After Nueschwanstien, we traveled north for about two hours
more in the car. Following tractor trailers
again through switchbacks in the Alps.
Then all the sudden we hit the Autobahn again… WOOHOOO! I must have hit 170 K/Hr and again, station wagons
are just blowing by us. It was fun, but
a little scary at times. But then we get
to what would be the equivalent of the beltway around Munich, and we come to a screeching
halt. The traffic was something that we
would see at home on 405. It was a mess
and we had to make it to the airport to turn in the rental car.
We manage to make it there, and there are gas stations on
the way, unlike what we experienced in Dublin.
So we turn in the car and make our way into the airport to attempt to
figure out the train situation to get us back into the city center where we
were staying. We were having trouble
figuring out exactly where we needed to get to, so we asked, and we were on the
S-Bahn one more time.
Once we reached the city center, we were too busy looking at
pictures, etc and we missed our stop. SO
we hopped off and turned around to get the next train going back the other
way. We made it out of the train station
and to our apartment, where we met our next Airbnb host, Gosia. She was super nice, considering we were about
2 hours late. She gave us the run down
of what we needed to know and then she was off.
I imagine that most local Munichers rent out their apartments to the
drunken hoards descending on the city for Oktoberfest and then get the hell out
of town. It certainly seemed that’s what
she was doing. She did leave us with
quite a recommendation for dinner though, so we walked down the street and went
to this beautiful enormous beer garden for dinner. We went in to find one open table in the
whole place so we sat down. WHAM!!! A huge chestnut dropped right onto our table
and we found out why this was the only open table. Soon it starts to rain and they put up the
tent, thank God because we can hear the chestnuts bouncing off the tent. They would have left quite a mark.
Again, German food did not disappoint. And our waitress loved us so much that she
brought us shots of Schnapps at the end of dinner for dessert, and not the fruity
flavored schnapps, the real stuff. I
guess she was tickled to meet some folks who have been to her dream vacation destination,
Hawaii. Moni, our waitress, said that
this was her last day at the restaurant, since she was leaving for a while to
work a beer tent at Old Oktoberfest. I
guess that’s the more traditional, less touristy, more laid back version of
what everyone was in town for. So she
told us where to meet her, and we said we might just stop by to see her
again.
In the morning we made our way into the city center,
Marienplatz, to go on another one of the new berlin tours. These things really are fantastic, so if you
end up in a city where they have them, just do it. They walk you around for about 3 hours
showing you different parts of the city.
Our guide this time was a Kiwi that moved to Munich for a girl. He proceeded to show us around town and tell
us stories about the various places. It
turns out there is quite a bit of history here, a lot of which included beer,
but some of it was pretty interesting. I
didn’t realize that the Nazi party started in Munich, and the first meeting of
the German Workers Party actually met in the Hofbrauhaus. Crazy, we thought we were away from all that
stuff.
Afterwards, we went back to the apartment so that we could
mail home so of the souvenirs and other trinkets we’ve picked up along the
way. I will say this, for all the
advances that Europe has over the US, they sure don’t like to use credit
cards. Everything everywhere you go has
to be cash. And you would think if that
was the case, there would be ATM’s everywhere.
Well, no. So to mail our box
home, I had to run 6 blocks to the ATM and back because they didn’t take
Visa. It worked out fine, but it was
sure frustrating since we never carry cash at home.
After that mess, we went back downtown to find the
Hofbrauhaus to get dinner. What a
zoo. Umpah music playing
everywhere. People are all dressed up in
their lederhosen and everyone everywhere is drinking huge beers. For those of you that have never been to
Oktoberfest, it is not for the shy. You
have to find a seat at a table where everyone is already sitting. You just walk up and say, are these taken and
sit with some folks and get to talking with them. So after walking around a bit, we found some
seats at a table with a German couple, who was here for their first Oktoberfest
as well.
We ate and left. To try
and walk around, but it was pouring rain and we had a big day coming up, so we
went home for an early night.
The next
morning, we’re up at 8 am. Getting
dressed. I had found some Lederhosen boardshorts,
so I had those on. Walking through our
area of town, where there weren’t many tourists brought me many strange looks,
but as we got closer to the epicenter, I started to feel more comfortable and
fit it better. More and more people just
start piling on the trains as we get closer and closer to the festival.
Pop off the train and we start walking in to the main area,
mind you it’s about 9:30 in the morning and there are lines everywhere waiting
to get into the beer tents. And by tent
I mean enormous open building that seats like 10,000 people at picnic tables
inside. We decided to wait in line at
the Augustiner tent, and we made it in, only to see the place already
packed. So we wandered around, again
looking for open seats. Denied, denied,
denied until we asked the one group, and I don’t know if we didn’t understand
each other, but one of them shook their head and the other stood up to let us
into the middle of the table. So we were
in, we found a seat, and now the fun starts right? Nope, it’s like 10 am. On the first day, they don’t serve until
noon. So, the waiting game begins. There are Aussies on our right, and Germans
on our left. And we all get to talking. But we’re just passing time, so I went up to
the gift shop and bought a deck of cards.
Get back to we can start playing a game, open the deck and there are
only 36 cards?!!? Apparently it’s a deck
for some Bavarian game that only uses 6-Ace.
Say what? Oh well, we started
teaching the Aussies to play Blitz when the drums started. In marched the parade, full with marching
band and the whole deal. Guys holding
the signs of the brewery whose tent we were in, etc. Then they start yelling something in German
and a guy holds a mallet high in the air, then Wham! In goes the tap into the
first keg and the whole place erupts in cheering and the umpah band starts
playing.
Next we see our barmaid come to our table, with like 10
liters of beer in her arms, slams them down on the table and they get passed
down…. PROST!!!!! It begins. The Germans next to us are telling us that we
need to try the chicken, and we have to try and drink the liter of beer with no
hands. The one Aussie kid next to us
stands up on the table and pounds his full liter. And mind you this is within the first
hour. We got to be pretty friendly with
the German guys next to us. Andi as it
turns out spent a lot of time near LA since his father was working in Ventura. Of course as the beer continued to flow we
got more and more friendly. Everyone is
dancing on the tables, and we’re learning German songs and their teaching us
German words to say. Everyone is having
a blast. Alas, the Germans decided they
wanted to go to another place where more locals go, so they took off. They told us that we needed to walk around
the whole fair grounds, and ride the ferris wheel and get some good German
snacks. So after about 20 minutes we
left the tent to walk around. How these
things happen I don’t know, but we’re walking down the path only to find our
buddy Andi talking up some girl. So we
yell at him, and he grabs us and takes us into the tent where all of our new
friends were from the huge tent earlier.
Now this was where it got even more interesting. We went in and they had a band playing, but
it wasn’t umpah music, this was like American music from like 15 years
ago. And it was a ton of fun, drinking
gin and tonics was a welcome change to the 5 or so liters of beer that we had
earlier. So, our new German friends were
teaching us some of the German pop songs the cover band was playing. But, the funniest thing I think I saw all
night, was a whole tent full of Germans, in lederhosen and dirndls doing the
Macarena. And I don’t mean just doing
it, they went nuts cheering and dancing.
It was really pretty funny. I can’t remember the last time I heard that
song, let alone did the dance, with everyone else in the entire bar.
Finally it came time for us to head out. We said good bye to our new friends, and made
sure that they knew they had a place to stay when the visit LA again. And Andi gave Sarah his hat. Sarah tells me it’s hat karma, because I left
my Barancles hat with John in Edinburgh as a gift. I don’t know about that, but it was a super friendly
gesture and I really do hope that we see them again.
Speaking of Edinburgh, the first night we were in Munich was
the night of the referendum voting in Scotland.
And after all the hullabaloo Scotland decided they were better off being
part of the UK after all. It sure was
fun to follow the drama though.
We cleaned up the apartment, and headed to the train
station. I was pretty hung over, Sarah I
think fared better than I did. We get
in our train cabin, and we’re sharing it with another couple from the US who
was in town for the festival and is now heading to Venice. We’re on our way to Verona, and short stop
before Venice, so we can see what’s in store there. I guess it’s where Romeo and Juliet is set. But, we traded stories from our time in
Munich, and how much fun we had. We were
showing them part of our trip, and talking about all the things we’ve
done.
I’m not quite sure if I didn’t know what to expect, or what,
but Germany really blew me away. We had
so much fun there, in both Berlin and Munich.
It’s an amazing place, and my favorite so far. Oktoberfest was a blast, and definitely
something to check off the bucket list.
I don’t know that I need to go back to do it again right away, my body
couldn’t handle much more. But as for Berlin
and Munich and just Germany in general, I certainly hope this isn’t the last
time we are here. We both can’t wait to
return. What a fantastic place!!
