Today's the day for our holy pilgrimage! We rolled out of our hotel at 9am and grabbed some sandwiches/croissants and juice from Victuelenmarkt before looking for the S8 to Herrsching. Clau was feeling particularly bad this morning, but was determined to make the pilgrimage. After a few mix-ups finding the correct S-Bahn platform at Marienplatz, we were finally on our way to Herrsching and the Turner spiritual home of Kloster Andechs.
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| The end of the line! |
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| Jumping the local bus up the mountain. |
In less than an hour we were there, and immediately jumped on a local bus to take us the rest of the way up the mountain. Google maps makes local travel so damn easy! Clau wasn't up to the walk, and it certainly was an easier (albeit less picturesque) option.
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| We're here! |
Alighting at the bus-stop we wasted no time in exploring the abbey surrounds and the chapel proper. It's one of the nicest church interiors in the Munich area in my opinion (maybe because we love Andechs so much?) - understated, and lacking in stained glass, but so beautiful in gold and white.
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| The main chapel building of the abbey. |
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| Inside the chapel - so beautiful! |
Having contemplated our many sins (and confessed to none), it was time for the main business of the day. We retired to the Braustuberl and set to ordering our first round of drinks. For my first, (and #5 of the trip) I ordered the world famous Andechs Doppelbock Dunkel. Everyone else started with the Hefesweizen (which is also amazing).
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| Andechs Doppelbock Dunkel, and Hefeweizen |
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| The first round. Prost! |
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| Sitting in the main drinking hall, but no window seat! |
That first beer went down so smoothly. I wasn't sure if my memory of the Doppelbock had been embelished by years in the telling, but NO it was absolutely amazing. After the first round was consumed we turned our attention to food, and a round of huge brezn + pork knuckles. Yum!
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| Pork knuckle! Not as big as our head, but Phwoah! |
A second round of drinks followed (for Eb and myself at least) with us swapping from Doppelbock to Hefeweizen and visa-versa to sample the other side of the fence. Soooo good. We sat on the second beer, just drinking in the Kloster ambiance and even now chatting about the next pilgrimage.
In the end it was time to descend from heaven back to Hersching Hbf. We adjourned to the gift-shop where the obligatory beer glasses (and this time schnaps glasses!) were duly purchased. Clau was feeling pretty shitty by now and elected to take the bus back down with Katrina. Eb and I decided to take the forest walk, to try and wring as much out of the experience as we could.
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| Walking down through the forest. No snow unfortunately. |
Soon we were back at Herrsching Hbf and back on the S8 to Marienplatz. We were pretty worn out (jetlag and covid is still tugging at us), so we had a rest in the room before venturing out one last time to brave the christmas market crowds and devour one last Rot Bratwurst.
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