Yeh so major issues with the photos....none for germany....really weird....pretty big country to leave out pics for......but they have been doing some updating of their sytem and all so maybe that is why.....but this pic is st germain bloulevard.....it sorta sounds like german right....but it is actually in paris.....anyway and i actually pretyped the postcard so here it is for your reading pleasure.....

I hit up the 70 cent bathroom to brush my teeth and grabbed some breakfast. Foduna map of the city and wandered a bit. Got to see the glockinshpiel clock deal go off which did not work last time we were here. So that was fun to see. Mad eplans with helga to meet at 4 so I had time to kill. I was gonna go to this beach in munich on the isur but I only made it to the English gardens. It had everything I wanted, shade, a tree to rest the pack on so I was set. I read and dozed on and off for the afternoon. All the while the number of nude bathers increased. When I had walked in it was apparently the thing to do for the guys to come here and bath in the sun. Well I overheard a tour guide talking about how here in germany with the minimal summer when the sun is out they like to expose all and get every ray possible. Well needless to say I found a tree that had no such sights. But the walk out was even more intresting. So then I go to the subway and the ticket machine was broken. Humm well I had just finished reading a article in the munich paper (English edition of course) about how they are cracking down on freeloaders cause it is kinda an honour system to us e the subway. Well how could I do this. I didn’t want to get in trouble so I walked to another entrance at the other sided as my train left. This machine worked but it was saying I had to pay 2,90 or something which I knoe was wrong. Finally I made it work as another train leaves. I thought I was gonna be late cause of this silly ticket machine and helga would be waiting but I go there right at 4 and she was not far behind. We hit up the grocery store and she was getting all these foods that I had to try. Then we headed to the lake for a swim and she swam out and I thought she would swim across the lake. Me and my fine swimming skills decided 10 mionutes out and 10 back would be enough for me. Then we went to her mothers house and I met her for the first time. Really nice and she had me try this herb that she had growing that was a really sweet and good. I wrote it down so maybe I can start an herb garden one of these days. We went back to helgas house and had a fine fine meal. And I can even say I drank all their beer as she only had one bottle left and she said I had to finish it. Then after another long day it was time for sleep.

So I woke up around 830 and had a nice little breakfast with helga including my most favoritist pretzels that this country has. Well then we had talked about me taking a bike for a ride. She showed me a good route and so I was off. She went to work and I was all set and headed out. Now the map was not hard to follow and she had given me good directions but it was still rough everything in german and such. So I defiantly made a wrong turn and added on a mile or so. Maybe 2 miles. But I found the place I should be in. Went so far to the base of the mountain locked up the bike and proceded to hike it. It was a really nice hike up but also really steep. Quite a few people on the trail as well. Well took about an hr and half to get up. About half way there I met some cows. Right in the middle of the path. I was a little worried as I was waering red and they defiantly had horns so I didn’t know if that would cue them into a stampeed or something. And though I have grown up in a farm town I was still a bit nervous when passing so close to them. One gets spooked and that is a lot of animal to deal with. But we were also on the pretty steep hill so I figured their manuvering capabilities were not so great. I even did a little creative photo by the cows. Well then I finally made it to the top and after quite strenuous climb and now at the top with lots of wind and no more climbing ot keep me warm I wished I had a long sleeve. Had a nice little lunch but when I ordered it I had no clue what I was getting. Looked at the menu and picked a middle priced item. Ended up being ham with and egg on top and potatoes. Really good. The top was really pretty but kinda hazy so it wasn’t the prefect day out but it was 100 times better then the museum walls I had been staring at. Then about an hr hike down. Cows were still there. Made it to the bottom and had a nice downhill back into town. I hadn’t realised but the whole time getting to the base of the mountain was an uphill and so the coasting back was nice after so much climbing. Then after the coasting I figured I would take the seenic route home. Well all was going great there were tons of other bikers out and whne in the town your ride right in with traffic cause you can keep up and it is safest cause then people don’t try to pass on the narrow roads. Well that was a cool feeling that being on a bike I was just as efficient as all these people in cars. Well then I saw I sign with a town I recognized and the timing felt right as there should be a turn I was supposed to take so I did it. Ended up bringing me quite a ways out of the way. Really nice area along this stream with a hydropower plant and everything but defiantly added some kilometres. The days totals was something like 60 km on bike and then 2-4 km each way up and down the mountain. Either way I was shot. Beautiful day but I was dead. A quick shower and then headed to this festival in town were they had these famous political comedians. The entire town was there. Helga told me to come for the food and even got me a stamp cause she told em I wasn’t staying for the show being that I wouldn’t understand a thing. IN fact it was in the bovarian dialect so anyone not bovarian would even have a hard time understanding. Well I had some food and stayed for the first few acts but then I did the short walk home. Made a phone call and then it was to bed for this tired puppy. Today thus far has been updating the scrap book and doing this journal which has taken quite a bit of time. On page 6 in word and that is singled spaced. I cannot imagine when I get home to print this off how long it will be and it si will even fit in the scrapbook. Anyway the plan is to take off tom and head to….ummm tbd….that is my other chore for the day. Figure out where I am going. So until then….ben

well I figured I should just add in last nights activities so I can still feel up to date on this journal thingy. Well I had a day of planning and rest and nice weather and some guitar and all was well. Then last night there is this festival in town of tegensee on this lake. Really really pretty and yeh very cool little festival. Not really sure why it happened but every beginning of august they do it was the answer. There were fireworks and lots of beer and food. In fact it is basically like they close down main street and everyone walks around drinking liters of beer and eating. There were a few sites during the time before the fireworks where they had these guys that whipped whips along with music. Hard to describe impressive to see. I was gonna take some pics and brought the camera but I couldn’t bust it out. First off I had a liter in my hand. Haha yeh I had to go along with david and his brother basti and be traditional. Well the other issue was I was the only foreigner there. Truly this was the purist festival I will prolly find. It was all the people from the town and no others. And many wore the traditional bovarian suits and it was great. I couldn’t bring myself to become tourist ben and do the camera thing. Maybe if others were taking pics but they were not so I just couldn’t woulda ruined the experience. So I will just have to trust my memmories. Well we walked all around and talked to people that david knew and talked and it was a great little time. Then saw the fireworks and they don’t have a grand finale here. I was shocked, well not really but I noted the difference. Well then we found other people david knew and luckily one of the girls spoke English. She was really nice too cause she talked with me which seems to be tough many times and she said most people are hesitant to speak English even though they know it. Then we met up with basti again and headed home. Oh and the liters of beer came in real mugs. Huge and nice. Well I asked how they trusted people with em and there is a 2 euro deposit. I said 2 euros I take 5 home with me for that price. Then came to turn mine in and david wouldn’t let me. Well not sure how or if it will make it back to the states but it is next to my pack as of now. But it weighs a ton and is glass so well see how it pans out. The plan was to leave today and that didn’t happen. I am having a lazy day. Not really I still needed to pack, laundry, rest, recoup, I had good motive to stay just one more day. So here I am and tom I head to Switzerland to see some alps. Well then I will head east hungry, chek republic, Poland, Norway, sweeden, neitherlands, and if you have a map you can kinda see the circle I will be making. Sadly I will not be making it to the olymipics and prolly not back to italy. Shocking and apauling both but I had to face facts. Olympics were so far from England which I still would like to see. And it was not gonna be fun trying to get around in Athens with so many people. This whole trip tourists have bugged me and so Athens would just not be worth it in that respect either. By going the general route I mentioned it will put me back near the English channel and make for easy access back to London and such. And I didn’t want to rush things which is what I would do if I had to do Greece. So there. Some plans that I am very happy with. And with that I am gonna go enjoy the weather and play with the classical guitar they have here that is in tune but missing a D string. It does not matter it has 5 others that make noise close to what I am hearing. Til later…benyamin