Munich is the place where dormant escalators come to life when one steps on their first surface. A pleasing orange-on-blue arrow shows the way. Lots of nice orange and blue tile in the central Marienplatz station, too. The opening of the rail-car doors is manual here, like in Berlin and Hamburg. (In Berlin, opening the doors is not inhibited until the train stops moving - part of the fun there is sliding open the door as the train enters the station and standing in the open doorway during the deceleration. Some people in a hurry there can even be seen jumping onto the platform from the moving train.)

The box-like U-Bahn trains and rolling stock seem standardized throughout the most major metropolitan centers of Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin. The S-Bahn trains of Berlin I mentioned in this previous footnote are the exception when it comes to the "doors closing" sound - usually , both U-Bahn and S-Bahn, it's the driver's voice, announcing something unintelligible.

Tasty buffet this morning of the Hotel Jedermann! I wasn't expecting that for the 65 DM price - usually it's mentioned. Musta been a dozen types of sliced meat offered, but I homed in on that smoked trout. Then I left Munich, after a final swing through the massive pedestrian-only (or "Fußganger") zone between the Stachus and the Marienplatz.