Family time!

We're now in Sulzfeld, a tiny town in the south of Germany. It's not at all along the lines of our more big-city, touristy stops. Instead, we're here to see my family!

Before arriving here, we had about a day to spend in Munich. Getting there was slightly hellish. We got on the train in Prague and met with some uncomfortable conditions. Our train car had no air conditioning and was very crowded. It was miserable. The windows were all fogged up, people were sweating, and it was just like being fully-clothed in a sauna. Which is probably why nobody really fought it when, halfway through our trip, the train unexpectedly stopped and we all had to get off and board buses.

Nobody explained to us what was going on, at all. We all just got on buses (which had air conditioning!) and rode along for half an hour. Then, the buses stopped and we were told to get on another train. Again, no idea what was going on, but we just followed everyone else. Luckily this train had air conditioning, so we passed the rest of the trip in relative comfort and got to Munich just 20 minutes behind schedule.

Those 20 minutes really mattered to us, though. We had been trying to catch Mike's Bike Tour, which everyone had been recommending to us. Couldn't do it since we got there late, though. So we went to the Hofbrauhaus, Munich's famous beerhall, and had some very large beers. One liter mugs. And we met some interesting characters. One old man seemed kind and grandfatherly at first, but then things took a turn when he told us he was alone and "had no girl" and that we could stay with him instead of the hostel. No, thank you.

While that was happening, a table full of older men noticed my sunburn and literally all turned around to point and laugh at it. And then one of them actually came over, sat next to me, and his friend TOOK A PICTURE of us. Which I can only imagine they will bill to their friends as a picture of the most sunburned American they've ever seen.

After all of that, we found a new table in a different part of the hall to eat our giant pretzel and finish our giant beers. And then we played mini-UNO.

The next morning, we took in some of the Munich sights. We wanted to go on a walking tour, but it would've ended too close to the time we had to take the train. So we saw the Glockenspiel and walked around Marienplatz before eating lunch at a little outdoor cafe right by the clock. Then, we made the long walk to our hostel to get our backpacks, followed by a long walk to the train station with our backpacks, and then finally got on the train to Heidelberg.

Now we're here, with my relatives. It feels very surreal. I haven't seen most of them in 4 years, and it's crazy how much the kids have grown. Tonight, we're going to the 18th birthday party of one of my second-cousins, so I hope to see many more of my relatives there. Tomorrow, we will go see my grandma. Natalie seems to be enjoying herself despite the language barrier. My cousin who we're staying with has 4 horses, and Natalie's really been bonding with them. I had to tear her away from them.

The language barrier isn't as bad as I'd expected. With their limited English and my limited German, along with many hand gestures, we're making it work. It's really nice to just be in one place without trains to catch or hostels to worry about finding. We're just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. Four more days of Europe!