Monday 9^th March

Cologne to Munich

Full days travelling. We did not go along the Rhine as originally advertised, but went on the new high speed line to Frankfurt, travelling on one of the German ICE trains. These are very comfortable, smooth riding trains that certainly get a move on. You can sit at the end of the train and, depending on end, either see where you are going or where you have been. For the first part of the journey, we were at the rear of the train and looking back you realised over the first part of the line that we were climbing very steeply – in railway terms. Nevertheless we were travelling at speeds in excess of 200 km/h. At Frankfurt, the train reversed direction so we were immediately behind the driver and it was interesting to be able to look ahead. For much of the first section of the journey, as far as Wurtzburg, we were following the river Main or one of its tributaries. The line had a lot of curves and speeds were fairly modest except for a short stretch of high speed line just before Wurtzburg. After Wurtzburg, we used the high speed line to Ingolstatd and speeds were up to 300km/h. In fact, Wurtzburg to Ingolstatd was covered quite quickly. After Ingolstatd we were on the old main line to Munich. This was on good alignment and fairly level so we made good speed to Munich where we arrived on time just after 3.00pm. Close to Munich we passed through a station with a notorious name – Dachau.

Munich to Jenbach

The train to Jenbach was a Eurocity express, locomotive hauled. The carriage we were in was Italian and while comfortable, it did not appear as well kept as those we had travelled in earlier. The train made steady progress, first across fairly level country but after Rosenheim, the hills gradually began to close in either side of the train. We crossed into Austria at Kufstein. A spectacular castle could be seen perched on the hill. When we finally arrived at Jenbach, we were met by a coach which took us to the hotel. While it was only a 10 minute walk to the hotel, after a long days travelling, it was a relief to have our bags taken for us and not to have to walk up the hill. We were welcomed at the hotel with a glass of white wine or kir, which was a nice touch and the proprietor made us feel welcome.