Sorry to see you go. It was a wonderful month - good weather most of the time and wonderful bicycle days. The first week we were still touring along the Alpe-Adria bicycle path. We returned on September 10 and since then the time has just flown.

Today again sun, but definitely not that kind of warm sunny day we were having a month ago. It was sunny and chilly. I already had my layers on and long bicycle tights. For no particular reason, I decided to cycle to Munich's soccer stadium, the Allianz Arena. It was a pleasant 24km round trip, first through city streets that I wasn't familiar with, then to the Fröttmaninger Berg.

On the way back through the English Garden, I passed by the lovely Aumeister beer garden. It was full, Oktoberfest atmosphere everywhere. It was the first time I have ever seen or heard live music there, and with a harp, too.

Friday
A beautiful day, and since I had a lunch date in Starnberg, I decided to ride out on my bike. Friday is a good day to visit in Starnberg: Daniel is home on Fridays and when the grands come from school we can all have lunch together.

It was still warm enough to eat outside in Daniel's wonderful garden, full of tomato plants heavy with this year's bounty, also melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, garden herbs were in abundance. A little paradise. We had a fine meal of pasta with salmon and broccoli sauce, topped with mushrooms that Daniel had collected in the woods.

Saturday
I left my bike in Starnberg so that I could come out again and ride back home. Taking the train out and walking from the station to Daniel's is almost as much effort as cycling the whole distance - almost. Cycling is certainly more enjoyable. I got there around noon, we had brunch together (actually their breakfast), and then got on my bike. I prepared a different route for the way back, through Forstenrieder Park, actually a forest, which was much nicer than the route on the previous day.

Actually, I rose before the sun so I could get out on my bike by the time the sun was rising. Janos had already left for his annual trip to Italy with his cyclist friends, driving the sag, not cycling himself. So I got on my bike at seven for a shorter trip to the Olympic park to catch the early sun.

I had my "funny lens" with me, so I also got some strange shots, too. I know, not everyone likes these blurry images, and look at that crazy sun. That was an experiment.

Since it was such a beautiful day, I thought I should have a look if there wasn't something worth shooting at the Oktoberfest. There were already tons of people there at 10:30 a.m.
I didn't stay long, but here are a few pictures.

On the first Sunday of the Oktoberfest, a traditional cosutme parade marches throught the streets of Munich, the Trachtenumzug.

In 1835, the parade was first held in honor of the 25th wedding anniversary of Oktoberfest founders King Ludwig I and his wife Theresie. Since 1950, it has become a regular event.

About 9500 members take part in the parade, which is about seven kilometers long, and present a huge variety of traditional Bavarian dress, as well as traditional clothing worn by the different trades, such as carpenters, chimney sweeps, butchers and many more. Community clubs for hunting, fishing and other pastimes are also represented. It's hard to enumerate the many many groups that take part in the parade. There are also dozens of marching bands in their stunning uniforms. To this, add the Munich breweries with their horse drawn beer wagons. But it's not only Bavarian. Guests from all over Germany and even Europe take part.

Nothing is lovelier than an early morning ride on the week-end. The streets are (almost) devoid of cars, the hectic bicycle commuters are still asleep. I have the place to myself. As in the past few days, I was out at seven, hoping for a ray of sun through the clouds at sunrise. No luck on that account today.

I rode through the streets of Schwabing, then to the English Garden and had my new lens with me, a tricky lens that I don't yet have much experience with, and so far have had very limited success with. If used properly, the lens gives you a slice of sharpness and the rest of the photo is a soft blur that doesn't distract from the subject of the photo - which should be the slice that is in focus. Today's photos weren't too successful, either. It seems I have been making the slice too thin and the blur too strong, just overdoing it. Below are the few pictures I have salvaged from the many that I took. I am looking forward to getting out again to apply what I hopefully learned this time around.