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!