Landshut, Germany

Landshut

This blog entry is the reassurance loved ones need to show that I survived the 80km from Munich of wet motorways and speeding BMWs and made it to Landshut. I got to a place called Erding and just as I was about to head down the road out of town I noticed my front tyre was going flat. So I turned around and started riding back to a garage about 1km in the other direction and it started to piss down with big raindrop rain. Thunder and lightning. A storm, good and proper. There was a cherry tree hanging over the footpath on the way, so it wasn't all bad. Thanks to the kindness of a Peugeot mechanic, I fixed my flat and glued up the hole in my tyre and rode away 30 minutes later. I turned the corner which I almost went down before the puncture, and rode straight into the best stocked bike shop I've seen in Germany so far. It was heaven. I bought up big on the bits I needed and shared the story of Frankenbike with the guys behind the counter. And yes, Frankenbike is the best. Aside from not having front shocks, the bike itself is pretty good. While the breaks aren't as tight as my bike in Oz, I had no gear issues and considering I paid sweet fanny adams to set it up, I can't complain.

Having studying google maps fairly closely the previous day, I rode knowing the basic direction and had some key place names written down to act as guides (out of 10 I saw 3). I had my compass strapped to my handlebars and I just headed down random back roads through fields and farmland, avoiding all the big roads, following roughly the same amount of East as I did North. It was the best. The trailer held up ok, but almost fell apart thanks to a loose screw. Taking out the time wasted learning that my trailer wheels are not a readily available size, I made the 80km journey in around 6 hours.

Landshut looks like postcards of Prague. Churches, bridges and multicoloured buildings. Just no tourists. It is nicknamed "LA", but that's because of the number plates and not the culture. The kids I'm staying with are super chilled. It's a share house with 4 peeps living there, but two of them are away at the moment. Ina and Sansch are my current hosts. Ina works at the local pub, and Sansch is a German/Polish free-styler with the biggest music collection I've seen for while. Ina has a young boy named Max, but his staying with his grandparent's in Dresden.

I've seen two of the night clubs here thanks to the assistance of Ina's mates and this place is still house music crazy. I guess my exposure to clubs in Australia have been mostly R&B driven, but it is a welcome change to see happy faces and people having fun. The macho shit that usually floats around in an R&B club isn't a good vibe. That said, I did see a fight last night. Maybe I'm just a raging queen and don't know it yet.

LA Island

There is a faux beach called LA Island, which a outside club set up for the summer by one of Ina's friends (she also works there during the day). It's nice to be lazy there and soak up the sun, but don't buy the overpriced schnitzel from the place next door. It's totally not worth it. I've seen the castle and checked out the ye olde town and riding around on the cobblestoned roads has it's moments. I think i could easily spend more time here, but Passau calls. I leave tomorrow morning.

Pictures of Frankenbike and trailer coming soon. Any suggestion for a name for the trailer can be made in the comments.