T is for Taking a Walk along the Lake

 

There are several lakes in the vicinity of München that can easily be reached by public transportation. One of them is the Ammersee, about 40 km southwest of the Bavarian capital. It is the third largest lake in Bavaria and quite low-key when compared to its more famous and cosmopolitan cousin, Starnberger See. One morning, Kaefer had to do some work, so she suggested the Geek and I take the S-Bahn (suburban train) to Herrsching which is right on the Ammersee and spend a few hours there before she would join us later in the day.

Se we did. Riding the S-Bahn is comfortable and fast; we arrived in Herrsching in less than an hour. It takes about ten minutes to walk from the station to the lake.

After we had spent some time sitting on a bench looking over the lake and enjoying the calm and peace, we decided to take a walk along the water's edge.

We first came upon this bronze sculpture of "Die kleine Seejungfrau auf ihrem Waller" (the little mermaid on her catfish) created by Hilde Grotewahl in 2005.

We passed the promenade and walked along the wilder part of the shore. Every now and then we met dogwalkers and people riding their bikes, but despite the warm and sunny weather it wasn't crowded at all. We bought each a cone of gelato and happily trudged along.

The views of the lake and the trail were always beautiful.

We found a small pebble beach where we rested on a fallen tree trunk, listening to the water quietly sloshing on the small rocks. One of us finally got the splendid idea to take a selfie - there really aren't many pictures of just the Geek and myself.

While we sat there, Kaefer sent us a WhatsApp that she was on her way and about to meet us near the Seejungfrau. So we slowly made our way back, noticing a few things we hadn't seen before - like these fungi on a tree. I am not sure whether this is Laetiporus sulphureus - I am not a fungus expert at all.

When we met Kaefer she also got some gelato and we sat on a bench, looking over the lake while chatting with each other. She told us that she sometimes comes out here in the evening just to watch the sunset. Here are her takes (the first shot was taken by her friend from Canada):

We didn't stay for the sunset though. We were getting hungry; our stomachs were grumbling. I remembered a lovely brewery from many many years ago in a village not too far away from München, and after checking whether it had a beer garden and was open (yes to both) we took the S-Bahn to Aying where this brewery was. The beer garden was 15 minutes to walk from the station - I love how you don't need a car if you live in a place that offers fantastic public transportation.

I remember the restaurant of the brewery offering delicious food, but we opted for the beer garden which is cheaper, but also more limited and frankly, not quite as good. The Geek had roast pork with potato dumpling while Kaefer and I chose the cheese Spätzle (a Southern German kind of pasta) with fried onions on top. The beer was excellent - both the Geek and I had a Weißbier and Kaefer enjoyed her huge Apfelschorle (apple juice with mineral water).

I'm linking up to Elizabeth's T party - Prost!

Where Munich Surfs

 

Have you heard of Englischer Garten (English Garden)? It is a public park in the center of München, just west of the Isar, the river that runs through the Bavarian capital. Englischer Garten is one of the world's largest urban parks and even bigger than Central Park in NYC, and it is just a short walk from downtown's Marienplatz. The name refers to its English garden form of informal landscape. The Southern part is the more popular one whereas the Northern part, called Hirschau, is much quieter. The park is 5 km long and runs parallel to the Isar.

It has streams, lakes, wide lawns and meadows, old trees and some popular attractions like the Monopteros temple, the Chinese tower and, of course, a beer garden. We ARE in Bavaria after all. One of my favorite places was the Japanese teahouse.

The Japanese teahouse and a Japanese garden were created in 1972. It was the year of the summer Olympics in München - those of you old enough will probably remember them and hopefully not only because of the horrible massacre in the second week of the games. Sapporo in Japan was the place of the winter Olympics in the same year (at that time the summer and winter games took place in the same year, but in different countries) and has been a partner city of München ever since. The Japanese teahouse was created in order to celebrate this partnership.

Throughout the park there are lawns and meadows to rest as well as trails meandering through the trees.

Do you see the swan sitting on its nest?

This is the Monopteros temple in the background. If you think you see people in the nude here, you are correct. A fairly large part of the Englisher Garten is "nude area" where you can just drop off your clothes if you like - and it's not only the young and beautiful. Remember, we Germans aren't particularly puritanical.

Like any other park, Englischer Garten has its share of Greylag Geese, and I also spotted what I think is a Bar-headed Goose (if I'm wrong, I hope that David will correct me).

But the most exciting part is Eisbachwelle. 

Eisbachwelle is a standing wave in the Eisbach (ice stream) that is produced by the change from laminar to turbulent flow. This is where Munich surfs. On both sides of the stream surfers wait with their boards until it is their turn. Each surfer surfs for about 30 seconds and then drops out voluntarily so that the next person can go in. The surfers take turns alternately from the left and right side. I was impressed how well this works and that no one hogs the wave for more than 30 seconds at the most.

Now, as someone living close to the California coast I am used to seeing surfers - riding the waves of the Pacific. What I saw here at Eisbachwelle is a far cry from the Pacific Ocean, but boy, you need to be good for this. Really good.

I am including a few short videos so you can see the real action - and just look how great these women are!!!

Maybe you need a rest after this. Let's hang out in the hammock for a while.

I'm linking up with Rain's TAD.

Visiting Viktualienmarkt

 

Today I want to take you on a visit to Viktualienmarkt in München. This (almost) daily food and gourmet market is just around the corner from Marienplatz and as you can see from the picture above, it also serves other items beside food. Food, however, is the main draw.

"Viktualien" is the outdated word for groceries and "Markt" means market - so Viktualienmarkt stands for grocery market. It has been taking place since 1807 when the old city market was moved from Schrannenplatz (today's Marienplatz) to the area between Heilig-Geist Kirche (church of the holy ghost) and Frauenstraße. It's open every day except for Sundays and holidays.

The center of the market is, of course, a beer garden - what else can you expect in the capital of Bavaria?

Right next to the Biergarten we find the Maibaum (maypole). You can find a Maibaum in many parts of Germany as well as in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia, but only in Bavaria it is white-blue (the colors of Bavaria). It is a decorated tree or tree trunk that is set up for May 1st. Please note that this Maibaum refers to the Münchner Reinheitsgebot of 1487 (Munich purity law), which was the first food legislation of its kind in the world. It regulated which ingredients were allowed to be used for brewing beer: barley, hops and water. This only applied to beer production in Munich. This is a bit different from the more well-known Deutsches Reinheitsgebot (German purity law) of 1516 which also lists these three ingredients, but later adds yeast as a fourth ingredient. Since 1993, a new, more liberal German beer law has been in effect, but many German brewers still abide by the Reinheitsgebot.

Throughout the Viktualienmarkt there are several fountains, all of them dedicated to Bavarian actors, musicians etc.

Elise-Aulinger-Brunnen

Roider-Jackl-Brunnen

They offer what a true fountain or well should do: potable water. Feel free to fill up your water bottle.

One of Munich's famous food is Weißwurst - I wrote about it here - and of course you can get them in Viktualienmarkt. It's the sausage in the white-blue packages. The Wollwurst next to it is similar to the Weißwurst, but it does not contain parsley.

As I mentioned above, you find more than just food at Viktualienmarkt - for example flowers. 

Since Viktualienmarkt is a big attraction to tourists and locals alike, souvenir shops can be found here as well as items that are cute, but no one really needs.

We did need a little break after all that walking and stopping and walking and stopping. Beer garden or juice booth? We decided to try the juice - left is "Vitaminbombe" (vitamin bomb) and to the right my freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. These are my tickets for Elizabeth and her T Tuesday.

Life is good.

T is for Temptation

 

A German bakery is probably one of the most tempting places on earth. It seems there is a bakery on every other corner and they not only sell all kinds of breads and rolls but also delicious pastry and cakes. Some of them are sit-down cafés where you can have coffee and cake, and many also serve breakfast.

Rischart is a bakery and café in Munich with 17 stores all over the city. The first bakery was opened in 1883 and since then, five generations of Rischarts have made this bakery one of the most popular in Germany. Its main café is at Marienplatz and that's where we decided to have breakfast one morning.

Of course the location is superb. We could do a lot of people watching while we were waiting for our food and also observe what was going on at Neues Rathaus. At the full hour we heard the bells ringing of the churches in the vicinity. The weather was wonderful and we had the most attentive waiter you could wish for.

We got orange juice and coffee served in their very own designed Rischart mugs. Every year a new mug is designed with images of Oktoberfest. Rischart has its own "sugar castle" at Oktoberfest, called Café Kaiserschmarrn.

Kaiserschmarrn is what the Geek had for breakfast whereas Kaefer opted for the vegan breakfast and I chose the "Klassiker".

Can you see all the bread and rolls that Rischart is selling at its bakery? I always miss the variety of our healthy German bread.

And here's some of their sweet stuff - those of you who have a sweet tooth, are you tempted?

I also bought a Rischart mug - I couldn't resist their cute designs. This one is from 2015. The word "Wiesn" on top refers to Oktoberfest that takes place on the Wiesn.

You probably guessed it - since there are a couple drinks in this post I am linking to Elizabeth and Bleubeard's T Tuesday.