New car with cool rims and no need to shift gears . Driving through Munich and cloisters with Bockbiers: These are a few of my favorite things

Round Two

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You can't just drink one. Not when the beer is 3 Euro for half a liter.

Watching over the fields below

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Throughout Bavaria we saw these paved bike paths out in the middle of nowhere. I'm not sure I was ever in the kind of shape to bike throughout Europe, but if I could this beautiful place would've made my list. As long as it was all downhill.

Pretzel logic

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To keep those beer sales going these pretzels were liberally sprinkled with salt but that didn't keep me from grabbing one as a snack..

File this away for the next visit

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We had been fed so well at the Welt that we weren't in the mood for a mid-afternoon meal. A pretzel would suffice, but next time beer and Würsts will be on the agenda next time.

Schweinehaxe

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AKA pork knuckle is a standard offering at German beer halls. I've never even been tempted.

Two beers down.

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Now it's time to work the alcohol out of our systems with a hike up to the church. Here the hill became significantly steeper but not a killer.

Almost there

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Halfway to the top the souvenir shop is conveniently situated. The perfect excuse for taking a short break.

Entrance to the sacred grounds

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In wet or icy weather this might pose a problem for half drunken visitors, but today it was a great day for some exercise. While the beer terrace below was nearly packed, up here where God dwells it was pretty deserted.

The first of many amazingly ornate chapels on this trip

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You really can't appreciate Europe without visiting the plethora of religious sites you encounter at every turn. Over the next few days we lost count of how many cathedrals, basilicas, churches, shrines and chapels we entered but all were gorgeous. Being predominately Catholic Bavaria has more than its fair share of ornate gilded religious buildings. Even in the most remote locales we would walk into similar troves of spiritual art.

Look up

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Some of the prettiest art in these old churches rests high above the worshipers. I can't imagine how much work went into the creation of these arches and the frescoes overhead. With the continually declining church attendance in Europe I have to wonder how long these places will survive.

Time to get back on the road again

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I was ready to move on and get to Oberammergau before dark. This had been a true religious experience in more ways than one.

Tourist posing with his bag of Andechs souvenirs

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Before we left on this trip I had a very short list of things I felt I needed to bring back home. On our first day of real touring I already had ten more pounds of stuff to try and squeeze into my suitcase.

Just roll me down to the car

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Descending was almost more of a chore than climbing up the hill. Those cobblestones are tough on the knees.

On the shores of the Ammersee

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Andechs is just a stone's throw from the ten mile long Ammersee. Noting the big blue mass on our GPS screen as we left the monastery parking lot we decided to swing by for some pretty waterside views. It took 15 minutes of driving through a thick forest on both sides of us until we wee able to get a glimpse of the alpine lake. Eager to see more we pulled off the road in the town of Diessen.

Not much going on right now

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Nobody on the lake today but based on the big parking lot next to the lake and the number of currently closed hotels near the shore, this place is busy in high season.

Football practice

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Actually it's "soccer" practice with no parents hanging around. The way it should be.

Is this GPS working?

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After punching in the coordinates for the Wittelsbach Hotel in Oberammergau our Nav system indicated it was less than 15 miles away. But it seemed like we drove halfway to Italy and still weren't halfway there yet. With this kind of scenery who cares?

Our first glimpse of the Alps

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Oberammergau is in the shadow of these great European mountains. We still have some distance to go. This was another one of those bicycle path roads that I was afraid to drive on.