Seeing hops, drinking beer, meeting family - 9 Mai

We were on our bikes by 8 this morning so get to our destination just 50 km down river. We wanted to enjoy the ride without feeling too rushed to reach our destination of Weltenberger Kloster /Abbey, where we had also arranged to meet up with Sigrid and Martina. 

Ingolstadt, its outskirts and the areas east were Saturday-morning quiet, the roads wet from the heavy rain that finally burst through the humid, balmy air of yesterday. 

We made quick work of the first several kilometers up on a dike road past a fair amount of industrial. No--it's not always quiet, idyllic country roads. But perhaps the Bavarians have the most interesting and colorful industry. The question of whether to don full rain gear or not was on our lips every few minutes. Fortunately our decision to go moderate wasn't the wrong one, as we encounterd only drizzle before some hours of mixedmsunshine.

Another flat for Alaine. Crazy how much difference the tires from the Great Divide trip,when we had much better tires and not a single flat. But the delayer pair was swift and stress free after finding and pulling out the sliver of metal.

Coming around a bend after Neustsdt and...  "baby lambs!" (Alaine) and "hops!" (Paul)-- both visions which made us pause to appreciate.

Two walkers stopped, wondering, most likely, while we were taking so many photos of the hop,field. So we talked  --as best we could with our limited shared English and German vocabularies--of hops and hop growing (they raised some "that's funny"  eyebrows when we explained we had about 25, only, plants growing at Ed's farm), and beer and brewing and breweries and hochwasser. (Evidently we would not have been able to pass on that small road just 2 days before). And much reinforcement and encouragement to visit Weltenberger Kloster-- for the beer and the incredible setting down in a gorge of the river. And the beer. They pointed out that Paul did not look like a beer drinker, lacking the belly.

You could tell the at water was down, but still high, from its highest up on the tree trunk.

Then more gorgeous farming country higher up above the river valley as we cycled to the abbey.

Here's some info from wiki [and us]i: Weltenburg Abbey brewery (Weltenburger Klosterbrauerei) is by some reckonings the oldest monastery brewery in the world, having been in operation since 1050, although the title is disputed by Weihenstephan Abbey. Their ″Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel″ was given the World Beer Cup award in 2004, 2008 and 2012 as the best Dunkel beer in the world. [since it was the first dunked we've had that we can recall! we can't disputes that-- it was second favorite behind their back beer]. The wing of the monastery that faces the Danube River houses a large restaurant on the ground floor operated by a [very busy, going-concern, with bustling and traditionally garbed staff] tenant feeding and keeping all the visitors who cime by ferry, bus ,feet and bicyle]. The traditional Bavarian menu includes the monastery's cheese and beer, and guests are also served in the monastery courtyard, which houses a large open-air biergarten during the warmer [and chillier! and wetter--even with lightening,math under and sudden downpours, the staff kept at it, as did the Saturday revelers!] months.

We opted to not take the tour... discouraaged, without words (she knew less English than Alaine knew German) by the woman at the ticket booth. Evidently not much of the tour is in the brauwerie, and otherwise just "a lot of talking..." In German. So we wandered around and saw what we could of the chapel and then enjoyed some tastes while we watched for two Sigrid and Martina.

Alaine listened inside to the monks' singing/chanting. A video for another day.

The closest Paul got to seeing brew equipment.

Our meeting was overcome by smiles and hugs and quick (thanks to both women's fluent English) conversation of stories from 25 years ago and stories of today. Martina is niece to Sigrid.

Mia (our wonderful server), Alaine, Martina, Sigrid, Paul and two people we don't know--all huddled under the umbrella during a brief downpour. 

The girls, who had taken the ferry to reach the abbey, opted to cycle to Kelheim, where we were staying for the night. We took the swift down-river ride through the gorge.

We enjoyed our first traditional Bavarian dinner (sausage or würst with bread and tomato trailside or in the tent doesn't count) before taking a walk to Liberation Hall,  huge monument erected by the citizens in honor of their ousting of Napoleon.