It is Day 2 and we are in Munich. The gate where Glenda's plane arrived from Berlin was at the other end of the airport from where Mike's plane from Toronto landed. Since Glenda's plane arrived earlier, she made her way to the international arrivals area where she found Michael. The weather in Munich is beautiful, with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid seventies. We had no problem finding the shuttle to the Munich Hauptbahnhof and arrived in plenty of time to make our connection with the one o'clock train to Nuremberg.

The views of the countryside on the ride to Nuremberg were lovely . There were lots of farms for the first half of the trip (Munich to Ingolstadt), then more pine forests as we got closer to Nuremberg. We took turns napping so that we both would make it through the evening. At 200 mph, the express train arrived at the Nuremburg Hauptbahnhof in just an hour! (We could really use trains like these back home, although the airlines would never go for it).

We were greeted by Glenda's "German sister", Angela, when we arrived. Glenda spent the year after graduating from high school as an exchange student in Germany and lived with Angela's family - the Salomons - in Würzburg. Angela also spent a year as an exchange student in the US, attending the same high school where Glenda had graduated. It is great to have someone to pick us up and whisk us away after such a long trip.

There was a special treat waiting for us when we arrived at Angela's house in Katzwang. Her husband Peter was at home. Although it was nearly 3 pm, he was just getting ready to return to work after Mittagessen . They both work at their medical practice in Nuremburg.

The Hagens always makes us feel so welcomed and their bright smiles and exuberant manner make them fun to be around. Angela showed us to our room - the one where we've stayed before. (We were first here back in 1992, just after Angela and Peter bought their house in Katzwang.) After unpacking, we spent the afternoon catching up with Angela over coffee and Kuchen in the garden. Soon Peter came home and we discussed our travel plans over dinner. (Were we really going to drive all the way to Sicily and back?) Over dessert we discussed plans for the weekend, while looking at some photos Angela had gathered in preparation for her 60th birthday.

Despite the nap on the train, we were off to bed early in hopes that we would catch up on our sleep and get adjusted to being six hours ahead of New York.