Trains 4 and 5

These trains will bring us back through München to Unterschleißheim. I'm starting to write this post on the ICE 519 from Dortmund which we boarded at Ulm this evening, Chris and Dave having met me at the station with half an hour to spare, by the blue metal chairs opposite the newsagent's.

"Rommelfiguren" --- pottery models of local people
from the late 18th and early 19th century,
made by members of the Rommel family

Model of Ulm as it looked in the late 18th century

I walked a lot again, today, explored inside the Minster once more and visited the historical galleries of the Stadtmuseum, finding among other eye-catching artefacts some small scale, lovingly constructed models of the city as it was in the 17th and 18th centuries, and of the people who lived here in those days: see above. I also visited the Fischerviertel again, where last night I'd eaten a poached trout at the eponymous Forelle, a pretty spot by night and by day. A couple of girls were rowing strenuously up the river, against the current. The sun was out and I heard birds singing.

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This evening's train ride to München seemed to go by in a flash, all of us busy on our laptops for the duration, but then we wasted time trying to find somewhere for a sit-down supper at, or below, the station. In the end we gave up and took the escalator down to the underground station, whence we knew the S1 (our Train No. 5 on this trip) would depart for Unterschleißheim. It did, after I'd worked out, just in time, that we were not waiting for it on the correct platform. Had the men been left to their own devices they could well have set off from the neighbouring platform in the opposite (wrong) direction. We reached Unterschleißheim at about 7:30 p.m., pleased to notice that the red and blue lights illuminating our prebooked hotel, the Star Inn, were visible from the station exit. We still had to check in, find our rooms and then somewhere for supper. Unterscheißheim is a quiet little place. I found the Onassis Restaurant right next door to the hotel, but the tables were discouragingly all occupied. Chris and Dave started talking about searching elsewhere instead, until I put my foot down and had us wait till a table was ready. The waiter said we'd have "only two Greek minutes" to wait. Greek minutes are a little longer than the normal ones, but soon enough we were shown to our seats, and the food came promptly, a delicious and hearty Greek meal complete with Bier vom Faß as well as shot glasses containing ούζο in animated surroundings. I am not entirely sober, as I record this.