May 15, 2022- Bike Tour

Today was the Mike’s Bikes tour. I’d done this about 15 years ago on the advice of a coworker. It’s leisurely, mostly level, with plenty of stops for commentary by the American guides. Bonus- a stop near the end is in a beer garden near the Chinese Tower in the English Garden. This one had a twist- the local soccer team. FC Bayern Munchen, had won a championship last night for the 10th year in a row. There was a charity marathon going though part of my walking route although the guide later informed us that it wasn’t the kind of dead-serious marathon they have oin most places. There are no times. There are no medals. Families with children and those only moderately fit join and get off the route when they’ve had enough. My kind of race. The area where we were supposed to gather, Marienplatz, was cordoned off in multiple areas and overrun with security forces. The victory celebration, it turned out, was taking place at Marienplatz at 1:30. Fortunately we were well on our way by then. At lunch in the beer garden in the English Garden I ended up sitting by an American doctor now based in Jerusalem and a young man based in Singapore who was a general insurance (property-casualty) actuary. He even knew my former boss, also based in Singapore. Good food and beer and intelligent conversation. I’m fine traveling alone but like the occasional group tour so I can meet other people.