Day 3 – Guten Tag from Munich

Frecciabianca in the Milan Station

We woke to a light drizzle and cooler temperatures, in the mid-50s. Of course it is never pleasant to travel when it rains, but it is always much better to have rain on a travel day than having it on a sightseeing day. We had a two block walk to the train station in the rain with our umbrellas and then boarded our first train of the day. This was the Frecciabianca (White Arrow) which is a high-speed train that runs from Milan to Venice, but we got off in Verona.

On board in comfort

The Frecciabianca hits peak speeds of 120 MPH and will be the fastest train we will take on this trip. The ride was very smooth and we had an area to ourselves. The trip took 1 hour and 22 minutes and we passed through the mostly flat Italian countryside. Average speed by my calculations was about 72 MPH, including stops.

You can’t get directly to Munich from Milan without changing trains somewhere, so in Verona we switched to an Austrian train. This train route heads north and follows the mountain valleys through the Italian Dolomiti mountains and crosses the Austrian Alps at the Brenner Pass, which is now mostly a tunnel. The scenery changes from vineyards in Italy to Swiss-style chalets and snowy mountain peaks on the Austrian side of the border. We immediately start looking for Heidi with scenery like that!

ÖBB markings on our Austrian train 

This was a InterCity train which is slower than the bullet trains but still pretty luxurious compared to the regional trains. It was schedule to reach Munich (270 miles) in 5 hours and 19 minutes or an average of about 50 MPH including stops. Of course there is always a wrinkle in every plan and our coach had no power so they moved us to another coach in the rear of the train early into the trip and then swapped the car out in Innsbuck, which put us 30 minutes behind schedule. We had no connects so no problem for us.

Scenery in Austria

Our hotel, the Europäischer Hof, couldn't be more convenient and we like the room. It's a bit small by American standards but nice. ‎Dinner was at the Hofbräuhaus. Yes, it was a bit touristy but the food was good, the beer was great and we each had some of our favorite German dishes.