European Odyssey: Our triumphant arrival in Munich.

The beautiful farmhouse in Eck was left behind in the morning on Monday as we headed to our first of two breweries to visit before arriving in Munich. Our first stop was Schneider Weisse, home of some amazing wheat beers, for a tour of the brewery before lunch. The brewery came into being around 400 years ago and was subsequently purchased by the first Georg Schneider around 7 generations of Schneiders ago. The brewery has been in the family since then and the current Georg, Georg VI, is in charge today. Georg VI is also an artist and designed the labels of the many beers here to artistically reflect their content. I have a feeling he wanted to be an artist but had to stay in the family business. I'd feel bad for him, but his family business is beer so I think we will be okay. We tasted many wonderful beers here and were very impressed that Georg uses Cascade Hops from the U.S. in some of them.

After a great lunch which featured a guest appearance of Georg VI who kindly stopped by to say hello, we wandered the village and its church before heading to our next destination - Weltenburger Kloster.

The Weltenburger Kloster is a monastic brewery that dates back to 1050. Located on the Danube, it is scenic and soaked in history. The Romans built a temple to Minerva on the hillside, which was later replaced with a chapel, and which later became a Benedictine Abbey. Today seven monks remain on the premises and the brewery is a wonderful tourist destination. We toured the church on the premises which was the most ornately decorated church I've ever seen. After being inspired, we enjoyed some monastic-brewed beer in the courtyard and soaked in the scenery before departing to Munich.

Arriving in Munich, we had one goal. Find the Andechser am Dom and have a beer. This lovely place is affiliated with another monastic brewery which we wanted to go to but won't have the time. Instead, we went to the Marienplatz and strolled to the Andechser am Dom for a pretzel, sausages, beer, and schnapps. It was lovely. We walked through Oktoberfest revelers - some drunk, some on their way - and enjoyed every moment of it. Sometimes it just hits you, we are in Munich and it is magical. Tomorrow we will attack Oktoberfest.