Sunday, July 12-Separation Anxiety

Breakfast at Gallus's seemed a bit subdued. Conversation moved along
well and we laughed and joked but there was something different in the
air today. I last felt this inToulumne Meadows last summer when it
came time for us to say goodbye to Gallus. We were facing that
prospect again today. This time around another layer of separation
anxiety hung in the air as well. We had to leave Gallus to take Cindy
to Munich to catch a flight home. Double separation anxiety.
The weather, however was not separating from us as we had hoped. Cool,
cloudy, drizzle now and then. We would have felt no anxiety about its'
leaving.
Forced down from mountains, we headed for the Rhinefall, a spectacular
show of nature's force as the entire Rhine river cascades about '100
vertical feet. Gallus speedily drove us the 44 minutes to the falls.
We had our packs along, planning to catch the train to Munich from the
falls.
In the middle of the falls is a wear resistant rock promontory with a
set of stairs to the top, serviced by tour boats for tourists, like us.
Amid spray, foam and mist our boat bucked the current and dropped us
off to climb the stairs surrounded by massive volumes of water
churning past.
After our falls experience we found the train station, walked to a
Turkish Kebob kiosk for lunch, then bade Gallus goodbye and stepped
onto the 1:42 to Munich.
We stashed our packs in a locker at the Munich station and headed for
The central plaza to check out the Glockspiel and taste a flavor of
the town. We entered the plaza from the subway to find the plaza
hopping to music and throngs of people. It was the height of the gay
pride festival and the center was alive with gay couples and hordes of
showy, flamboyant transvestites. We walked the streets for an hour,
then found a beer garden for dinner. A 9 o'clock train to the airport,
shuttle bus to the hotel and we were snuggled into the sterile
surroundings of a Holiday Inn Express. What a contrast between it's
IKEA like bland walls and furnishings and the rooms we had experienced
the past two weeks while in Paris, Interlaken, Rothenberg and Fussën.
However, it did have energy control measures I found exemplary.
We used our card issued at the front desk to enter our room. The
lights were off, yet we could not turn them on by flipping switches.
We were about to head back to the front desk when I notices what look
like a card slot on the wall. When I inserted my card, magically all
the lights came on. Now, maybe being from Toledo I am out of the new
technology in hotels loop, but I thought this was pretty cool. If you
left your room, you have to take your key and when you do the power is
cut to the entire room. Very smart! All the hall lights are motion
detector activated as well, the hot water was not at a scalding
temperature and the windows were super thick triple panes.
Cindy prepared for her morning flight, hauling home a few items we
found we did not need. A little Internet work and lights were out at
midnight.

Chuck