PRIEN, Germany -- I'm familiar with Milwaukee's Germanfest celebration but I was able to experience the real thing during my bicycle tour in Germany.

The festival in Prien, located about 60 miles southeast of Munich, coincided with the small community's 850th anniversary celebration.

The two-day festival began with a big beer drinking and dancing event under a huge white tent in a field at the edge of town.

Women and men dress in authentic German-wear; the women in colorful dirndles and the men in hand sewn, leather lederhosen.

Women serve food and men draught drink. Beer is tapped from a real wooden barrel and served in heavy, 32-oz., dimpled glass mugs called masskrug.

Choices of beer include the weiss on tap and a mix of the beer combined with a watery lemonade.

The women bring beer orders to the table, grabbing (at most) nine full mugs at a time.

Women also deftly maneuver from table to table serve trays full of authentic German food including white sausages and whole roasted chicken served with potatoes and a roll.

While the food and drink keep people full, the entertainment is downright fantastic. No Jimmy Sturr or Barefoot Becky, as the house band includes horns and drums and plays on stage to a variety of young dancers in lederhosen and dirndles.

The young men perform a crown dance with the girls which features couples dancing with a large, green horseshoe of flowers.

The boys then perform a schubplattler dance which includes quick kicks and hand slaps of the feet and knees. The rhythm of the dance is kept as the boys pop their fists into the palm of their hand.

The second day of the German festival includes a parade through town. Every business, church, and former business is represented with a float pulled by a team of four horses.

Over 180 participants dress in costumes, which are a throwback to the German era of King Ludwig II to blacksmiths and hawk trainers and men who rode the streets on big wheeled bicycles wearing black top hats and tails.

Huge Bavarian horses are also magnificently dressed with red and blue fabrics hugging their ears and decorative weaves spilling down their nose. Large bronze bells dangle from a tangle of leather harnesses, halters, bits and breastplates.

My final days in Munich ...

In my final few days in Munich I take advantage of Lenny's Free Bicycle Tours which is a four-hour guided tour by bike around the city of Munich. An English-speaking guide (Tyler) mixes humor with history.

"The statue of Leopold shows him mounted on his horse which has one foot raised off the ground," said Tyler who was 20-something, dressed in a T-shirt and khaki cargo shorts. "The one raised foot tells us Leopold was injured in battle. If both feet of the horse were off the ground it means the soldier was killed in battle and if all four of the horses feet are off the ground it means the drugs are working and you'll be seeing white rabbits soon."

My adopted host, Christiane, spoils me once again allowing me to stay in her Munich apartment which is on the top floor of a six-story building overlooking the English Garden.

For those not familiar, the English Garden allows nude sunbathing and on our free bicycle tour there was also nude soccer playing and naked Frisbee.

Reflecting on Germany ...

It was the best bicycle tour ever. People say "I beam" when I talk about my trip.

Germany is just so far ahead of the game compared to the U.S. They are proactive with recycling, charging 15 to 20 cents per plastic bottle but then reimbursing the same when it's returned.

Everybody brings a bag to the store to transport their groceries and there's no need for a cart person to retrieve wayward carts from the parking lot as the stores all use the Aldi concept of depositing a quarter and getting it back when the cart is returned.

The bicycle lanes are exceptional in Germany as is their mass transport system with trains and buses (which both allow bikes).

The breads and beers of Germany were fantastic. I don't think I've had that much carb loading in a long, long time.

Finally the people and genuine hospitality were awesome. I've experienced the same thing across the States but it was nice to see in Europe, as well.