamese and Indian restaurants along the way.
We check in, then head out again, crossing over the Isar river to the Deutsches Museum on an island in the river.
This has to be one of the most impressive science and technology museums I have ever visited. Our focus is on the aviation and space displays and they are incredible
There are interactive displays on aerodynamics and wind tunnels, but it’s the real aircraft that steal the show. Military, business aviation and civil. There are cross-sections of an Airbus A300 and a A350. You can feel the carbon fibre fuselage of the latter and compare it to the former. Then there’s the Lockheed Starfighter with its rocket shape and stubby wings. The display has a pilot ejecting. These are dangerous planes!
Then there are the corrugated chrome exteriors of the Junkers, the tri-engined Ju-52 which is open to explore. It feels like you are in a Indiana Jones movie inside and the cockpit has a radiation warning in it (I’m guessing glowing dials).
But it is the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket plane, their Me 262, the first German jet fighter, the V1 cruise missile, the V2 ballistic missile and the wooden winged Wasserfall surface-to-air missile that truly amaze. There are also a range of engines, from jets to propellers, on display.
The top level features everything spaceflight, from rockets and satellites to space suits. What shocks me, a life size Gemini capsule showing just how tiny the first manned spacecraft were.
There are other things on display elsewhere in the museum. Unfortunately no trains are running on the model layout, only buses (rail replacement buses?). The robots are of minor interest and we don’t even get to engines, mining, bridges and mathematics.
From the Museum, we walk in the cold through to the old centre of Munich and gazed at the Isartor (Isar River city gate), the incredibly ornate Rathaus and other old architecture. Their decorations and scale are a source of amazement. I think Alex finally feels like he is in Germany for the first time.
There is also a sense that this is a tourist trap.
Alex wants a light dinner, preferably the Vietnamese pho restaurant we passed on arrival into Munich. B wants Bavarian food. I could take either. Despite us standing right outside a Bavarian restaurant, B decides to consult Google reviews and finds another one a distance away.
It is full (because, of course, if lots of influencers are recommending it), we are tired with jetlag and everyone gets cranky. Using a map instead of reviews, I find an alternative down past our hotel, so we go there instead.
Thankfully they have a spare table, the staff are super friendly and the food good for everyone except Alex, who is still full from his late baguette. He orders a “snack” sized sausage (Devon) “salad”. B has pork and I have the wurst meal with a couple of sausages.
Alex can’t finish his and B leaves most of her cabbage salad (eats all the meat), but I enjoy mine.
When we return I am beyond tired, for it is 4am Sydney time, and fall asleep while the other shower.
There is talk of Neuschwanstein Castle tomorrow, but I don’t think anyone will have the energy for an eight hour return trip.