Apologies for the lack of blog postings. I've had a sore throat for 2+ weeks now that's not going away (I figured beer would cure it, but apparently not), and II haven't felt like navigating the guest house's spotty internet access in the evenings.
Anyway, after our initial tour around Munich, we decided to visit nearby towns for some day-adventuring. Before we got more than 2 blocks from our guest house, I noticed this in a shop window:
Hey, it's our Vancouver Hockey Riot Makeout Couple! Famous even in Munich.
We started by taking a commuter train to the end of the line at Herrsching - a small town on a lake (Ammersee). From the train station you follow (small and infrequent) signs through town to a trailhead, then follow the trail - more like a nice, gently sloping dirt road - about 5 kilometres up a small gorge to... drum roll... a monastery full of brewing monks! (This is a popular day trip for local Munichers. I would never have know about this place, but when I was judging the Calgary homebrew competition recently, one of the brewers at Wildrose Brewery, who had gone to brewing school in the area, mentioned it to me.)
Just before the trail starts is a neighbourhood of very lovely, quaint & undoubtedly expensive German homes.
The little Bavarian dude in the garden has his very own miniature version of the main house. He seems excited to see us.
Here's the trail - as you can see, spring has definitely not sprung in Bavaria yet. I did have visions of Grimm's fairy tales, Hansel & Gretel, etc. while walking - this might be a similar area to where all of those stories are set.
Just poking up above the top edge of the gorge, you can see the top of the abbey steeple.
The gorge is all sedimentary - the river has cut very steep banks over the years & made weird caves and overhangs.
Eventually, you come out at the top of the hill & the grounds of the cloister. The first thing you see is this big baroque (I think) style cathedral. With yet another sundial on the outside, but no sun with which to read it.
Pretty decent view of the bucolic Bavarian countryside - you'd normally see the Alps from here, but it's overcast yet again, so we haven't seen the Alps since we flew in.
Yes, this guy is, in fact, carrying an Alpenhorn. Didn't get a chance to see him play it though.
The Abbey grounds are full of nooks and crannies with shops & beer gardens, etc, though most were closed since it's still shoulder season. However, the main beerhall was open, and it was jam-packed with hikers/walkers. Mostly families out for a walk - very few non-German tourists at this time of year.
Andechs isn't really known in North America, but you can buy their beer in stores here, and they have a huge production warehouse on the abbey grounds (which are very large). So it's not a bunch of robed monks hovering reverently over a wooden fermenter - they produce beer on a commercial scale. There is also RV parking in their huge lot (so, Rick and Carol, you can bring your motorhome when you visit).
Alrighty then, FINALLY, I get to have a fresh doppelbock on the Abbey grounds. This is the classic "liquid bread" brewed by the monks, to sustain them while fasting. And while not fasting. Or while serving you food in the cafeteria lineup as it turns out. This particular doppelbock was very drinkable - not quite as chock-full of thick, chocolately goodness as other versions, but certainly more along the lines of something you'd want to down a litre of after a brisk walk in the hills. Or before a brisk walk in the hills. Or during. Anyway, a good accompaniment for food, and not too heavy.
Here's the beer lineup. Buy your tickets in one line, then grab your beer at the other. Clearly capable of handling 10 times the traffic they faced that day. Same setup for food at the cafeteria, just to the right, beyond.
One end of one room of the beer hall. The racks at the end are metal lockers filled with beer steins. If you're a regular, you might be lucky enough to own one of the lockers, so you can drink out of your own, personalized mug. They have these lockers in other places too - the Hofbrauhaus in Munich has such lockers, but the keys to them are handed down through the generations & getting one is practically impossible.
Sarah started with a hefeweizen. Nice logo with a picture of the Abbey on it.
Sarah had a glass off the doppelbock as well, which you can tell she isn't enjoying at all. Behind here is an old, unused wood/coal furnace covered in tile, which was a nice touch.
Of note: NO ONE in that place (out of hundreds) was drinking anything but beer. It was mostly families and groups of friends, but aside from soft drinks for the children there wasn't a coffee/wine/sport drink in sight. If only North American culture could incorporate beer into it so seamlessly. Even at the grocery store, people would pick up a few bottles of beer (for CHEAP) to go with their meal, rather than wine. It's just the norm.
(I had a rather intense episode at this beer hall, involving a ridiculous pork overload, but I'll save that for its own post later on.)
After warming up sufficiently, we walked back down the hill. We took a different route, involving a stroll through a lovely field - in which Sarah tried singing Edelweiss to the tune of the Spider Man theme ("Edelweiss, edelweiss, does whatever a... um..."). We really need to watch The Sound Of Music sometime so she can learn the correct tune...
Glancing right, you can still see the Abbey - the gorge is just before it.
There were a ton of "nordic walkers" out with their ski poles, pretending like they were engaged in some kind of "sport". There were even signs for nordic walking routes. I wouldn't begrudge anyone a nice walk in the woods, but dragging some too-long sticks behind you while you're out on the walk (that don't provide any support or any extra exercise) seems, well, nuts. But not wanting to jump to conclusions, I fashioned my own 10-foot-long nordic walking poles from some trees branches I found. Apart from misplaced feelings of superiority and pomposity with respect to my fellow hikers, there was no discernible benefit.
We arrived back in Herrsching mid-afternoon. Rather than waste our entire-network transit daypass, we wondered if we should go somewhere else, maybe for dinner. I glanced at the hundreds of names on the transit map, and the first one my eyes fell upon was "Aying." Hmm, Aying. As in Ayinger beer? As in my favorite doppelbock, Ayinger Celebrator? Yes, yes I do think we should go there! And that was the second half of our day.
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