Autumn in Bohemia [Munich > Prague; 8/22/8/26 - 290mi]

I paid 19euro for my spot in a 6 bed dorm room in a Munich hostel... as luck would have it I ended up having the whole room to myself! What a deal, and another nice night of lounging around in privacy. Munich is certainly not the most interesting city I've been to, but there's some nice Gothic architecture in the center.

Munich

At Julie's insistence I got myself a giant soft pretzel- this one had cream cheese and scallions in the middle. Tasty Bavarian treat!

There's an 'official' marked bike route from Munich to Prague... it primarily follows bike paths and backroads, with the occasional stretch of gravel, dirt, and even bits of singletrack. The signage isn't always the best, though, so I sort of loosely followed the route with some shortcuts and diversions along the way.

mini mini mini mini

I passed through Regensburg, Germany, on my way northeast to Prague. It's listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site... very cool historic city center and (more) Gothic churches. I got a little obsessed about eating a piece of cake- is there really such a thing as 'Bavarian Chocolate Cake' or is this just an american invention?? I found a little sidewalk cafe to see for myself; the cake was quite tasty but not as dark and dense as what we'd call 'Bavarian chocolate.' So the jury's still out.

For each of the last two nights, the sky has been clear when I've gone to sleep and it didn't seem like I needed to bother with pitching my tent. And each night I was awoken around 3am by rain and t-storms; frantically setting the tent in a half-asleep stupor is no fun. From now on, just pitch the tent before sleeping, you lazy moron.

On my way out of the woods I camped in last night I came across a nice ripe blackberry thicket and harvested a whole bag full. Musli & wild fruits!

I crossed the border in the Czech Republic while cycling along a farm road / bike path. Again nothing more than a sign...

if I knew how to say "Welcome to Czech" in Czech, I would write it here

 The route wound through some nice forest preserves and small farming villages before passing through the first bigger town, Domalize. A very distinct change in architecture & culture now that I'm across the border, but plenty of western gluttony...

A highlight of the route was a stop in the city of Pilsen ("Plzen" in Czech,) birthplace of Pilsner-style beer and home of the Pilsner Urquell brewery. I stopped off at the beer garden on the brewery grounds to sample the wares... half a liter only costs about a buck and a quarter!

the 50/50 mix of Pilsner and Dunkl

I've ridden myself right into autumn here in the Bohemian countryside... brisk breezes, occasional drizzle and nighttime t-storms. It feels like a fitting wrap-up to my summer. When I started around Iceland in early June, the farmers there were just plowing over their fields for the spring planting season. In Rome & Florence it was the dead of summer and now I've come to the final harvests and seeding of winter crops. I'd say summer's been alright....

Bohemian autumn