The best and funniest story of the day came right at the beginning, trying to pay our hotel bill. They did have a nice buffet breakfast, and there was normal activity in the kitchen and the first floor in general. However, once we'd packed and I went in to pay the bill, no one was in sight. I waited, but then began wandering around the entire 1st floor looking for anyone. I finally started calling out for someone. Then louder. No one was to be seen. I continued to wait and call out for about 10 minutes, and finally a lady came in (who did not speak English). I gave her my credit card to pay, but she couldn't make it work in her little machine. So, she indicated I'd need to pay cash. I showed her how I didn't have the cash, and asked her to try again to make her machine work.
The bill was 98 €, and I had 60 €, so I thought she might just let us go for that much. But no, she kept insisting I pay more cash. So, I pulled out all my Euro coins and all my Swiss franc coins (I had lots) and tried to convert it and total it up, but she told me to wait and she went looking for someone else. When he came, he got out his calculator and looked at exchange rates in the newspaper and finally indicated that all my Euro and Swiss francs, plus U.S. $20, would cover the bill. By then, I had been adding everything up in my head and doing rough conversions of the Swiss francs and U.S. money and figured the same thing, so I agreed and we could finally take off.
The nice thing was getting rid of my pocket full of Swiss franc coins, since I had so many. I think they totaled something like 12 €. Luckily I still had that U.S. money in my wallet too, not packed away somewhere out in the car.
So off we drove, on pretty country roads until we left Lindau, when we got onto an autobahn again.
The bill was 98 €, and I had 60 €, so I thought she might just let us go for that much. But no, she kept insisting I pay more cash. So, I pulled out all my Euro coins and all my Swiss franc coins (I had lots) and tried to convert it and total it up, but she told me to wait and she went looking for someone else. When he came, he got out his calculator and looked at exchange rates in the newspaper and finally indicated that all my Euro and Swiss francs, plus U.S. $20, would cover the bill. By then, I had been adding everything up in my head and doing rough conversions of the Swiss francs and U.S. money and figured the same thing, so I agreed and we could finally take off.
The nice thing was getting rid of my pocket full of Swiss franc coins, since I had so many. I think they totaled something like 12 €. Luckily I still had that U.S. money in my wallet too, not packed away somewhere out in the car.
So off we drove, on pretty country roads until we left Lindau, when we got onto an autobahn again.
Here is a close-up of the lion statue guarding the harbor entrance in Lindau. It was also cool while there to see the beginning of the Deutsche Alpenstrasse, which during our trip we drove on many parts of, and also saw the very end of, in Berchtesgaden.
Once we got to our offramp northeast of Munich, in Neufahrn, we actually missed it due to construction's stop-and-go traffic, and we had a huge truck in front of us blocking our view. We had to sit in that barely moving traffic for quite a long time before we could get off and back on again in the other direction.
We finally did find it, set in a neighborhood, very much an unlikely location. We originally had wanted to take the commuter train into Munich for the late afternoon/evening, but alas, this did not work out. We drove to the station, straight up the road about 1.5 miles, and went to purchase a ticket from the machine. It would not take a credit card, and I'd spent every last Euro to pay our hotel bill that morning. I decided to run up the street quite a distance to a bank to exchange money. That, amazingly, didn't work either. The bank said one cannot exchange money unless you have an account there (in which case, who would want to?). So, defeated, I ran on back to the station to get Janet, and we drove on back to the hotel. We thought maybe they could exchange money.
The desk guy was very helpful, and thought for sure something was amiss that the bank would not exchange money, He made several phone calls on our behalf, and in the end agreed that banks no longer exchange currency since the usual way to get money nowadays is to use an ATM card. Well yes, but did either Janet or I have the means to use this method? We had already been through this much earlier in the trip when I tried to find my ATM card in my wallet. It turned out I had accidentally removed it just before we left while removing other cards I wouldn't need. And, Janet didn't know her PIN number for her ATM card.
Our only option was to drive to the airport and exchange money at one of those stands where they rip you off with lousy exchange rates and commissions. We paid $60 for only 34 € (normally we'd have gotten about 44 €).
Once we got to our offramp northeast of Munich, in Neufahrn, we actually missed it due to construction's stop-and-go traffic, and we had a huge truck in front of us blocking our view. We had to sit in that barely moving traffic for quite a long time before we could get off and back on again in the other direction.
We finally did find it, set in a neighborhood, very much an unlikely location. We originally had wanted to take the commuter train into Munich for the late afternoon/evening, but alas, this did not work out. We drove to the station, straight up the road about 1.5 miles, and went to purchase a ticket from the machine. It would not take a credit card, and I'd spent every last Euro to pay our hotel bill that morning. I decided to run up the street quite a distance to a bank to exchange money. That, amazingly, didn't work either. The bank said one cannot exchange money unless you have an account there (in which case, who would want to?). So, defeated, I ran on back to the station to get Janet, and we drove on back to the hotel. We thought maybe they could exchange money.
The desk guy was very helpful, and thought for sure something was amiss that the bank would not exchange money, He made several phone calls on our behalf, and in the end agreed that banks no longer exchange currency since the usual way to get money nowadays is to use an ATM card. Well yes, but did either Janet or I have the means to use this method? We had already been through this much earlier in the trip when I tried to find my ATM card in my wallet. It turned out I had accidentally removed it just before we left while removing other cards I wouldn't need. And, Janet didn't know her PIN number for her ATM card.
Our only option was to drive to the airport and exchange money at one of those stands where they rip you off with lousy exchange rates and commissions. We paid $60 for only 34 € (normally we'd have gotten about 44 €).
This is the only photo I took with my camera today. It's just down from the restaurant in Neufahrn where we ate, called Hofbräuhaus Freising. I liked the Bavarian May Pole. Farther down this street was the train station, and behind us a ways on this street was our hotel. For dinner we had ox tail and "Hofbräuhaus pot".
We waited until after our dinner to drive to the airport. Luckily, it was very close. After that, we couldn't find a parking spot in front of the hotel, so I asked and they had a garage, but you had to pay. So, we drove down the residential street until we saw an opening off on a side street, and walked on back about 1/4 mile. The rest of the evening I planned out our day in Munich tomorrow.
We waited until after our dinner to drive to the airport. Luckily, it was very close. After that, we couldn't find a parking spot in front of the hotel, so I asked and they had a garage, but you had to pay. So, we drove down the residential street until we saw an opening off on a side street, and walked on back about 1/4 mile. The rest of the evening I planned out our day in Munich tomorrow.
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