With astounding German precision, the train from Berlin arrived right on time and disgorged its contents which included Zoe, Sam, Tannika and Holly, barely visible under their back packs!
A quick trip back to the hotel to unload and we all headed out to experience Nuremberg under darkening skies.
Going our separate ways to discover the market was deemed the most appropriate thing to do and we rendezvous'd again at 5.30 which felt like 9 pm for jet lagged Russell and I and was pitch black.
Russell and I opted for an early night as did the girls, with Zoe still suffering the effects of a nasty gastro which had robbed her of her party gene, albeit temporarily. Sam and Holly decided to try some local cuisine and headed out on Ralf from the hotel's suggestion.
The next morning we boarded another train bound for Munich and spoiling for a confrontation with Europcar.
The 'gentleman' and I use that term loosely, told me emphatically that the booking I had made back in October had “never been confirmed” – until I produced a confirmation email on my IPad. He was extremely rude and arrogant but clearly didn't know who he was dealing with and after some stone walling on both sides he 'found' a suitable vehicle for us. ( The issue being we needed a six seater auto, a somewhat rare beast and that was why I had booked back in October.)
So, some time later we marched over to the adjoining car park to find Bay 21 and our vehicle. The vehicle turned out to be a black behemoth, the kind which transports rock stars from the airport or houses surveillance on roadsides in Bourne movies! It was enormous, an eight seater VW Multivan – google that readers!
With some trepidation we loaded up and 'scraped' out of the car park – literally – whoops! No problem, thats what rental car excess insurance is all about 🙂
The non English speaking man wandering the car park fortunately knew how to change Gretel (the GPS) on to English and we turned Gunther (the Multivan) toward Berchtesgaden.
Sam did a wonderful job driving and the rest of felt like a group of school children going on a camp. The scenery en route toward the mountains became more and more picturesque and we finally arrived at our temporary home at about 4.30 in failing light.
Having stayed here back in the summer if 2008, we knew basically what to expect but were all excited by the plentiful snow blanketing the ground – just what we'd ordered!!!!
A quick trip to the supermarket for supplies saw us dining early and into bed, anticipating a big day tomorrow.
And, just a teaser….. We woke to this this morning!