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Austria - Germany

Rainy clouds seemed like stuck forever over Schlierbach Austria so despite the exceptional hospitality of the Frommel family and the delicious stuff they kept feeding me on a daily basis I decided to move on. I had previously invited them for lunch at my place in Greece not long ago but they paid it back multiple times during my stay at their house with their vast generosity. So, here I am, dressed like a spaceman with all my rain gear on as they watch me climb my fully loaded bike under rain, starting to make my way West. After only a few km my phone's gps app leads me to a gravel road which had just turned into a mud pit and when I run out of cursing stuff I find a dry place to stop and check out why. Well, shit happens when the app is on its first trip - one setting can make the whole difference in the world. And this setting was : "shortest route". That explained all the weird stuff I was suggested to follow previously. Back on normal roads, heading West, it really felt like driving in a swimming pool. On top of it, the last 40km in Germany as I was heading to my next destination at the lake Chiemsee were done in full heavy traffic. At least it stopped raining at the moment I arrived at Chieming. There, Melissa, a US born 'n raised girl with German DNA had reserved a cabin for me at her workplace, a retreat hotel located at a super relaxing location not far from the lake. She was planning to visit me instead in Greece but I was on the road already so it became vice versa. While she was busy working she got a colleague of hers to show me around. We had a walk around and a lunch together later at the local traditional restaurant and...oh boy...food is a thing in Bavaria isn't it? I had this dish for the price of a sandwich that was able to satisfy my survival stomach and my hedonistic stomach both at 150%.

Not that their beer was any worse - served by this huge Bavarian lady with arms twice my thighs combined. She could hold like a dozen of those 1l glasses on each hand. Blame the heavy food, the fine beer, the gloomy weather, the rain I got on the road or all together, I fell like a brick on my bed.

Next morning Melissa had a day off so she grabbed a couple of bicycles from the hotel and took me for a tour around the lake. This place is such a detox...

The view of the calm water reminded me of the idea I had before setting for this trip to put my inflatable cayak on my bike. OK, I only thought about it for a second or two but...I did and now I was missing it. Maybe another time... Cycling was nice and we sat for some lunch nearby. The chat was interesting enough to order a desert by the end of a delicious pizza we had in order to extend it.

We returned at the hotel were we met the rest of her colleagues at the end of their shift and we all agreed to revisit the lake in the evening for a drink at a local cafe/club.

It was so cleansing to watch the sunset even though it was too cloudy for my Greek standards. We started with a drink which later became "one too many" resulting in the situation below:

As you see the hotel's personnel really did the extra mile considering my entertainment. The following day we all went for a day trip to Herreninsel, the largest of the two small islands of the lake Chiemsee. We reached it by ferry departing from Prien. At Prien they still have in working order their old train as a touristic attraction. Speaking of old it's a 1887 thing! That's only 2 years younger than the oldest train connecting Athens with another city (1885 Athens - Lavrio).

Me in front of its 1.5 centuries old engine

The sound of the train heavy breathing with very slow and slowly escalating pace, the cloud of black smoke that follows and the smell of the whole thing gives you a war zone experience. An absolute time machine. Have a taste (not a smell unfortunately) here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji36bfXgyD0 Herreninsel was really soothing and pleasant. Beside it is the smaller island of Frauninsel for fair play as the latter was for ladies and the first for men. We stayed on the men's island though. We preferred to walk the island though we had more options transportation wise:

Our walk brought as to the palace and...as you may know palaces are usually quite beautiful:

Fortuna Brunnen fountain, 1883, copy of the same one in Versailles.

What really caught my eyes though was this:

and I kept starring:

...and starring...

We even met with a deer:

We saw mushrooms:

Huge old trees:

The day ended with a beer by the lake:

A truly hypnotising combination after a full walking day so I dropped dead on my bed at 9:30 pm! Time had come to leave the place that kinda offered me a retreat as well among its clients. The clients were as quiet as it gets following the guidelines and I was treated so nicely by its (not as quiet) personel. Melissa gathered all the guys for a goodbye picture and...here it is:

Stay tuned and see how my ride went - see you on part 4! P.S. I had to ride so far to find my balls of steel:

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