There is definitely something relaxing looking out over an expanse of water, especially when it’s a large and almost perfectly still lake. It’s a different experience to sitting close to the sea, as apart from there being no tidal rise and fall, there are normally waves, of varying height and ferocity, breaking upon the shoreline.
Lakes too can have waves, and some of the large inland areas
of fresh water, such as North America’s Great Lakes can experience quite large,
storm-generated surges, on occasion. By and large though, the shoreline of a
lake is a much quieter and more tranquil place than that of the sea.
This calming effect is what appeals to me, and nowhere was this more apparent than at the small lakeside town of Herrsching, another lakeside destination in southern Germany. Herrsching is situated on the banks of the Ammersee, one of several large lakes to the south of Munich. It lies at the southern terminus of the city’s S-Bahn S8 rail line.
Matthew and I have passed through the town on several
occasions, on our way to Kloster
Andechs. This monastery and Bräustüberl perched on top of the Holy Mountain, over-looking the Ammersee, needs little in the way of introduction to regular
visitors to Munich, and it was on one such trip that we decided to stop off in
Herrsching, on our way back.
As I wrote at the time, with a glass or two of Hofbräu
Original, a plate each of O'bazda (a Bavarian cheese delicacy), and a ringside view of the calm and serene Ammersee
against the backdrop of the surrounding hills, I can think of few better places
to spend a sunny afternoon. We watched the steamers coming and going from the
adjoining jetty and got chatting to a lady who lived the other side of the
lake, but who had cycled right round to Herrsching.
Our conversation began after she’d started reading the back of the shirt, I was wearing that day. The garment has long since gone to that great laundry room in the sky, but my Hop Back Summer Lightning T-shirt had a long list of adjectives, printed on the rear, describing, and praising the beer, and the long list of words had caught this lady’s eye.
With the T-shirt serving as an introduction, we started
chatting, primarily in English because she
wanted to practice her language
skills. She told us that after a glass of beer and a bite to eat, she was
planning to return back by ferry with her bicycle. We had a lengthy and interesting
chat, before this charming lady had to depart, but what a fantastic way to spend
your day. Cycling around the shore of a beautiful and scenic lake, stopping for
lunch at a beer garden over-looking its calm, still waters, and then taking the ferry
home!
A couple of years later we visited Berlin. It was our first
and, so far, only visit to the German capital and as well as doing plenty of
sight-seeing within the city, we also took a couple of excursions out into the
surrounding countryside. One of these
involved a short train ride to the south-east of Berlin, to the city’s largest lake,
known as the Müggelsee.
We visited the lakeside suburb of Kopenick, home to the
recently closed Berliner Burgerbräu Brewery and It
was here that we had the only tram ride of the trip, travelling from the S-Bahn station to the Bräustübel attached to the brewery. Once there, we spent a very pleasant afternoon
sitting out in the sun, on the terrace of the Weisse Villa, overlooking the perfectly still waters of the Müggelsee, enjoying a couple of Burgerbräu Pilsners.
It was just perfect, and totally un-expected for early March!
Finally, we cross the Atlantic and to Lake Erie, the second smallest
of the Great Lakes and also the shallowest. Despite its place towards the
bottom of the size rankings, Lake Erie still contains one heck of a lot of water,
and from the water’s edge, looks and feels more like a sea, than a lake. In
common with the other Great Lakes, it has sea-like characteristics, such as
rolling waves, sustained winds, strong currents, great depths, and distant
horizons.
My sister and her family, live in a
small town, which is
about 20 minutes’ drive from
Lake Erie. On the final morning of my last visit to the US, my sister and I
stopped by the lake for a spot of breakfast. We picked up takeaway from the
nearby McDonalds drive through, parked the car, and then sat on a bench,
enjoying our sausage and egg McMuffins’ hash browns and coffee.
We felt like a couple of naughty school kids, tucking into our
breakfast, primarily because my American brother-in-law has a real downer on
the junk-food diet espoused by many of his countrymen. He’d had to go into work
that morning – hence our McDonald's indulgence, but it was just the right thing
on that calm and still August morning.
Lake Erie was as calm and still as the proverbial millpond, with no signs of the disturbances that sometimes trouble its waters. Yet again, a large body of calm and still water proved the perfect spot at which to sit and relax.
2 comments:
You've been to quite a few more German places than me, Paul; I'm jealous of your suburban Berlin excursions !
Summer Lightning was a hugely popular beer in the late '90s/early 00s, wasn't it ? Much less common now, perhaps overtaken by other Citra style beers, but a favourite of Mrs RM.
Although it is three decades since the wall came down, Berlin still has the feel of a divided city. It is well worth a visit Martin, and included in those suburban excursions was a trip out to Potsdam - home to the Kings of Prussian and dubbed the Versailles of Germany.
Dresden, features high on my list of German cities to visit, once travel opens up properly; although I did promise Matthew a return trip to Munich.
I agree that Summer Lightning has been eclipsed by other pale, and Citra-style beers, but it remains a fine beer in its own right, and is well worth drinking. It was a permanent fixture on the bar, of the Angel Inn, at Swanton Morley, back in the day when my parents lived in the village, and was always on good form.
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