The Rest of Munich

I felt a little burned out on the whole O'fest thing so I rented a bike and set out to see the city this morning. Munich is perfect for biking. The city is absolutely flat - not a single hill. There are dedicated bike lanes on the sidewalk (sometimes on the street). Lots of people are doing it, usually carrying stuff in a large basket. I first went out to the Nymphenburg Palace, maybe 8 -10 km west of downtown. Looks a lot like Versailles. Then I went 5-6 km to the former Olympic Village (Summer Games 1976), then over to BMW Welt (they seem to be promoting the SUV/sedan crossovers and hybrid engines). I continued on to the Englisher Garten, which is really just a very large, beautiful and minimally developed woodland along the Isar River. Then I rode back into the Old Town, parked the bike, and strolled around.

All of the exercise made me pretty hungry. Unfortunately, my worst (wurst?) fears about eating unknown German food were reaIized in the Victualen Markt (which is kind of like Pike Place Market). I saw a guy eating what looked like a particularly good ham sandwich, and I asked him what it was. He pointed to the menu and said "leberkase", so I went with it. It tasted sorta like ham, but the consistency was a little softer. Only after I downed the thing in just a few bites did I think to use the dictionary that I was carrying. Leberkase is "pork liver meatloaf". Although I don't think that I'll order it again, it was really pretty good, and so far I've managed to keep it down.

I have to catch a train at 0550 to get to the Frankfurt airport in time for my 1100 flight tomorrow morning. I think I'm done with Oktoberfest, but maybe I'll just wear my leder hosen around town for awhile (in Munich this time of the year it's not as crazy as it sounds...)