FREQUENT FLYER MYLES: 150 km bike ride, Munich to Regensburg

Hey all! Sorry for the blog slacking. Life has been overwhelmingly busy I have been doing TONS but just haven't found the time to sit down and write about it. I'll be better this week about logging all the adventures that have happened this month. I wrote the following blurb shortly after making the trip back in April, so it's written as if I just went on it.

This weeknd (April 8 - 10) three other Americans and I biked 150 km from Munich to Regensburg! Regensburg itself isn't really that exciting of a place, and other than it having a train station really the only reason we picked it as a place to go was for geography between it and Munich. The landscape between is quite noteworthy in that the ride follows two of Germany's largest rivers - the Isar and the Donau. The Isar runs northeast past Munich 150 km til it T's with the Donau. The Donau - Germany's largest river - runs northwest for 60 km straight through Regensburg. Riding along theses two rivers from Munich to Regensburg isn't the most direct route - but is definitely the prettiest. We only had two days to do the trip, so in order to cut the distance we decided to start biking from Munich along the Isar until we reached the small town of Freising after which we would head directly north for 60 km til we hit the Donau, then bike NW along the Donau into Regensburg. The route was fairly straight foreward, but the only hitch was that we planned, packed and prepared everything for this trip at 10pm the night before we left, so somehow we forgot to pack a map. It turned out to be my most fun weekend in Germany thus far.

We left Munich saturday morning at 9am on our €20 used bikes. Not having a map turned out to be ok. Germany's bike path network is so well connected and so clearly marked that at any confusing point in the journey, we were never lost for more than 5 minutes before a sign jumped out to tell us we were on the right or wrong path. So not only were we never lost, since we didn't have a map, we had no idea what we would find along the way in the open area between the Isar and the Donau. The things we saw and the people we met in between those two rivers were what made the trip for me, and caused me to fall in love with the bike path network here in Germany.

It's hard for me to depict for you exactly how beautiful the ride was, but I'll do my best to describe its' shear awesomeness. Basically, everything started blooming in Munich this week. So before we left for the trip we had all grown used to grey skies, leafless trees, brown hills, and overall lifelessness. Now, all of the sudden the sun has come out - strong enough to sunburn - and the landscape looks like it was just hit with a flourescent green paint bomb. Everything all at once had exploded with leaf and blossom, especially along the river where you'll find the biggest trees and plants. Experiencing this spring blossom is one thing from a car window or from my room, but riding through it on a bike path far from any traffic and smelling the fresh smell of the pavement after rainfall and feeling the sun on my face as the wind rips at my hair and hearing the rush of the breeze through these new green leaves all culminate to create an experience that leaves me in love with this country and its landscape. Then we leave the river to embark on our shortcut to the Donau, and suddenly we are immersed in German farmland dotted with tiny ''willages'' and churches . I feel like I'm in the opening scene of Inglorious Bastards as we ride through villages with handcrafted barns and traditional wood and mortar houses. We stop only to pee, eat, and buy beer - villages so small it takes us 5 minutes to bike through them.

The trip was insanely eventful but completely accident free. Our first stop along the Isar was in Freising to eat some sandwhiches and drink a beer. We found this awesome grocery store that sold Augustiner (my favorite brew by far) for €0.65, so we each got one and ate and drank in a nearby park.

Next stop, kids playground! Without petty lawsuits and liability like we have in the States, Germans subsquently have waaaaayyyyy cooler playgrounds than we do. Unfortunately I'm a little rusty on my flips, so I kinda hurt my knee.

Next stop, some random town an hour or two past Freising. Don't know the name of the place, but we found this super old barn-looking building with bullet holes in the wall. WWII remnants?

Before making camp, we stopped for beer and water in the small village of Boden. Here we found this crazy magical tower thing which looks like something straight out of Mario's Mushroom Kingdom. It's actually a functioning Brewery. Sooooo weird...

Dusty gets a 1-UP...

Baffled at the strange architecture, we moved on. After asking an old lady where the nearest grocery store was and conversing about how far we had biked, she informed us the stores were all closed, but that she owned a liquor store and would be happy to sell us what we wanted. We bought a few beers from her and concluded that Germans are super hospitable if you just ask for help. Jeez I love it here. The sunset was amazing too! We then headed to the outskirts of town and made camp in the forrest next to a farmer's field (which we later found out was a bird santuary, oops), made dinner, and went to sleep.

mmmmm, pasta in the woods

The following morning we made breakfast (oatmeal and Haribo Gummy Bears!) and hit the road to head for the Donau.

Dew in the grass outside of forrest camp.

Once we found the Donau, we immediately came across this awesome little village called Weltenburg with a sweet church that overlooks the Donau river and cliffs surrounding it. This beautiful town isn't even big enough to be on a map of Europe, but it's easily the most beautiful place I have seen since I have been abroad. We got into Weltenberg, hiked our bikes up the steep path toward the next town, and at the top were blown away by the amazing view of the surrounding cliffs and river.

The last noteworthy stop was Regensburg. We found a cool Brewhouse, ordered food and beer, rode around the city, and caught a train home. Home by 1am from the most fun trip in Europe to date.