I woke up extra early to get a little riding in before breakfast. There were a couple interesting roadsigns that I had been meaning to get pictures of when we were in Germany early in the trip, but I kept passing them by thinking "I'll get the next one". Well, eventually you run out of "next ones" and you have to go back. The road south from the hotel was unsurprisingly deserted at this hour of a Saturday morning, and I had no trouble pulling off the road to get my shots.
Back at the hotel, the highlight of breakfast was hot fresh croissants, of which I ate too many. We packed up the bikes for the last time and discussed out options for the ride back to Landshut. We didn't have a whole lot of extra time to waste, but we were loathe to just plot a direct Autobahn route on our last day riding in Europe. We worked out a fair compromise that had us on the High Alpine Road for about half the morning before picking up the Autobahn for the remainder.
An overcast view from my balcony
Germany!
Just a neat post
Tanks? Seriously? The meaning of these dual-number signs eluded us for the whole trip. We kept thinking they were speed limits, like 80kmh one-way, or 30kmh if traffic, to use the bottom sign. Only on the very last day, when I actually stopped to take a picture of one of them, did I notice the small bridge next to the sign. Of course! The numbers aren't speed limits, they're weight limits. 30tons with traffic, 80 tons solo. Still, tanks?
This was what the last 20 miles to the hotel looked like last night.
This was the clue that explained it all, the "16T" sign. Prior to this we had seen a lot of the signs in the background (16/24), but never did we see one with a T on it.
That's a lot of advertising. Hard to read at speed I would think.
The World's Smallest Elevator.
Frank's evaluating our route choices for the day
The High Alpine Road turned out to be a nice enough way to spend the morning, nothing demanding and some decent views along the way. There must have been some event going on in, or south of, Linderhof because literally hundreds of clasic BMW 3.0's and 2002's passed us for most of the morning heading south. There was also a pack of 5 Lotus Elises that got my attention. We had our usual GPS shenanigans but didn't get too far off our route.
The stretch on the Autobahn was actually quite fun, and not too crazy. While there were certainly some folks going faster than us, no one flashed by us like the Audi's on day 1. I don't know how many times we had to switch Autobahns on the way, but we certainly had to pay attention to the GPS and road signs to keep swapping routes. The TDM was really happy up to about 120kph (about 75mph), after that the buffeting was pretty strong. Anything faster than 160kph (about 100mph) and it really felt like it was out of its element, wandering around and feeling really loose. I bet the FJR was happy as a clam - if the US had something akin to the Autobahn where you could legally go as fast as you want a GT-type bike like the FJR or Connie14 would be at the top of my shopping list.
I was beginning to feel a little worn out during our time on the Autobahn. I don't know if it was just the early morning ride I had done, or the prospect of returning the bikes was weighing on me, or if maybe we'd just strung together too many intense riding days. Pretty much for 8 days solid we've been on the bikes, often on quite demanding mountain passes. I'm not saying I was ready to give up, or that I was dangerously fatigued, but I was not feeling as charged up as I was a few days ago. Maybe next time I'll try to work in a day (or half day at least) of downtime in the middle of the trip.
The last order of business before returning the bikes to Herman was gassing them up. Seemed like it would be a simple task, but finding a gas station in Landshut proved elusive. Twice the Zumo took us to phantom gas stations that either never existed or had gone out of business. I ended up stopping a guy walking in the street and pointing to my gas tank. He pointed down the road we were heading on and said "2 kilometers". Sure enough, local knowledge trumped computer datasets and the gas station was where he said. Filled up, used the restroom (using the restroom at the bike shop was an arduous task involving walking through the crane garage and the fire/ambulance hall due to some repairs being done), got some snacks, and, not without a little sadness, got on the bikes for the last time. The 5 minute ride to Herman's was over much too quickly.
I was a litle concerned about the damage (although only cosmetic) from Peter's FJR tip-over being a costly issue, but the guys at the shop didn't so much as look at the bikes while we unpacked. What a difference from Moto Mader in Switzerland, where they thoroughly examined the bike with clipboard in hand, making lots of notations. Herman and crew just made sure we had gotten all our stuff from the bikes, returned our gear (looking much the worse for wear, especially my fresh-from-the-box boots), gave us back our suitcases and thanked us for the business. We drug our suitcases across town and took a (standing room only) train back to Munich.
Unpacking / repacking
I don't have any more notes from that day, so I'll try to remember what I can. We checked back into the NH hotel near the HBF, and walked back towards Marienplatz. Along the way we stopped for lunch at the Augustiner Keller beirgarten and managed to escape a bit of rain, and then generally wandered around the old town center.
No, that's not a toy car
Inside Augustiner Keller
Sausages, pretzels and beer. The perfect lunch in Germany.
Remember the bachelor party guys from my first days in Munich? This weekend appeared to be all about the girls. We came across a bunch of differently-costumed groups of girls having a great time and often getting the locals involved in the fun. If anyone knows more about this tradition I'd love to hear about it.
Surgeons?
Lots of picture taking
Pink road crew?
Just an impromptu tug of war in the street with girls in tights, nothing to see here, move along
Bees?
After wandering around for a bit after lunch we ended up at the beer garden in the Hofgarten behind the Residenz where we took our time enjoying some beer and conversation. This would really be our last time together - Dave and Peter were heading to Rome that night, Frank was flying home in the morning, and I would be remaining in Europe with my family for a while.
Living statue in Marienplatz
Now that's a great way to travel!
Make way, coming through
The King and Queen of Odeonsplatz?
Very tasty Dunkelweiss, enjoyed behind the Residenz
Oh, maybe this is the King and Queen of Odeonsplatz?
The sidewalk rising into the sky got my attention
One of the oddest experiences of the trip happened on the walk back to the hotel when we came across a candlelight vigil at a Michael Jackson shrine. Dozens of folks were praying, crying, holding hands, several dressed as MJ himself. I was speechless.
MJ Shrine
Speechless
Wow
Peter buying some snacks for the train ride
Hey buddy, you're using that thing all wrong...
We got back to the hotel and said our goodbyes to Frank, and I let Dave and Peter grab showers in my room before catching their train. I walked with them over to the train station, and with a couple handshakes they were gone and the Alps 2011 motorcycling adventure was at an end.