BBB: Day 67 - Frasdorf to Munich - Get It While It Lasts... A Big Loop Through Europe 2017

October 13, 2017

BBB: Day 67 - Frasdorf to Munich

Bikes, beer and bratwurst.

So how many times have you ridden your bike roughly 90 km into a major metropolitan area and not (really) had to share to road with a motor vehicle? And when you got to that major metropolitan area, the major sights are beer gardens and breweries, and the food consists of pretzels and sausages?

Welcome to Munich. This is a cool place. Big, busy, but friendly and low key at the same time. I’ll start with the end ….. I’ve directed many barbed comments over the last months at the ‘boat people’ and other tourist types, so, biting my toungue, what did K and I do once we got to Munich … of course, we went to the Hofbrauhaus, just like all the other tourists! We didn’t regret it.

Every Bavarian stereotype you want is embodied in this place …. Table upon table of folks drinking litre steins of beer, a brass oompah band playing Hansel & Gretel’s greatest hits, plates of bratwurst and sauerkraut being devoured … and everybody is having a great time.

We arrived at absolute amateur hour, 7 pm, but managed to find a couple of empty seats at a table in the outside garden (good thing .. some fresh air and (a little) less noise). Within a couple of minutes we’ve struck up a conversation with Christian and Julia, a 30 something couple from Hanover who were in Munich for a weekend break. As they said … ‘you have to come to the Hofbrauhaus when you’re in Munich!“.

A couple of minutes later, our beer arrives … a litre of Hell for K and a litre of Dunkle for me … and a (long) while later the bratwurst hits the table. In between all this the buxom lady with the dirndls has come by several times selling pretzles.

Tomorrow we’ll likely have a quieter and a (little) more sophisticated dinner … but for tonight, this was perfect.

Perfect, just like today’s biking. We spent most of the day riding the Julia Radweg, one of many designated long distance bike routes in this area. It follows the old Roman roads and trails, hence the name Julia after that Julius guy from Rome, that lead north from the Alps. It was a prefect fall day, cool in the shade and warm in the sun which was out in full glory all day. And the wind? Not today, just gentle breezes.

A few km’s after starting out, the bike route was squeezed in between two fairly busy highways. Both K and I remarked that today was not likely to be as idyllic as the last few given that we were approaching a major city. However, within a few more km’s we were once again transported to quiet paths beside rivers and through pastures and fields. This lasted until we were right in the middle of Munich, and once well inside the city we had dedicated bike paths to the door of our hotel.

We’re both looking forward to heading back home is a couple of weeks, but days like today are continuing to make the last part of our trip something to remember. We’ll be taking tomorrow off to explore a bit of Munich.

It may be a sacrilegious on a bike tour, and in a bike touring forum, to admit this, but we are going to the BMW museum tomorrow. I was here 35 years ago and I think it’s worth a rerun. K has acquiesced!

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Song of the Day

Tower of Song by Leonard Cohen

I thought about calling today Tower of Beer ... as we are in a place that has elevated that amber nectar to exhalted heights ... but it just didn't seem right. However, Leornard's little ditty about the power and artistry of song seems a fitting analogy, at least to me!

Most of our day was riding like this ... beautiful

...and when we weren't riding along streams and rivers we were riding along leaf covered forest trails

or on deserted country roads through idyllic pastures ... virtually all the way into Munich

We were well into Munich along the Isar river valley, riding along bike trails, when we came upon our first beer garden ... right beside a playground ... mostly empty in the early afternoon but I'm sure it would be lively in a few hours!

A small portion of the garden in the courtyard of the Hofbrauhaus ... A Munich institution since 1589 ... state owned .. brew their own beer ... and serve about 10,000 litres a day here!

... and they serve up a few plates of sausages too! Don't be in too much of a hurry when you get here... sit back, have a drink and go with the flow. Everything arrives eventually!

A (very very) small portion of the inside ... I was never sure if the folks in the traditional German dress were locals or some guys from New Jersey who just dropped a bundle of some lederhosen

Cut back to the streets ...Quite a few buskers ... some good ... some not so good. I don't know how good an old Soviet theme is for business

These guys were more in the gyspsy vein ... much more successful

and these guys had a modern take on classical standards ... very good

when in Munich ... do as the locals do! Cheers

Our new friends Christian and Julia ... they were in town for the weekend from Hanover.Christian was originally from East Germany ... turns out his first bike was a Mifa ... he loved it! He also though riding one 9000 km was a daft idea!

Today's ride: 88 km (55 miles)
Total: 4,796 km (2,978 miles)

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