A man wipes a tear from his eye as he arrives at Munich's main train station on Saturday, while a family of four can't wipe the smiles off their faces as their four month journey from Syria finally comes to a close.
Men arrive clutching pictures of Angela Merkel, while another boy beams at the cameras, while draped in the EU flag.
Germany welcomed the first of what is expected to be around 10,000 migrants who have made a complicated and trying journey through Austria and Hungary to reach the country on Saturday.
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Migrants reach Munich
Euro star(01 of13)
Open Image ModalA migrant boy wrapped in an EU flag arrives from Austria at Munich Hauptbahnhof main railway station.(Photo by Alexandra Beier/Getty Images) (credit:Alexandra Beier via Getty Images)
Tears and a V-sign(02 of13)
Open Image ModalRefugees flash victory signs and wipe away tears as they arrive at the main train station in Munich, Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
My hero, Merkel(03 of13)
Open Image ModalA refugee carries a picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Hundreds of refugees arrived in various trains to get first registration as asylum seekers in Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Riding in(04 of13)
Open Image ModalA father carries his child on his shoulders. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Smiles on the train(05 of13)
Open Image ModalEight month old Maria smiles to her father Ibrahim as she travels with her mother Yasmin, centre, and her four year old brother Mohammed. The family are from near Damascus, Syria. They arrived in Munich by train from Salzburg, Austria.This is the last stage of their four-months-journey from Syria via Budapest and Vienna to Germany. (AP Photo/ Kerstin Joensson) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Relief(06 of13)
Open Image ModalRefugees wave as they arrive at the main train station in Munich. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Cheers at the station(07 of13)
Open Image ModalRefugees flash victory signs and wipe away tears as they arrive. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Smile that says it all(08 of13)
Open Image ModalA young migrant looks on at a first attendance point in Munich, Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Playful arrival(09 of13)
Open Image ModalA young migrant plays with a police hat he was given after arriving at the main train station. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Welcome to Munich(10 of13)
Open Image ModalRefugees wave as they arrive at the train stationy. (AP Photo/Michael Probst) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Family's relief(11 of13)
Open Image ModalA family who was among approximately 800 migrants on a train from Hungary arrive. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) (credit:Sean Gallup via Getty Images)
Station volunteers applaud(12 of13)
Open Image ModalA volunteer worker holds up a child. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) (credit:Sean Gallup via Getty Images)
Kiss from a volunteer(13 of13)
Open Image ModalA migrant boy who had arrived on a train from Hungary gets a kiss from a volunteer worker (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) (credit:Sean Gallup via Getty Images)
According to the BBC, locals handed out sweets to those stepping off trains into the city, and applauded the new arrivals.
The scenes are in stark contrast to those earlier this week, when Hungarian authorities blocked migrants from boarding trains, causing scenes of protest and chaos outside a train station in Budapest, where one man died.
Hungary relented in its demand for the travellers to report to government-run asylum centres when challenged by defiant migrants largely from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thousands marched west Friday from the Keleti train station along Hungary's major motorway and camped overnight in the rain by the roadside.
Hundreds more broke through police lines at a train station in the western town of Bicske, where police were trying to take them to a refugee camp, and blocked the main rail line as they, too, marched west.
Angela Merkel said the country could afford to take in an influx of asylum seekers without raising taxes, and that the refugee crisis was the priority of the government.
"The right to political asylum has no limits on the number of asylum seekers," the German chancellor told a group of local newspapers.
"As a strong, economically healthy country we have the strength to do what is necessary" and ensure every asylum seeker gets a fair hearing, she added.
"We won't raise taxes. And we still have the goal of posting a balanced budget without taking on new debt" she said.
The travellers arriving in Munich today in many cases have spent months in Turkish refugee camps, taken long journeys by boat, train and foot through Greece and the Balkans, then crawled under barbed wire on Hungary's southern frontier to a frosty welcome.