Ciao Bamberg, Hello Portland!

I have booked a plane ticket and am coming home! May 18th is only a few weeks away, and it would be an understatement to say I am looking forward to it.

I am taking a break from bike riding, to give me knees some recovery time. But I've already been scouting out on GoogleEarth long rides I want to do in NW Oregon.

The above picture of barley, onion and raps was taken on my last long ride, two weeks ago. The fields smell so good; that is probably what I will miss most about Germany: riding with my nose.

I shot the sunset on the Main-Donau canal on my way back from Buttenheim. A 20km ride south of Bamberg, the St. Georgen brewery produces a world famous Kellerbier, one of my favorites. It is addictive enough that I rode all the way down there just for a beer, on more than one occasion. Kellerbier is an unfiltered, low CO2-content lager, and St. Georgenbrau makes one that is impossibly tasty while at the same time very simple and refreshing. I wish I was in Buttenheim right now...

Another top choice is Ayinger Jahrhundertbier. One's first sip of this beer drains half of the Stein, and from the second comes the thought "I could drink twenty of these." No kidding. Now, I have only drank this beer from Ayinger's pub in Munich, served flat and warmish from wooden kegs. Wait a minute, I'm in Munich right now... sounds like I have my research lined up for the evening, cheers!