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John: We're in Deutschland now. Things haven't changed much geographically. I suppose it's pretty in Bavaria here but it's so cloudy and misty and gloomy. As you can hear... (CAR PASSES) ... we're on the road again. The weather report? Rain and more rain. So, with the alternative of

sitting around all day, we took off and are heading for anywhere near Munich. In the early afternoon it started to pour. It poured... it poured. My scraggly beard is full of mud. We're wearing our rain suits, I have on my sweatshirt, rain coat, biker cap and Dick, why don't you describe the scene.

Dick: Well, weather conditions continued to deteriorate throughout the day. We booked a few more miles, then it started to come down so hard we stopped for a beer or two but the rain didn't let up.

John: We're in a hilly area. Ups and downs. ...We're going down a hill right now... A lot of cows. Farmland. I'm sure it's very pretty under there but I can't see the mountains. The Alps are nearby but we can't see them.

We haven't done our laundry since Interlakken and as a matter of fact, I'm ashamed to admit it, and it does seem rather impossible, but I've been wearing the same underwear for ten days. All my others are dirty. (And this pair is not?)

Our bikes are grimy from the rain. The dirt is picked up from the road and thrown on the bike. So, we're kind of filthy. Yeah... filthy. Our packs are wet, my sweatshirt is damp. Sneakers are wet. The tee shirt I've been wearing for about a week has a black sweat patch on the back. My white biking shorts have a permanent seat mark on the rear. We are starting to be a bit of a mess... or I am anyway. Dick... seems to remain a little neater than I. I don't know how he does it. I hadn't really noticed Dick but... you look almost dapper. To what do you attribute your neat appearance?

Dick: Oh, a little rinsing now and then. Plus, I have dark colors, as you can see.

John: It is the still of the night, as we march down Von Peitro Street towards our destination for the evening's sleep - "The Tent". This is our second night tenting it.

The Tent is just what it sounds like, a giant tent or "zelt" as the Germans say. It's proportions are similar to a circus tent. They give you a mat. Then upon entering the tent, you search for a space to put it and sleep. This can be difficult since it's pretty much wall to wall people. If you think a hostel room with eight people is crowded, how about a circus tent with several hundred people sleeping at once. One snorer can disturb the whole operation. Did I mention it is cheap? Very, very cheap.

Last night, I went over and picked a barren spot on the wood floor inside the tent. There was a lot of rustling and people kept talking real late but I slept great. Some ants crawled on me but otherwise it was a fine set up. Especially if you are extraordinarily tired and are used to sleeping on the ground.

The action was pretty lively. Lots of beer drinking, an oompah band, a bullwhip act in time to the music. Clapping, dancing. We had several beers. They are big beers.

And out the door we go. Another enjoyable evening. Met some people... There's a whole row of taxis lined up here. This seems to be the tourist district. There're also a lot of topless bars, burlesque shows, cabarets and a lot of people milling around since it's Friday night...

John: Yes, Saturday night. We're headed back to The Tent for the night. ...I think we go this way.

John: We can walk to the train station and then take the #17 tram from there. We've got this subway system down pat. There's the subway, the S-Bahn, the bus system, and the U-Bahn is the Underground. ... It takes a little while to figure out how the whole transportation system works.

Boy, everyone's drunk tonight. People coming off the bus here... It's Saturday night. There are people everywhere. Now, we're walking through the Marienplatz where the glockenspiel is, the main section of town. There's people honking their horns and...

John: The Marienplatz. This is the center of Munich. There're no cars allowed. A statue on top of a pillar here. There's the glockenspiel up there with these little characters that parade around at 11AM.

John: Spent most of the day over at the Munich Olympic grounds of the 1972 Olympics. That was the year of Mark Spitz, Olga Korbet, Dave Wottle and the year the Israeli hostages were killed at the Olympic Village. Official 1972 Olympic Webpage. We rode to the top of a giant radio tower that gave a great perspective of the area. The Olympic Village is now an apartment complex.

John: Well, another evening inside The Tent. I think I had the worst spot in that place. We got in late after our return from the world famous Hofbrauhaus. After heading into the dark tent, we found, due to the rain, everyone had gone to bed early. The only spot I could find to put my mat was in the front doorway of the entire tent. Dick decided to stroll in amongst the bodies and to try and find a spot. I didn't think you were going to find a spot.

Dick: Yeah. At first I found a spot that looked a bit crowded but when I was pondering putting my blankets down there, I saw a spot by this girl. Because she had free space everyone was using it as a walkway. I effectively plugged up the traffic lane for her.

John: Well, that was convenient for her and for you. Meanwhile, sleeping right by the entrance was pretty quiet most of the night. But in the morning it was kind of a nuisance when people walked by my head. A couple of people kicked me. It's definitely a good idea to get there early.

John: Walking through the compound of Dachau now. The Nazi concentration camp. There were about 30 barracks buildings, but all that's left of most of them are the cement foundations. Torn down. The only one left has a museum in it. A very somber place. A heavy feel to the place. Every picture of Hitler in the museum had his face scratched out with pens or knives. We then went and saw the prison in back and now we're walking up to the crematorium. A very big place. They still have the towers up. Barbed wire fence around. It really looks like a prison camp. There are churches of every denomination at the end of the compound. There are stones on the ground and there was only one entrance gate with a steel sign that says "Work makes one Free" in German which is "Arbeit Macht Frei". Any overall impressions here, Dick?

Dick: I think I was most impressed by the other sign near the monument that said, "Never Again".

John: Our route is north up the Romantische Strasse or Romantic Road through Bavaria. Here we sit in Nordlingen, a fortified city. That is a village surrounded by a wall. We ended up staying in Donauworth on the Danube River, it was combining with another river at that point heading down towards Vienna, so we're upstream from there. We also walked on the fortified wall with a moat around it. We're going to Dinkelsbuhl which is another town similar, 31 kilometers north of here which should be a rather leisurely ride for the afternoon.

John: We have come to the touristy little town of Dinkelsbuhl. Last night, we explored the city, it's another one of those fortified villages with the walls around it. There's a moat outside and towers around. All these towns are like that.

We were walking out of our dinner at the "Deutsch Haus", the most magnificent place to eat in all of Dinkelsbuhl and noted a crowd gathered by the St. George Church. Then the crowd murmured and said, "Oh, here he comes". There he was. Some dude in an olden time costume with the billowy sleeves and big trumpet on a stick, walked over, stood on the steps of the church, and... first he blew his horn on the trumpet... then he sang something. Took about a minute. Then he blew his horn again. Everyone applauded and he nodded his head in thanks for his performance, then he took off for the next location. They all followed him down to the next spot and did the same thing. He walked all around town and sang the same ditty each place and all these people kept walking right with him.

John: We looked at Rothenburg, yet another old walled moated city just like all the other Romantic Road towns. A Rothenburg legend goes that... one day in ancient times, the town was about to be taken over by the enemy. But, they wouldn't attack if the King could drink some ludicrous amount of alcohol. Well, evidently the olde King was quite a drinker and drank the required amount and saved the town. Unfortunately, it was such a great amount to drink... the heroic King died afterwards.

Well, Dick and I parted our ways after the Rothenberg museum. So, we shook hands, vowing to send postcards. Fond farewell to my traveling buddy. He heads west, myself north. This is his itinerary now: West to Heidelburg then Trier, down the Mosel Valley to Luxembourg, through Belgium to Amsterdam, then a straight cut over to Berlin. From Berlin he cuts down through East Germany, if he can get a visa. Then Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Budapest, Prague and then below that is Yugoslavia. It depends on how far he gets.

As for myself, it's north towards the general direction of Scandinavia. First up through Germany towards Berlin. You have to take a train to get through East Germany to Berlin itself. Then up to Denmark, and then back towards Amsterdam. Different directions, for different people. I wish good luck to Dick and will miss him, but look forward to an independent path.