Berlin

Settling in to an apartment was relieving, especially considering the rain continued to fall. We decided to extend our stay because of the sheer number of things to see!
When we arrived home to the apartment on our forth night we were totally exhausted after visiting two art galleries, two museums, two exhibition openings and countless shops all in one day!
Just as we were relaxing at the kitchen table enjoying a glass of wine there was the sound of keys opening the front door. It was Helmut, the landlord and he looked stressed. It turns out he had double booked the apartment and a couple were arriving any minute to stay for a few days. So we quickly packed our things as Helmut frantically changed the bedding and vacuumed. He was really apologetic for the mix up and let us stay at his studio for free.
So we slept that night nestled between architectural models, photographic equipment and artists canvasses.

Willkommen In Berlin

The train trip from Munich was far from comfortable, 10 hours with 3 changes. Getting touring bikes on and off trains, down stairs, up lifts, through carriage doors into a crowd of school kids with suitcases all within 3 minutes, is enough to turn my beard grey!
Arriving in Berlin a little exhausted we had a 10km ride from the station to our campsite which was directly opposite to Berlin international airport, lucky we had ear plugs!
We headed in to check out a second hand market the next day, it was amazing until it started raining and didn't stop for the next couple of days.
Totally soaked and freezing cold we road back to the campsite. As the tent started to get soggy along with our spirits, we decided it was time find alternate accommodation.
Now we are living it up in a toasty apartment in the former east suburb of Prenzlauer Berg!

The hills are alive with sound of music

"The hills are alive with sound of music", we sang as we peddled along to a melody of the clanging cow bells.
On suggestion of our good friend Bill, we took a little time out to better explore the Tyrol mountains.
We headed out of Munich to the end of the train line. It's not far from there to the Austrian boarder.
The Zimmer (bed and breakfast), we'd booked for two nights was in a tiny village nestled in the shadows of two looming mountains. What we didn't know was the zimmer was separated from the town by a gaping cravas of a valley! After huffing and puffing our way out of the valley we decided to stay only the one night.
The next morning we had the most beautiful ride down to lake Achensee.
Carved out between the alps was this incredibly vivid emerald green lake.

We cycled around it then up into one of the valleys. It was a surprisingly gentle gradient considering the sheer walls on either side. That night we found a much more convenient zimmer at the end of the lake with an impressive frontage of window boxes and collection of taxidermied woodland creatures.

The three day break to the Tyrol's has us recharged and ready for our next stop - Berlin!

Munich

If you love beer you must visit Munich.
As explained to me by the locals beer is not just a drink but an integral part of the diet, as important as bread.
There is no time like the beginning of "Weisen season" to experience Munich at its best.
Oktoberfest or "Weisen" definitely lives up to its reputation as the worlds biggest piss up. Even thought the Muechner say the festival is no longer truly Bavarian. There are still plenty of traditions that keep it authentic enough for blow in's like us.
As much as I don't like to admit I got a little caught up in the moment and drank more than my share. But what's Oktoberfest without a bit of excess and There's nothing like a traditional Bavarian breakfast of pretzels and weissworst to bring you round.

Riding the Danube video

this is a video I made while riding from Linz to Passau.

Get high on the mountains

These are photos from the top of Untersberg 1972m. We took the cable car up and the view was amazing as the alps peaked through the clouds and then totally disappeared. The temprature was a chilly 6 degrees.
After that experience I had a hankering for some mountain climbing of my own. So all prepared for alpine conditions in a tee shirt and shorts. I set off with an unloaded bike to tackle Gainsberg 1265m the mountain looming over our campground. It was a very long climb as the road twisted and turned, but when I finally made it to the top the sun was setting and alps in the distant were like nothing I have ever seen. Unfortunatly I couldn't stay long as the discent in a sweat soaked tee shirt was unbelievably cold. Lucky the adrenalin from speeding down the mountain at a cracking pace kept me warm.

Salzburg