Munich: Food

So we’ve been to many Bavarian restaurants this week, but tonight we hit the jackpot. This place was not overrun with tourists and the food was amazing. The best Spatzel or Spaetzle (German egg dumpling noodles) so far.



Munich (and Bavarian) food is meat based revolving mainly around pork, many meals are not served with any vegetables. If vegetable are served, they are usually boiled. As in the rest of Germany, in Munich a huge variety of sausages (Wurst) are available.

A local specialty is the giant pretzel called Brez'n which are covered in a sprinkling of rock salt.

Munich itself has a number of large breweries, some of which you can visit too, e.g. Paulaner, Spaten, Löwenbräu. Basically beer falls into two types; wheat beer (Weissbier) and lager (Helles Bier). You get differant types of all beers, e.g. dark wheat beers, yeasty wheat beers and so on.

Cigarette smoke is a major problem in restaurants. It seems as if almost everyone smokes and very few restaurants even bother with just-for-show non-smoking sections, as if it would do any good anyway. If you don't smoke and hate being around others who do, you'll have problems here.



The worlds smallest pickup truck?

Munich: English Garden

Munich´s famous 900-acre park has shaded paths, brooks, ponds and swans and is best known for its four beer gardens (Chinesischer Turm, Seehaus, Hirschau, Aumeister) and nude sunbathers. The park stretches from the center of the city (near Odeonsplatz) to the northern city border. I didn't have enough time to see a lot of it, just a glimpse.



There is still a lot of leaves on the trees and fall colors everywhere









Swans and ducks

Munich: A walk to city center

Today I took a walk towards the downtown in the morning. Since yesterday the temperature has been unseasonably warm, today was going to hit 65 degrees or more.

Munich itself is a city of exquisite Rococo buildings, Gothic churches, stucco buildings and modern shops.







It’s so cool how in Europe you can park your bike anywhere



I saw two Ducs today, this one and a red 748 going by















So what’s with these cigarette vending machines on the sidewalks?

Munich: near my hotel

I took a short walk around the neighborhood this morning and I found out that two blocks down from the hotel there was a motorcycle rental place. Too bad I won't have enough free time to ride. I didn't bring my gear anyway.



I really like some of these enduros that we don’t have in the US





Cool modern building



Typical German building



A park a block away from the hotel



Narrow residential street



Those funny tiny European cars

Munich, Germany

I’m here for one week for work. I flew out of Chicago at 6PM on Sunday and landed in Munich Monday afternoon. I flew to London first, then changed planes and flew to Munich. It was a long day by the time I went to bed since I didn't get to sleep on Sunday.





Hofbräuhaus

This beloved beer hall has existed since 1644 and lives up to its reputation: beer, food, tourists, oom-pah music, drunken revelry and Lederhosen.





Oom-pah band









Beer really is better in Germany, my favorite is black weiss beer



Mmmmmm.... German food





Check out the wall of beer steins, personalized and locked away for their owners



Tables labeled with "Stammtisch" are reserved for regulars (this is true for all Bavarian restaurants)







Marienplatz

The boulevard between Marienplatz and Karlsplatz/Stachus, with the medieval city gate Karlstor, has been a pedestrian zone and Munich's busiest shopping area since the 1970s.

Cold ride though the puddles

It was a cold day today, upper 30’s and cloudy. Not a great day for a ride, but I’m trying to practice my dirt riding any chance I get to be ready for my big ride at the end of the year, which is kind of hard living in Chicagoland with winter on it's way.

Yesterday we had some big rains, I knew there would be some nice puddles out there today, so in the afternoon I rode out to my secret spot by the trains to ride in the deep gravel again. This time I had enough confidence to shift in to second gear though the deep stuff. I was hoping for some mud, but couldn’t find any.



My XT posing next to the big pile of crap



Dreary November weather

My little fender and number plate bag came in, those will come in handy when I start taking some longer rides on the XT.



Moose Racing fender bag and number plate bag

My brush guards finally came in too but I haven’t had time to install those yet. I sure wish I had them today, my hands were cold even in my insulated Alpinestars winter gloves.



One of the many puddles I got to play in



Some dirt finally

I really tried to get the bike dirty, but the puddles were pretty clean. Today was nothing exciting, just more practice and getting used to the bike. I only have 150 miles on the odometer.

More off-road gear

My new jacket came in. I think it’s one of the prettiest textile jackets out there. I never thought much of this brand, but for 2007 Fieldsheer has some cool stuff, like this jacket. This is a woman’s Adventure jacket and it has all the features of the guys jackets. The material is really awesome, thick, not flimsy. The armor is heavy duty and it comes in tiny sizes. Actually, this jacket is just a tad bit too small for me, so I’m sending it back and exchanging for the next size up. That has never happened. I usually get the smallest size available and it ends up being too big. I’m really excited to get my jacket, unfortunately my size in on back order so I’m not even sure if I’ll get this jacket in time for my big trip.



I love the color, although the blue is not exactly like my Yamaha, it’s close enough. This jacket did come in black & gray but I really love the blue.





I think the blue brings out the blue in my Arai XD helmet, I just love the orange



And I did get an off road helmet, an O'Neal 904 but I haven't used it yet because I just got my Dragon goggles to use with it. It’s a bit cold now to go with the open helmet and goggles.



After so many years of riding street, I will have to get used to this new look.