Last Update:01/06/00 About This Site About the Author

Our original plan was to go to Munich today, see the Dachau concentration camp outside Munich, spend the night, and come back to Kelkheim Friday night. We changed our plans to have some time back 'home' before Sharon departs Saturday for our real home in Charlotte. We were able to get the ICE (Inter City Express) train to Frankfurt. A very fast train that will get us to Frankfurt from the middle of Switzerland in about 6 hours with a bunch of stops. The first class car we are in is the nicest we've been in so far. The seats are like recliners and we have a big table between us. The restaurant car is the next one down. Sharon got us some coffee. I tell you what, we have not found good coffee like we have in the states. This stuff was so bad even I had to add milk and sugar.

Instead of the food on the train, we decided to drink beer. This is our Thanksgiving lunch. I suppose we'll eat a nice meal tonight, but good German beer works for us. We asked the conductor how fast the train would go. He said 280 kph (174 mph) but only in Germany. Apparently they won't let them go that fast in Switzerland. Maybe the railroads aren't as good in Germany. There's a display in our car that has information about where we're going, the next stop, and the speed. The fastest we've seen is 250 kph (about 150 mph). Riding the train has been a good experience.