Oktoberfest

  It's done!

We have survived our first Oktoberfest in Munich.  We should have seen the writing on the wall when the train station in Munich was overcrowded and the subway was being filled like cattle car to the theresinwises.  As we emerged from the hot and dark confines of the subway station we bore witness to the greatest drunkfest on the planet.  Imagine a giant refugee camp with rides, food, and copious amounts of beer.  At first we thought we were at the world’s largest frat party with the ladies in their dresses, bosoms lifted and overflowing out of their shirts. The guys dressed up in swanky Lederhosen and other Abercrombie products, most hairdos offering stiff resistance to anything mother nature could throw at it.  But we soon realized it was much, much more than that. The main effort of each day was the procuring of a seat at a table...any table.  This usually involved circling like vultures waiting for a vacancy to come open, then pouncing.  For some reason we kept sitting with Italians who loved Teresa (especially the dirty old ones) who propositioned her to sleep with them while I was at the bathroom.  I was a little perturbed by this but the beers that they kept buying us seemed to keep my temper in check.  After a few liters of bier we were well on our way and as the afternoon progressed the show got better.   There was the staggering, passing out, projectile vomiting in crowds, and the completely unabashed groping of other Oktoberfest goers,  and this was all before 6 pm (why did I wait so long to come to this?).  When we felt our livers and sense of wellbeing could no longer take the sensory overload we departed back to our campsite on the outskirts of Munich to get some peace and quiet. No such luck.  We discovered that a group of Italians has pitched their tent on top of ours and the random gibberish of Italian, French, German, and Spanish groups going on till the wee hours of the night. 

So to sum up, Oktoberfest is a hell of a good time, but in a way it’s a lot like Las Vegas; awesome at first but as time goes on you can’t wait to leave only to dream about going back a few months later. 

Next on the agenda,  renting a minivan and cruising around Bavaria with momma and papa Owen and the BIG 30 FOR TERESA!!!!  (I’m sure Oktoberfest shaved off a few good years of life). 

Until then

Tschau

Bamberg, better late then never

We sprung the computer out of lock down!  Here's our adventure in Bamburg.

We left Frankfurt on Tuesday Sept 28th,  destined for Bamburg, which is just north of Nurmberg.  We had a little mix up with the trains in Frankfurt, ending up going to Mannheim (which I still don’t know where that is on the map)  before we could switch trains.  It took us two extra hours to get to Bamburg; had we been running the Amazing Race this mistake could have cost us the million dollar prize money!

Once we arrived into Bamburg, we walked about a kilometer from the train station to the guest house, Brauereigasthof Fassla, where we were staying.  Fassla is a not only a guesthouse, but also a local brewery with a cozy atmosphere and an outside courtyard.  After dropping our stuff in our room, we headed downstairs and tasted the pilsner before going out and exploring the town. 

What we quickly discovered is that Bamburg is so cute, we almost threw up!  Bamburg was spared bombings during WWII and as a result there are many historical buildings still intact.  There is an area along the Linker Regnitzam river called Little Venice (Klein Venedig) which I fell in love with and made Jeff take like 50 pictures of the area!  We wandered into Gruner Markt (the market area) and up to the towering Dom (cathedral).

We had originally planned to stay one night in Bamburg and continue onto Munich, but we decided to stay another night have a full day to explore.  After eating breakfast at the Fassla guesthouse the next day, we rented bikes and drove all around the town.  Jeff thinks he is a car on two wheels when he is on a bike and nearly ran over a little grandma.  Scariest thing is he didn’t even see her!  We obtained  the key from the tourist office for the Geyerworth Castle, once the prince bishop’s town castle, where we got some of the best views in Bamburg.  Another of our favorite sites was the Old Town hall built on a bridge over one of the two rivers running through town.  

Now its off to Oktoberfest!!  Cheers! 

Computer is locked up!

We traveled from Frankfurt to Bamberg where we spent several days. I wrote a really detailed blog entry on our little laptop. Jeff was teasing me that I sounded like a tour guide. Well Internet connections are few and far between so we weren't able to post it right away, so I saved it on the computer planning to post it as soon as we found a hot spot.
We took the train to Munich for Okberfest. We dropped all our gear that we didn't need into a luggage locker at the train station and the computer is in there. We going to rescue it on Monday so I'll post pictures and the Bamberg blog entry then.
Now we're off to okberfest to learn some German drinking songs and drink some German beer!
Cheers!