Planning is exhausting

We're well on our way, and Ronja's having her first snooze whilst Birgit finalizes Paris plans...

And we're off!

Munich to Belfast Express

We've been doing some serious summer holiday planning recently (see photo above as evidence), and I was surprised to notice that there is an option fairly directly from Munich to Belfast that takes about 24 hours. Previously I thought this only worked using an overnight ferry from Holyhead to Dublin that was late enough to cause some serious lack of sleep and not long enough to allow any serious sleep on the ferry. The other alternative of going from France directly to Rosslare certainly leaves lots of time for sleep but takes in total a lot longer than 24 hours. Maybe the ferry times changed, or the trains got faster, but probably I just missed it. So, the secret? Take a TGV/ICE from Munich to Paris, the Eurostar through the tunnel to London (St Pancras), walk round the corner to Euston station, take a train to Liverpool, the metro to Birkenhead Hamilton Sq. and walk on to the overnight ferry to Belfast. Individually, each chunk takes about 6, 2.5, 2.5 and 8 hours respectively, leaving enough time in between for connections. A sample timetable (based on August 2012 times on a Saturday) would look like:

lv. Munich 06:26
arr. Paris Est 12:35
(10min walk, check-in at least 30 mins early)
lv. Paris Nord Eurostar 16:13
arr. London St. Pancras International 17:36
(10min walk)
lv. London Euston 18:07
arr. Liverpool Lime Str. 20:15
lv. Liverpool Lime Str. 20:28 (Metro)
arr. Birkenhead Ham. Sq. 20:35 (Metro)
(15min walk, check-in one hour early)
lv. Stena Line Liverpool Port 22:30
arr. Belfast Port 6:30

On weekdays there's a bus from the port to Belfast city centre.

I expect the closer you get to Paris, the more room for maneuver you have. Unfortunately living in Munich, you really have to take the early train. But in return you could adjust the other times to have time in either Paris, London or Liverpool (all great cities!).

Now all we need is for someone to sell an integrated ticket! You're looking at at least 2: Munich-Liverpool plus the Ferry ticket, or to get better value, Munich-Paris, Paris-Liverpool (from Eurostar) and the ferry, and perhaps to get the best value a separate London-Liverpool ticket. Needless to say 24 hours of straight travel (even if you do get a bed on the boat) isn't for everyone. We're going to do it, but have a night in Paris along the way to make it more relaxing.

For reliable information on all of these connections, you can look at the following seat61.com pages:
http://seat61.com/NorthernIreland.htm#via Liverpool
http://seat61.com/Germany.htm#London to Stuttgart & Munich by day train

Impromtu protest, or was it art?

We wanted to visit the UAMO Art exhibition, but first managed to get caught up in one of the exhibits... First and foremost a piece of art, we were apparently also campaigning for clean air!

Lesser spotted Munich vehicles...

To make up for the lack of far-flung travelling, here's a few funny cars we've spotted lately (the second two) and ages ago (the first one).

Work and pleasure in Salzburg

Birgit took the chance to visit her EU project colleagues who were meeting not far away in Salzburg. Ronja and Matt came along for the ride...

Travelling... as far as the coffee shop

Recently we haven't been doing as much travelling because of the new addition to our family, Ronja. We did manage a trip to Landshut, and today we've ventured out for a coffee with Ronja in our new (to us - hurrah for eBay) Bondolino.