arrival in munich and the train to budapest

we had to purchase train tickets to budapest for the overnight train. we found the ticket counter, purchased tickets, and realized we had to wait for a while to leave. we landed in munich at 17:50 and the train did not leave until 23:40. ugh. at this point, we are feeling pretty gross and tired, ready to get moving and not sitting in an airport.

we found something to eat---turkish like wraps and kebabs. then sat and people watched. we also checked out the grocery store in the airport which was cool. i bought some snacks. we waited and waited. watched the people and chatted. it became quite difficult to sit and wait. paul was growing pretty grumpy b/c he was tired and i just wanted to lay down.

we had to take the subway to the main train station in munich. we did that about 10pm or so. then we found a starbucks to sit in while we waited yet some more. paul had a drink and i ate some snacks. time seemed to be just creeping by. i needed to use the toilet and made my way to find it. then giggled. i had forgotten that one has to pay for the public toilet. back to paul for some money and then off to the toilet again---80 euro cents later. :)

platform #12
23:40
destination budapest

waiting and waiting........
finally a train pulled up and we walked out to the platform to wait for boarding. we were supposed to get on car #262 and have beds 72 & 73. quite simple, i thought. upon glancing at the train car numbers, i realized there was no 262. what?!?!?! i asked one attendant and he pointed to this other guy. i walked over to the other guy and was greeted with, "parlez vous francais?" do i speak french? are you kidding? i replied, "no." then he pointed down the train. so, we made our way down the train.....the numbers were not looking good and we were both frustrated. how difficult can this really be? i found another attendant and asked him. he said to go to the last two cars and they would find a place for us. the last two cars is where the frenchman was........ugh! paul was overly tired at this point and his patience was gone. i was ok, but seriously could be on the verge of tears. back down to the end we trudged. i found yet another attendant who i inquired about our beds and car to. he cheerily replied only in german. i stood there and had no idea what he was saying to me. when i seemed to not understand, he smiled and spoke more german. ?!?!?!

after much discussion and persistance, kind german man found us beds. thank goodness. we were in a cabin with an interesting older german man. he was quiet and kept to himself. i took the top bunk, paul slept in the middle, and the interesting older german man was on the bottom. once in bed, things were better. paul and i both were fast asleep and spent most of the night that way. i woke up at 5:35ish am with an immense need to use the toilet. i did not want to go....i was hoping to wish it away, but i could not. down the stairs i went as quiet as possible then down the train car to the toilets. the scenery was quite nice as i looked out the window.

7am we were served breakfast. a croissant filled with chocolate cream and a boxed drink of orange juice. on what other continent is a chocolate filled pastry considered breakfast.......i was excited and gobbled it down. yum! paul did not eat his, but passed it up to me to hold onto. on and off we slept some more before pulling into the train station in budapest. it was fun!

we had arrived.......finally, after what seemed like forever.
30+ hours of transit to start the european adventure........
we were in desperate need of showers and felt completely disgusting......
but hey, we were in budapest, hungary!