Wayfaring Day 52 Kandern

August 21, 2025 Thursday

We took our bags down and summoned an Uber. Then we said our good-byes to everyone who was around to say good-bye to. Our son was there to see us off as was David´s brother. The driver was there quickly and had us to the Munchen Hauptbahnhof in no time.

We got out of the car and grabbed our bags not knowing exactly where to go next. There was construction and the barriers and walls obscured everything so that it wasn´t clear as to our location. We oriented ourselves and followed the signs and in just about 50 yards we were turning into the station. When you walk into the station you are immediately at the trains and platforms. That is when we realized we had allotted too much time for getting to the station, navigating the station and finding our train. This is a huge station with trains and people everywhere. The only places we have traveled where you see this kind of passenger rail center would be New York and Washington D.C.. So now we had a lot of time to wait. The station has almost no places to sit or relax so most people just sit on the floor against a wall. Deutsche Bahn has a waiting room and even though we weren´t sure we should be there we made use of the benches anyway. This enclosed waiting area is only maybe 5m by 10m and is not air conditioned. The temps here were not too uncomfortable but it was a little bit warm in this enclosed room. Throughout the station there are several places to get sandwiches, pretzels and drinks. We had some food and drink and used the WC which it seems are always downstairs from wherever you happen to be.

Our train was listed on the platform signage but just before arrival they changed the train to a couple of platforms to the west. This being our first train trip in Germany we were not entirely sure when to board since the train terminated here. We watched other people and saw that they waited a bit for the crew to do some cleaning and take off some trash. Then everyone began to board which at that time was about 20 minutes until departure. We had reserved seats so we were not in a big hurry. It may be worth noting that if you have much luggage you will find more space if you get on the train before it begins to get crowded.

The train today is an ICE train. ICE trains are modern, comfortable high speed trains. With the exception of the Brightline train we rode in Florida there are not many trains like this in the United States. The train is a smooth ride at speeds of up to 200 mph. ICE trains have an observation area behind the driver where anyone can look out the front of the train and watch the driver operate in the high tech cockpit. The ride today will be a little over 5 hours. Most of that will be the connection in Karlsruhe and the regional train to Schliengen. The ICE portion of the trip was great. We travelled past farmlands, hillside grape vines and several cities en route to Karlsruhe. The connection in Karlsruhe was a little tricky since there were some unclear signage concerning which track we were supposed to catch our next train. Luckily they post a paper version of the trains and which platform they leave from. The regional train was more like a commuter train and had much less space for luggage and it was very crowded. By the time the train had made it to Schliengen the train was much less crowded. We arrived in Schleingen very close to on time and our friend was there to greet us which helped us feel a bit more at ease. After a bit of a reunion we climbed in his Jeep and headed to Kandern.

Kandern is a clean, walkable and friendly town and it is easy to see why they enjoy living here. They have created a beautiful home from an old farmhouse and barn after lengthy and extensive renovations. The home has several bedrooms and baths and was a perfect place to stay for a couple of nights where we could relax, see some sights and do some laundry. That evening our friend and his wife drove us to a nearby town to eat at a family run traditional German restaurant. We had to admit later that we had been a little unexcited about more German cuisine after our past few days, but this place was amazing in so many ways. The people were friendly and almost treated us like family. This meal turned out to be the best meal of our entire trip and we made sure they knew how pleased we were to have had such a good meal and a good time. Even other patrons of the restaurant were friendly. There is a custom in these small German towns which we found very comforting. The custom is saying goodbye to other customers when they leave the restaurant. We do not know the name of the town or the restaurant but we could have eaten there again the next day.

Our gracious hosts made our stay with them beyond what we could have hoped and we appreciate them so much. Tomorrow our friends wife had to work as people often do, but he had made time for taking us somewhere interesting. The weather in Switzerland was not favorable to a drive in the Alps so we decided to go to the Alsace area of France which was only about an hours drive.