Today we checked out of our hotel, and I cannot say how happy I am with the ArtHotel Munich. The rooms were modern, spacious, close to the main train station, and inexpensive (for Munich). Most importantly, they had excellent customer service and never laughed at all the stuff the crazy Americans were carrying.

Additionally, they also have an awesome breakfast buffet with a million kinds of rolls, cheeses, meats, and cereals. The coffee is void black and wonderful, and they have Johannisbeer (black currant) and peach-carrot juices on tap. The latter sounds kind of weird, but it is very good.

Free wifi was included at the hotel after getting a PIN from the main office, which brings me to a quirk about Germany: I have yet to come across any free wifi in Germany. It’s very strange when you go from a country like America that has free wifi at lots of places such as coffeehouses and cheap fast food places like Chick-Fil-A to a place where everything is locked down. Because of this, I’ve learned my phone is almost completely useless without the internet. I keep turning it on, flipping through my list of internet aps that I usually use and flipping it off. I actually have to talk to the people who are physically present. It’s a completely bizarre state of affairs that I hope you never have to endure.

T-Mobile has a plan that lets you use any of their hotspots for 29 euros ($45) for 30 days or 7.99 euros ($12) for 60 minutes, which was a very strange deal. The first train we took today had one of those hotspots but the price was way to high for the few hours we were going to be on a train.

Traveling by train was for the most part a pleasure; it’s nice not having to drive. A train has more room, you can move around, get snacks, and this train was a lot more comfortable than a plane. We passed some fantastic scenery even though it was raining. I didn’t manage to get any good shots from the train, though, because I had it set to the wrong setting, but here’s what I took.

The downside of traveling was since we had to take so much stuff with the kids, we had every available hand tasked to carry or pull something. I’m sure all the Germans were staring in wonder at all the junk that we were carrying. Next time the kids will hopefully be older and won’t need as much gear to travel with.

At some point, Uncle Horst and Aunt Gisela picked us up, but the rest of the day is a blur of traveling and trying to wrestle the kids back to bed. They’ve got good instincts, but I’m a pretty tough close-in fighter at this sort of thing.

Tomorrow, Lake Titisee (yes, you read that right).