Last Days in London and Off to Munich
I caught the train from Bath into London.
I made my way to SW18 by the District Line and checked into ‘My Room’. My hosts were visiting a friend nearby. I made my way there. The friend is an ex- army officer. She has recently completed the ‘Walk of St James’ in Spain. That is something to add to my ‘Bucket List’.
We then headed off to visit other friends of my hosts. They used to live in SW18, however have moved to Battersea close to the Thames. This is a happening little area. There is a lot of development going on in this part of London – a classic case of urban renewal. The USA Embassy is being relocated to this area and the old Battersea Power Station is being redeveloped into a commercial, entertainment and residential precinct.
Next day I headed into the West End for bit of a wander. In the evening I met up with an old mate from Sydney and his charming wife. They had just flown into LHR via Singapore on the first leg of a two week holiday in Europe. As it turned out, it was his 60th birthday. We went into Mayfair or celebratory drink and meal. It is great to meet up with familiar faces in different places.
On my last day in London I sorted out by stuff. This involved a big down-sizing – shedding 20 litres of clothing.
In the evening I had a meal with my hosts in the local gastro pub.
Flight to Munich
I decided to take the Tube to LHR.
Lufthansa has an interesting way of carrying bicycles. They prefer that they are ‘as is’ – that is not boxed or dismantled. This makes things a bit easier, except you don’t have the option of putting light and bulky stuff, e.g. sleeping bag in a box with the bike.
Encounter with Transit Police
I caught the S Bahn from the airport into the centre of Munich. I decided to take the U Bahn south towards my Hostel.
As I entered the train I was approached by two serious looking characters in plain clothes. They turned out to be Transit Police. They asked to see my “tickets”. I showed them my ticket. They asked to see my “bike ticket”. I explained that I was not aware that I needed a ticked for the bike.
They were still very serious as they took me off the train at the next stop and led me to the ticket machine to purchase a ticket for the bike. I asked them to use the ‘English Menu’ so I could see how it was done. They gave up and used the ‘German Menu’. As all this was going on we chatted about the bike and my travels. They had ceased to be serious.
In the end they took me to my destination station and made sure I left using the correct exit for the hostel.
Seeing a bit of Munich
It has been a very long time since I was last in Munich (1978!!)
I took the train to Marienplatz and had a wander around the nearby streets. I just love these compact European cites. I found an outdoor restaurant and had an excellent meal.
Next day I decided to go to the Deutsche Museum. This is the science and technology museum. It is pretty good. Unfortunately, a lot of the exhibits only have information plates in German.
I the evening I went on a mini pub crawl in the Marienplatz area, including the Hofbräuhaus. A lot of the locals were intent on watching a soccer game – Bayern Munich were playing some other team. They won 2-1, and everyone was happy.
BMW Centre and Olympic Precinct
In the morning I took the train out to the Olympic Precinct. The main reason was to check out the BMW Centre. I was impressed.
The centre showcases the BMW Group products – BMWs, Minis and Rolls Royces. It is good to see that BMW is serious about electric cars.
I was particularly impressed with the motorbikes. One of my Canberra mates has a BWM RT 1100. He is very impressed with the BMW ‘Adventured ‘ series – GS 800’s and 1200’s. I am a bit partial to the Triumph equivalents.
I am now probably waivering in favour of the BMWs. I suspect that there will be a time when I get one for an epic tour.
I had a wander around the Olympic precinct. Bits of it are a bit tacky, which is a pity.
Bike Ride
I headed back to the hostel and got on my bike. I found that my head shock was totally deflated. I was told by a bloke in the Hostel Reception that “here in Bavaria everything closes at 1.00 p.m. on Saturday”. However he did know of bike shop near the Main Railway Station that stayed open a bit later.
I headed off into town. Near the Railway Station I asked a very pretty girl on a bike if she “knew where the bike shop was”. She started giving me directions. She then said, “just follow me” and rode off. She led me to the shop. How good is that?
I asked the mechanic for a tyre pump and a pump for the headshock. He appeared not to be able to speak English, but understood what I wanted. He handed over the pumps.
He had close look at the bike and said: “Cannondale (and something I assumed to be F3 frame) mit Rohloff”. He then grunted and gave a ‘thumbs up’.
Fully inflated, I headed off for a ride through the English Park. I was one of seemingly hundreds of fellow cyclists. I stopped for a rather large beer and some French Fries in a Beer Garden.
At one point I came across a bloke through a tennis ball for a black Labrador. He had attracted a large crowd. The dog was amazing. The ball was being thrown into a lake and the dog ran and jumped into lake to retrieve it. He jumped about 3 to 4 metres at a terrific speed. I asked the bloke how many times he did it. He told me “he would do it all day. I stop after about 100 times”.
Heading out of Munich
In the morning I spent an inordinate amount of time mucking around with my computer. It seems to slowdown periodically and needs to be ‘refreshed’. I suspect the processing power is not really up to running Windows 8.
I finally headed off to Bad Tolz.
I am not sure I took the best route. True to form the Garmin cannot navigate in this area.
I found a really nice Hotel run by an Italian family. The room was good and food great.
Garmin Links
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/572002332
http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/573377694
Flickr Link
billrider2013 