We left the Danube River (and EuroVelo 6) and headed east to Munich, our final destination. Two lake campsites but only one swimmable. We carefully positioned ourselves for the next night at our Warm Showers connection. (Warm Showers is an app for cycle tourists to connect with a local host.). The missing ingredient in my previous attempts was not providing sufficient notice. Since its difficult to know how far you can or will go in a day, I had been requesting stays when we were in range. About half the time, we got no response from Warm Showers hosts, other times we were flat turned down. One couple in France accepted our request, but we didn’t get the message until we had already passed that town. So it was exciting to have Erica and Dominic, a lovely newlywed couple host us for our last night on the road.
We felt we hadn’t experienced enough of the local Bavarian flavor so instead of cooking, we reserved a table at their favorite restaurant — the local brass band played and where the servers wore traditional Bavarian dress (those lace up dresses for the women and lederhosen for the men). Dominic was a native and ordered for the table. We were in good hands and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Above: Our hosts Dominic and Erica having a traditional German dinner the night before the trips final day of riding into Munich.
While we were in the Munich area, I rode my bike over to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial site. John didn’t care to go and I get that. But for me, the museum/memorial was part of my immersive WW2 experience (my dad’s final mission, February 3, 1945, happened to be over Munich where they target bombed truck-making factories possibly operated by Dachau prisoners) and well worth a visit for many reasons.
Our final ride took us to Munich’s center plaza, Marienplatz. We celebrated with cherries and danishes at Viktualienmrkt. In fact, our last days were a series of gastronomic indulgence including Nuremberg bratwurst, kraut, gelati, smoothies, various beers, and more bakery treats.
Above: After the final mile in Marienplatz.
In addition to eating, we saw the English Gardens and its river surfers. We missed the skinny dippers (John was very upset about that). We also toured the downtown cathedral where a long and painful series of steps took one up to the bell tower for a view of the city.
Our Airbnb host tolerated our bicycles graciously. And she didn’t balk when we pulled 3 very large boxes into our room to package the bikes, and all our other stuff for the flight home.
When we set out on this trip, we had little idea of what we would find. Now our brains are crowded with a myriad of pretty scenes— landscapes that unfolded and came into focus at 12 miles an hour. Our hearts are full — packed with the many kind gestures offered by total strangers. We found good people everywhere! We feel fortunate to dream up this 9-week, five country (none of which we had been to before) tour and carry it through. Above all, thanks for coming along with us! Knowing you were out there made putting the blogs together more fun. You may not see us in your inbox for awhile, but let’s keep the dialogue— and adventuring— going. Live your dreams!
