Events

My flight from Munich landed at Charlotte about 40 minutes early, and I got through customs and back through TSA in 34 minutes. Sweet! And now I'm watching the plane that will take me to Chicago pull into my gate. Sweet! Really, I just want to hug my dog and get 10 hours of sleep tonight. I have a feeling one of those things will happen and the other won't.

As planned, I took a day trip to Nürnberg, which required a 70-minute high-speed train that cost more than I'd planned. In fact, if I'd planned which trains to take, and bought the tickets last week, I could have saved about $50. Of course I had no way to predict today's amazing weather. First, about that train. In Europe, a 244 km/h train is bog-standard: From Munich to Ingolstadt it tools along at a leisurely 160 km/h, but after Ingolstadt, they put the hammer down, as you can see in the GPS readout...

The sky looks different this morning: I'm about to head to Nuremberg, depending on the price of train tickets. They seem to vary quite a bit every time I check online. But on a day like this, I'm sure I can find something fun to do nearby.

Throughout history, right-wing politicians have promised order in exchange for power. Every time, this has been a lie. The National Rifle Association has kept to that model for decades: "We'll fight for the most unhinged interpretation of the Second Amendment possible, so our members can make billions selling guns to the people most likely to use them." You just have to remember that the NRA's members are the gun manufacturers, not the gun owners, for it all to make sense. Except, the US courts...

Finally recovered from jet lag, our hero takes a 6-kilometer walk along the Isar and through Glockenbachviertel: As the sun set, it found a gap in the clouds which I hope means tomorrow it'll come out for a while. You can see a little bit of it here on the Paulaner Brewery: (I didn't stop in; any Brews & Choos stops on this trip will come tomorrow, in Nuremburg.) The Theresien-Gymnasium: And back at Marienplatz just as twilight became night: Now, off to find a beer.

Since I learned how to drive a car, I've wanted to pick up a BMW in Munich. The European Delivery program allowed Americans to buy a made-to-order car at their local dealer, pick it up in Munich, drive it around Europe for up to 6 months, drop it off at an Atlantic port (Antwerp, I think), and drive it home from your local dealer about 12 weeks after that. Because of tax incentives from the German government and other factors, the purchase price of the car and delivery to your local dealer cost almost...

Before I even took off from Chicago on Wednesday morning, I snarked a bit on the widening gulf between US and European technology, particularly in public transport. I don't think Chicago's regional heavy-rail agency, Metra, heard me specifically, but it seems they have committed to introducing electric trains on one currently-Diesel route before the end of the decade: Metra plans to buy battery-powered trains that could hit the rails as early as 2027 on the Rock Island line, potentially fast-tracking a...

I'll have more and better-finished photos when I return to Chicago. Here are three quick phone edits from today. The Neue Rathaus in Marienplatz, near my hotel: The main gate to the prisoner camp at Dachau: The main road in the Dachau prison camp: That was not a fun visit, but it was necessary.

I carefully checked my bag yesterday morning before leaving my house. I almost forgot a power adapter, which one needs to charge one's phone, watch, and tablet. Unfortunately, the power adapter I brought converts EU outlets to UK. Fortunately, Munich is one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world, and I can simply buy a Type E/F adapter at an electronics store about 500 meters from my hotel. It also helps that the German word for adapter is Adapter. There's a bit of rain at the moment...

Just noting these things to read later, as I have just a few minutes before boarding: Wisconsin assemblywoman Greta Neubauer (D) explains how she led the effort to defeat the Republican gerrymander of the state legislature. Thomas Friedman calls the modern GOP "a confederacy of fakers." The homebuilding industry doesn't want you to have an energy-efficient house. Finally, The Cut's financial-advice columnist Charlotte Cowles describes how she fell for a financial scam.