Beer, Beer, Beer

After a short drive from Aachen, we finally arrived at our last unique destination of the trip. We pulled up to our B&B just inside the old city, arguably our best lodging deal of the trip. It was far from fancy, but we had our own room, free parking (an incredible luxury after two months of parking pains), light breakfast in the morning, and a short walk to the main square. 

We went seeking food the first night, only to get our first taste of how bat crazy expensive Brugge is. Given we were at our last stop, money was tight. I mean tight. Had to eat at Subway tight. But this minor setback couldn't detract from the preserved medieval beauty down every stone street. I was sold. We wandered over small canals and found a tiny hole-in-the-wall bar, apparently a local joint judging by the looks we got when we walked in. This ended up being our most fortuitous decision. The owner/barkeep was cold at first, but opened up when he realized we we actually knew a little bit about beer. After an informative conversation and three extremely strong and extremely delicious beers, he handed us a book called Around Bruges in 80 Beers, which features his and many other establishments paired with the 80 best beers they offer. This became our bible. 

While food was shockingly expensive, beer was quite the opposite. We spent the next 3 days following our little map of bars and beers all over the city, occasionally stopping to refuel with street food. We saw corners of the city we probably never would have, beer tasted under windmills, befriended English beer connoisseurs and bartenders in an underground bar,  and learned that "have a few beers" is an American phrase not to be applied in Belgium on a half-full stomach. 

On our way out of town we stopped through Oostend on the northern coast, hence the beach walk photo, but unfortunately it wasn't much to talk about. Brugge was a perfect way to end our epic journey. We spent all of our three days there just enjoying their true local culture away from the crowded tourist spots and main squares. I was in awe of everything about this place, and in the end it gave every other place we'd been a run for its money. 

The Man Who Sold The World

Entering Germany in itself was an experience. This is the land where no toll roads go, and, joyfully, neither do speed limits. Our drive in was steadily swift, setting the cruise control at 165km/h (102mph), which was, as we would find, a modest speed. Audis, Mercedeses, BMWs and the occasional Opel walked us like we were standing still. If we were cruising at 102, some of those ground-based jets were hovering over the roads at an easy 200mph. Easy. As we neared Munich, the intensifying rains impeded higher speeds, which gave us plenty of time to marvel at the acres upon acres of bountiful hops fields growing like giant kelp in every prairie and on every hillside. The harvest nearing fruition, whose reaping in a mere few weeks' time would become the central focus for Munich's most notable occasion -- Oktoberfest.

Though with us came the rain, which converged over Munich for all four of our days there. The steady strength and sheer volume of the downpour paralyzed much going out, but we still managed to see a good portion of the city in spite of it, and much of the surrounding lands.

Munich is big, so we were already limited in our explorations, and the hours lost to the rain forced further sacrifices. The first day, however, we made my one required trip that I missed last time around -- Andechs Abbey. Roughly 45 minutes outside of Munich we explored the hilltop, Benedictine abbey featuring the most ornate (some may say gaudy) cathedral in all of our travels. We drank the strong and delicious dopplebock liters, ate pork knuckle, sauerkraut and pretzels, and failed in our bid to rob the monks of the liter mugs. Damned be the rain! We made the most of it and the green, German countryside.

The next three days were spent exploring Munich, itself. We spent time in the main platz, marveling at the large rathaus that is the center of Munich's very democratic city; visited the main brew halls of Augustiner and Löwenbräu, as well as the famed Hofbrauhäus -- Bavaria's most distinguished brew house. While the brew halls were all very amazing, and the Bavarian people have a genuine kindness that was unrivaled in all of our travels; Munich, maybe due the rain, was rather uneventful and unimpressive. A stark difference from my experience there during Oktoberfest, when even sleeping was eventful. The best days we had there were the two days we explored the surrounding Bavarian lands: Andechs Abbey, and the sites we saw on our way out... This included an attempted visit to Neuschwanstein Castle just clear of the Alps, on the border of Austria. A two hour southerly detour didn't seem like too much to handle for a glimpse of the castle that allegedly inspired the one and only Cinderella's Castle at Disneyland. The drive was breathtaking, and at first glance of the castle on the hill we knew we were in for a treat. Unfortunately, that treat involved a 2 hour line followed by a 2 hour wait time to see the castle. This made the view from below seem much more pleasant, and we explored the shops in town and the surrounding woods instead, admiring the magical castle from afar before heading north again to Heidelberg.