September 1, 2022
Train to Rosenheim
Getting to the starting point
Today’s main task was to get from the end point of the ride (Trento) to the starting point of the ride (Rosenheim in Bayern). Our accomplice in this task was OBB, the Austrian train operator.
We started out with another breakfast in town - better than yesterday’s. There was a street market set up in town, so we spent some time enjoying that, too. And we stashed our extra bags, with some post-tour clothing, back in the car.
We had an 1159 departure so there was no rush. We checked out and rolled over to the train station, found the platform, and spent an hour waiting for the train and fretting about where car 262 would be. That’s the car on which our bike had a reserved « seat ». A window seat, according to the reservation!
For others who might do something similar someday, I should describe how the train tickets worked. The train is an OBB service from Verona to Munich. I bought the tickets online at the OBB site. I had to create an account (free) to do this. I bought 2 tickets for us and a ticket for the bike, then a required reservation for the bike and seat reservations for us. So I ended up with 5 pages of tickets for this trip.
Ok, back to the fretting Frasiers. I asked a customer service guy in the station but he had no clue where the bike car would be. He just said to wait in the middle of the platform. Finally as the train was pulling in, there was an announcement that cars 259-263 were at the front of the train. We took off sprinting and found the car, which had a large rollup door. The friendly conductor was standing in the door and after checking the bike’s reservation, allowed me to lift the bike up to him. He rolled it off somewhere into the depths behind him.
Now it was time for us to find our seats. Did I mention that the train only stopped for 2 minutes? Doors were slamming and conductors were hustling and we had no idea where to go. So we just got on as the door was slammed behind us and the train started to roll toward Munich.
We headed toward the back of the train through the crowded corridor. 2 cars later, after jostling down the ailes with our Ortleibs, we found our seats. We stuck the bags into the rack above and collapsed. We had done it!
The train ride was great, smooth, and drama-free. At least until it was time to get off in Rosenheim. We repeated the ballet of the Ortleibs in the reverse direction so that we could disembark as close to the bicycle car as possible.
Luckily as we were waiting in the corridor, a conductor came by to check tickets. I was able to ask/remind him that we needed the bicycle back. And so our arrival in Rosenheim went very smoothly.
I had trouble getting hotel reservations in Rosenheim way back in April and now I know why. All those people on the train in lederhosen and dirndls should have been a clue. It turns out that we’re here during the Rosenheim « Herbstfest », which is evidently the 3rd largest Oktoberfest celebration in Bavaria.
We checked into the B&B hotel near the train station, put the bike in their very low-security bike room (ugh), and went out for a walk. Legions of locals in traditional dress were intently making their way up the streets from the train station to the fairgrounds. Never have we seen such a concentration of lederhosen. It was almost a little frightening!
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In a statement of independence, we had a very very good dinner at « I’m Irish ». The Guiness was perfect and the chicken burger was amazing. And sweet potato fries!! We can do German food tomorrow…
After dinner we wandered around the attractive town center and updated our understanding of modern Bavarian fashion trends. Lederhosen with Nikes? Flip-flops? Sparkly dirndls?
After a while it was too much for our aging brains. We retreated to the hotel to chill out.
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