ONE day closer to the end.

Before having the weight of the bike box I decided to get breakfast before anything. Along the way I stopped for a roll of packing tape just in case. I had no desire to lose all of my things from an open flapping box. The pastry shop was next to the hardware store. One stone - two birds. Then near the Marienplatz I had a stroke of brilliance. I stepped into a department store and after paying, came out with a rolling luggage cart - like the one I had brought to Istanbul years ago. Right off the bat it got the heavy pannier strap off of my shoulder and onto the cart. I led my little poochie 'Pannier' all the way across the core to the bike shop with almost no effort. Ahhhhhh.

At the bike shop one of their really friendly employees helped me carry my bike box down the steps to the main sidewalk to the S bahn train. I strapped the box onto the cart and though I was awkward, big and stupid-looking, I slowly walked over to the... really long staircase into the S bahn. This time the escalator was broken but at least the staircase was really wide to accommodate LOTS of people. But being past rush hour, there were almost none. I rolled the contraption down step-by-step, paid for a day pass on the S bahn, then tried to figure out how to get down the next set of busy steps. When along came a friendly gentleman who assisted me in bringing it right down to track level. Incredible. What a great day so far.

I now had the choice of either the S1 train (west then north to airport) or S8 train (east then north to airport, and shorter ride). When the S1 train pulled right up beside where I was standing with the bike car right beside me, it was a simple choice. Who cares if it is longer, the effort is much less than trying to cross the whole station with the box.

Part of the run was underground, and to the north much was above. It was about a 40 km ride but the train brought me right into the centre concourse of the Munich airport. It was easy to find the left luggage, and then again, I was free to move about. I hopped back onto the train, this time the S8, to Hallbergmoos, then the 968 bus to the centre of the village and walked the last 100 metres to the hotel.

Quite the place. Awkward to get to. Though their website said there was an airport shuttle they said there was not. When I asked further they resignedly said ok, they would shuttle us to the airport... for 12 Euro. Yikes. I paid cash and the lady kind of sigh groaned when she realized she had to go get change. Let's just say that I would not recommend Haus zum Gutenberg to anyone. I kind of felt I was imposing upon them. It was a nice and clean place, though.

Shortly thereafter Kevin & Tom showed up. They had taken their train from Salzburg to Munich then decided to bicycle the 30 km to the hotel. Keven continued on to the airport to store his bike, so Tom and I went up the street to the restaurant where we had a beer before Kevin returned. We had a tasty dinner there and good company of a couple from central US who were staying at the same hotel and were heading home tomorrow, too.