On The Move!!: Munich to Passau

Today was the last day in Munich. We slept in a bit (8:40) and walked to a local coffee shop for a bagel. Andy wanted to get a new wallet - so we walked to the shopping area and he found a small billfold. We decided to make our way back to the hotel to pack up, check out, and walk to the train station (across the street from our hotel). We bought a ticket for two to Passau and caught the 12:20 train. It was about a 3 hour (non-express) ride through the countryside. I was amazed at the number of solar panels we saw along the way. In my egocentric world, I though that solar energy was something that was more common in California or at least the US - but most of the farm houses we saw along the way and in several places they had full on fields of solar panels. There were also several areas along the way that had areas of tiny little houses that couldn't be any larger than the size of a single room. I'm not sure who lives in these places - but it looked like a community of play houses. It was a nice ride and when we finally arrived in Passau - it was about a 2 block walk to the boat. Several people from the train took cabs to the boat - but of course, we walked. It's a nice boat - we have a great room facing out into the river. I feel bad for those who face the shore as on the floor we are on - you would look straight into the side of the dock. After unpacking - Andy and I took a short walk in Passau - finding a Xmas market. Passau is a really cute little town - with cobblestone roads meandering up the hillside. We didn't have much time to explore today (it gets dark around 4:30 pm) - so I'm looking forward to seeing more tomorrow. We had a welcome meeting followed by dinner. We hear you get to know almost everyone on the boat since it is quite small - and we enjoyed the company of Allen and Margaret from Pennsylvania and Arnold and Laura from New Jersey over dinner. They started their journey in Prague (and it sounds like that is a city we will have to visit someday). Allen and Margaret have done Viking cruises before and had nothing but good things to say about how well passengers are treated by the cruiseline. It's so much smaller and more intimate than any ocean cruises. I am looking forward to the voyage. Breakfast starts at 7am - so it's early to bed tonight!