Day 2, May 7 - Munich, Bavaria, Lindau

Today’s the big delivery day. Angela and I both crashed last night by 9pm. We set an early alarm so that we could hopefully beat the Monday rush to the delivery center. It took us a little while to get ready, and we didn’t actually get there until almost 8:30, and we wound up waiting almost another 2 hours until our name was called. This being our 3rd Euro Delivery, the process was relatively straight forward. After going through the paperwork formalities, it was into the garage to see the new machine. I guess it’s trite to say that I was relieved that the car was to spec. Our delivery specialist (I didn’t catch his name, and I don’t believe he ever actually offered his name) was brief, but thorough. Honestly, by that time, I just wanted to get out of there and get on the road. We pre-cleared our car through the drop-off process since we will be dropping off on the weekend, and made our way back to the Marriott to gather our things and get on the road.

The drive was spectacular. The weather held up for most of the drive, but started to rain on and off about 80km from Lindau. I was surprised at how dry the natural channels were that carry the melting snow out of the mountains to the rivers; and at how dry the rivers themselves were. Again, I marveled at all the different shades of green and all of the wild flowers growing in the fields. Our route of travel took us down to almost Oberammergau, past Linderhof, into Austria past Reutte, back into Germany at Sonthofen by way of some amazing switchback roads, and then to Lindau by way of Immenstadt. It was all I could do to not take a picture of every valley we drove through. They are all so picturesque and pastoral.

Lindau is a lovely lakeside town on the “Bodensee” or, in English, Lake Constance. It reminds me a little of Bellagio, but decidedly German and a little bigger. It’s largely on an island in the lake, with a small harbor guarded by the Lion of Bavaria and sporting a large lighthouse. Ferries shuttle people back and forth across the lake from Germany to Switzerland to Austria. We rolled into town about 4:15pm or so and checked into the Bayerischer Hof right on the lake overlooking the harbor. After getting all the luggage into the room and getting situated, we headed out for some exploring. Now, Lindau isn’t a real big town, and you can see pretty much all of it in a half-day. The weather alternated from dry to spitting to drizzling all afternoon, and finally settled into a heavy overcast around 7.

We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant and are in the process of calling it a night. As I write this, I am dumping my day’s photos to the laptop. I think tomorrow night we’ll be completely over the jetlag and will be able to resume our normal sleep patterns. I think the drive over to Strasbourg will be fairly long, but it should definitely be scenic; I’m doing all I can to avoid the highways.