Home | Featured Articles | Around Texas | Calendar of Events | Totally Griswald | Tips | Reviews | Contact Us | Links
|
|
| Home | Featured Articles | Around Texas | Calendar of Events | Totally Griswald | Tips | Reviews | Contact Us | Links |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
Drinking and Biking Don't Mix December 2006 Drinking a liter of beer and then riding a bicycle through an unfa The day started without incident when I met my Mike’s Bike Tour guide and group under the tower of the Old Town Hall in the Marienplatz. Our guide talked to us for a few minutes about the Marienplatz, the Glockenspiel (understandably one of the most overrated tourist sites in Western Europe, according to our guide) and the Old Town Hall. Then we walked a few hundred yards down the street in order to “meet our bikes.” After becoming acquainted with them by adjusting the seats and practicing the gears, we all jumped on our bikes and began the four-hour long bike ride. According to the Mike’s Bike’s website, we only covered about four miles during that four hour journey. Not exactly a strenuous bike ride, but perfect for families with children and others who may have been out drinking the night before. We stopped every 400 or 500 yards at di Like New York’s Central Park, the English Garden is an oasis of green in the heart of Munich. Once used as the hunting grounds of kings and then as the training area for the Bavarian army, it was bestowed on the citizens of Munich in the late 1700s. Covering almost 1,000 acres, the English Garden is the perfect place to enjoy the cool, Bavarian weather and the hearty Bavarian beer. The Chinese Tower Beer Garden is the place where we stopped to enjoy the weather and the beer. Situated in the heart of the English Garden it is the perfect spot to relax and really get to know the other members of the group. Most, myself included, decided to partake in the German tradition of drinking a liter of beer. Now, since returning from this adventure, I have measured a liter of beer in terms of the American 12 ounce beer and determined that one liter is equal to almost three 12 ounce bottles of beer. Therefore, by the time we all had finished our beers, told our silly traveling stories and loaded ourselves back onto our bikes, I had consumed approximately three American beers. Not enough to call myself drunk, but certainly enough to be a little loose and uninhibited. So, as we pedaled down a dir Once the laughter and jokes had subsided, I climbed back on my bike to continue the tour, which ended in the world-famous, Hofbräuhaus. The Hofbräuhaus is, you guessed it, a large beer hall, where most of us, once again, were planning to partake in a few more liters of beer. Luckily, by this point, the bike riding was complete and I did not have to worry about o “No Wine, Beer!” Our waiter gruffly replied. “Can I have vodka, then.” He tried again. “No Vodka, Beer!” Laughing heartily at this unusual exchange, the rest of our group all sat back to enjoy our liters of German beer. **All Photos by Sharon Miller Useful websitesMike’s Bikes Tours
Tourist Information
www.lodginggermany.com/ info/Munich/index.htm
|
|
©2004-2006 Live Life Travel. All rights reserved. |
|||
miliar city is not the best idea. That is the lesson I learned while taking a Mike’s Bikes Tour in Munich, Germany.
fferent sites around the city, the guide providing us with a continuous commentary about the sites, riddled with jokes here and there, as well as ample opportunities for that perfect photo. We visited all of the normal places, the Staatkanzlei, Maximilianeum, the Peace Angel. But the place that sticks out in my mind the most was the English Garden.
t path heading out of the Garden, I found myself continuing a conversation I had begun while enjoying my beer. Specifically, my new friend and I were quoting silly movies. During one fateful moment, I turned my head to say a particularly funny quote, only to be interrupted by a scream and a string of German which I could not understand. I turned back around and found myself barreling toward an older German lady and her small child. Of course, I did the only thing I could do in order to avoid them, I swerved, went off the path and crashed headlong into a tree. This of course elicited uproarious laughter from everyone on the path, including my entire group, who all accused me of having drunk too much beer. I vehemently denied that, claiming I had simply been distracted by my conversation. Either way, I was able to dust myself off and except for a few scratches and my bruised ego, I was not hurt.
perating anything larger than my feet. It was here that I learned one more lesson about Munich; do not try to order anything other than beer at the Hofbräuhaus. Unfortunately, one of our members decided to try this faux pas by asking for a white wine.