Germany/France — July 26, 2012

On Thursday, July 26, my destination was Berlin, where I planned to meet Martin. My nephew was also planning to go to Berlin to meet friends. Since he doesn't know German, he felt it would be more comfortable to travel with me. My sister-in-law suggested we go with her, the monks, and the other traveling companions to Munich for lunch at the Hofbräuhaus (and more generally) and some sightseeing and then take a train to Berlin. I checked schedules and decided that could work as well as taking a train from Regensburg would.

Disappointingly, there was no morning Mass at St. Rupert's.

At 10:30 we were on a chartered bus to Munich (more generally), and at 12:30 we were at the Hofbräuhaus.

 Lunch was quite good. I enjoyed their sauerbraten, and my nephew had one of the biggest wiener schnitzels I've ever seen.

 Afterwards, my s-i-l and a few others accompanied me and my nephew to the train station.

 We went past the neo-gothic City Hall

and went into the Cathedral (Frauenkirche).

I didn't know how to find the right car in the train, but my nephew and I were still able to get to Nürnberg, where we changed trains, this time getting into the correct car and our reserved seats. The scenery was attractive: rolling farmland with corn, wheat, another grain (maybe rye or barley), and sunflowers; then the mountainous Saale River valley; finally a plain.

At one point I went to the food car for a snack. While I ate my sandwich and drank my weissbier, standing at a tall table, three other people — a German, a New Zealander, and a young American who was traveling the world — were engaged in conversation. The American was concerned about internet privacy. The German was supporting the Pirate Party because of their stand on internet issues and because they are more democratically organized. The New Zealander felt that it made no sense to support a party which had no positions on all the other issues facing Germany. Eventually, I had to join the conversation. I learned that this was the first summer in eight years or so the the American (from Delaware) wasn't going to a camp on Cape Cod as a camper or counselor. And it turned out that the New Zealander had been at my sister-in-law's concert in Regensburg!

We were met at the station by a friend of my nephew's, who was able to show me which subway train to get on and tell me which station to get off at and which bus to take to which stop to end up a half block from my hotel. I got to the hotel at about 10:45 p.m.

Click on pics to enlarge — much better, IMO.