Munich, Chillon, & Luxembourg

We grabbed regular seats on the night-train from Rome to Munich, figuring we were used enough to sleeping on trains that we didn't need beds.... bad idea. In our six seat cabin, there were various people in and out all night, opening windows to talk to friends or throwing open the door to figure out which stop we were at. There were five ticket checks and one passport check through the night. So we really only slept about 3 hours of our 11-hour journey. We got to Munich by 6:30am and settled into the station Starbucks to relax before we trekked through the rain to the BMW Museum. When it opened at 10am, we were some of the first in line. We toured the Museum & Welt for a few hours before heading back to the station.

Our next train took us to Bern, Switzerland. We got there late and checked into our hostel. The next morning, we caught a series of trains to the Chillon Castle, located on the edge of Lake Geneva. It was beautiful to see the castle right on the water's edge, surrounded by the Pre-Alps :) We spent 3 hours exploring every inch we could. It was cool to see how the castle had been built and renovated through the centuries.... we just don't have things that old in Canada! We caught trains back to Bern, in hopes of taking the night-train to Barcelona. However, Spanish night-train reservation fees are astronomical ($300, as opposed to the usual $10-$20), so we made a reservation on a train to Luxembourg the next day instead, and checked back into our hostel for the night.

We arrived in Luxembourg today by noon. Upon our arrival, we made a reservation for the train to Paris tomorrow. The Tourist Information office directed us to a cheap, nearby hotel. It was very nice for the price we paid. We then made our way downtown to take the Wenzel Walk -- a 100-minute walk that takes you through 1000 years of history. It was self-guided, and a little confusing to find the start. So we kind of invented our own variation and still saw all of it. Onto Paris in the morning!

We'll keep you posted.

~ Ash & Chad