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October 14 Sunday some sun Bicycle touring Germany Franz went out and bought fresh pretzels for breakfast. Ah, the luxury of living in the city - fresh bagels and pretzels for sale just around the corner. We had cup after cup of tea. Sherry and I use lots of sugar in our tea. Franz was in the kitchen warming up the pretzels. I went into the kitchen to get more sugar. "Can I get some more sugar?" "There's more in the bowl," Franz said. "No, there's not," I said. "Sherry used it all." I finally convinced him by bringing in the empty sugar bowl. He was somewhat startled. They had probably had that sugar in there for the past six months, and Sherry and I had managed to consume it all in less than two days. People in Europe use far less sugar than most North Americans do. When we use sugar in European households we usually find the sugar spoon encrusted with sugar and small, hard lumps of sugar litter the bowl. I feel I am doing them a service by having to put fresh free-flowing granulated sugar in their bowl and washing their spoon for them. Franz reached into a cupboard and brought forth the teensiest bag of sugar I had ever seen. It was like a toy bag of sugar. I shook my head. That would never last. After more pretzels and more cups of tea and coming dangerously close to emptying the sugar bowl for a second time, we packed up to hit the road. Franz decided to cycle with us to Ammersee. As he brought his fancy Eddy Merxx racing bike up from the storage room, Sherry looked at him and said, "Your helmet is on backwards." It is, but Sharon and I, feeling somewhat kinder I suppose, don't mention it. Sherry and Franz argued for a few moments until she finally convinced him that his bicycle helmet is indeed on backwards. I notice it fits him well though. Since it would take some time to readjust the straps, Franz leaves it on backwards. Cool. Franz took us to see the Olympic Tower. There is a football game preparing to get underway. Fans with painted faces and costumes, drums and other noise makers, and lots of team shirts in the home team's colours are milling about making raucous noises. Two fans grab Sharon and make some faces hidden behind their disguised masks. We cycled up to a castle with beautiful gardens. Talked to a fellow about bicycle touring. He noticed the knobby ties on Sherry's loaded mountain bike and asked her if she would use a mountain bike again when bicycle touring in Europe. He said he had bicycled toured in Norway and that he didn't think a mountain bike was necessary anywhere in Europe. Guess he hasn't been on cobbles? Hoo boy. Shocks would be very welcome, too. The cycle to Ammersee was pleasant. It sure is great having our own personal bicycle touring leader. It's a lot nicer not having to worry about getting lost and stopping every few minutes to check the map to see if we are still on the right track. We just merrily followed along behind Franz. And he's got a great bulk to him too which makes riding behind him a breeze. We cycled past a picnic table in a kids' park and invited Franz to join us for lunch. He agrees. We first inhale a bunch of oranges, then make sandwiches. Franz eats all the chocolate cookies. I tried to pawn off the ginger cookies that I'm not all that enthralled with. "No thanks," Franz says, "those aren't so good." Yep, I gotta hand it to the guy. He knows his cookies. Oh well, I tried. When the ginger cookies are washed down with lots of milk they're not so bad At Amersee we still can't see the Alps that are prevalent in all the postcards vendors are hawking. I think perhaps the mountains are just painted on the postcards for effect? Franz assures us the mountains are indeed there, they're just hiding behind a fog bank. Even with the fog, the lake is beautiful. I can only imagine what it must look like on a sparkling clear summer's day. Multitudes of swans dunk upside down, eating plants. The swans look hilarious with their behinds sticking straight up as they paddle their webbed feet furiously in order to stay upside down. Franz bids us goodbye and turns his bicycle around to cycle back to Munich, his helmet still facing backwards. The better to see where he's been? We ride to Worthsee to find our host family. The father, Reinhard, is there to greet us when we buzz the intercom at the gate. He invites us in and we pile the bikes behind the garage before going in to meet the rest of the family. Reinhard has two teenage sons, Andy and Christian. Reinhard's wife is not home; she's off for the weekend, visiting a friend. We meet the upstairs neighbours, Peter and Claudia. They have been to Canada. Claudia says it is her favourite place in the world. She says she loves Canada, especially the west. They invite us into their suite to watch a video they made while in Canada. The video features a grizzly they met. Claudia is lying in tall grass with a grizzly no more than five metres away from her on a trail! Yikes! She thought it was the greatest moment of her life. Yeah, I think, could have been the last moment, too. She says the grizzly looked right at her, swung its big head from side to side, and carried on. Yeah, no doubt, I'm thinking, the grizzly was shaking its head, thinking "Crazy Germans!" A calendar of Canada adorns the kitchen wall. Claudia says they would move to Canada if Peter agreed. Peter and Claudia invited us to join them for supper. They were having a traditional Bavarian meal with sausage and cheeses and breads. Another couple had been invited also. All four were dressed in traditional Bavarian costume (they were going to a play in town that evening). It was neat to be with them. Their Bavarian costumes certainly added to the atmosphere. Claudia's English is quite good. She translated that Reinhard would like us to stay another night and they would have a meat feast. Reinhard's wife is vegetarian. Since she is away for the weekend, this, In Reinhard's translated words "would be a perfect time for meat, meat, meat." Since it is so close to Thanksgiving and we were homesick for all the trimmings, it took us less than two seconds to agree to staying another night with our hosts. This is what I call bicycle touring! Reinhard took out huge packages of meat. "Is this enough?" he asked. I think that should do. We spent the rest of the evening much entertained by watching Reinhard's slides of Madagascar. He is quite the photographer. Madagascar - now there's one place I haven't considered bicycle touring. |
