The night before my entire family arrived in Munich to visit me for the first time I was a huge ball of emotion. I was excited, nervous, happy, giddy, stressed… Something I know about myself is that I get really paranoid that my guests aren’t having a good time when they visit. I was worried I would ruin the experience for myself if that happened. With the jetlag and my niece and nephew being here, and so many people in one house…there was no telling how things would go. People kept reminding me that my family is coming to Europe, how could they possibly have a bad time?!
Alex and I decided the only way to greet them at the airport was to do it properly. In traditional Bavarian dress! So in the morning we woke up feeling like it was Christmas morning (well I did, Germans celebrate Christmas at night), I put on my dirndl and Alex put on his lederhosen and we hopped on the train. This was my neice and nephews first plane ride and I was anxious to hear how it went. We waited for them outside the gate and I don’t think I could’ve been anymore excited. Having my whole family walk out of the baggage check exit is something I won’t soon forget. I just couldn’t believe they were all here with my in Munich.
We had rented an apartment for Lauren’s family through Airbnb and Mom, Dad and Kristin were staying with us. Everyone took naps as soon as we got back from the airport. That was really hard for me to handle since it meant having to wait longer to hang out with them, but I knew it was for the best.
Alex and I had a list of potential things we could all do. However, we really only had one day to do them. They arrived on Wednesday and we took it easy at home that day and had a BBQ. So then we just had Thursday for sightseeing since Friday we needed to leave for the wedding. Because we knew they’d be jet-lagged and since we had two small kids with us we didn’t set anything in stone and instead just picked some things off the list that seemed to fit with the mood and the day. The only unfortunate thing was the heat. I’m not 100% sure but I would guess it was one of the hottest weeks of summer. If not the hottest. By the end of the day Alex and I were both exhausted so I can’t imagine how my family was feeling. All I can say is that they were the biggest troopers!
As we always do in my family, we ate and drank well throughout the visit. We served up a big Bavarian breakfast complete with weißwurst and beer to start the day. The we all hopped on the train to Nymphenburg Palace and walked around the grounds. I think for Brayden he would’ve been happy enough just riding the trains, trams and buses all day. He loved that we were riding the train underground. For the rest of us though we could’ve done without the stifling heat on the public transport. Since we were all about to die of heat stroke we headed to Augustiner Biergarden to have some lunch in the shade. We order a bit of everything to give them a sampling of Bavarian food. Some fresh whole trout, a giant pretzel, obadza (a camembert cheese spread), and a variety of meats. Of course we all had to order a Maß to rehydrate. The kids enjoyed the playground while the adults rested. Once we were somewhat revived we headed into the city center, starting at Stachus where we played in the fountain a bit to cool off. Then walking through the city, we checked out some churches, street musicians, and entertainers until we made our way to Marienplatz and the Rathaus. Then it was a short (some people would probably argue that it wasn’t short) walk through the Hofgarten and into the Englisch Garten where we stopped to watch the famous surfers on the Eisbach. Finally we cooled off in the shade with a few beers. At that point we were all ready to head home and have a nice BBQ on the terrace.
My brother-in-law, who is an incredible photographer captured the entire trip and left us with some amazing memories. Just to give him a little plug, more of his work can be seen here: Jeff Massey Photography The following photos are all credited to him.
Happy Birthday to my beautiful friend Acacia! I decided I will finally finish this blog post about her visit to Germany LAST SPRING and what better time to do it than the day after her birthday.
When Acacia first told me she was coming to visit and we picked some dates I started scheming right away. After a bit of back and forth with a few different ideas we decided to spend some time in Munich and then take a road trip through Slovenia. Acacia had heard so much about my trip there that she wanted to see it. I realized that there was still a lot there left for me to see too so it would be a new adventure.
On arrival Acacia was of course a bit jet lagged so I decided after some relaxation at the apartment we could do an easy city tour on the big red double decker tour bus. I’d never done one of these tours before…and I’d never do it again. It was probably the most boring “tour” I’ve ever done. It was about the same as just taking a public bus around the city. The only good part is that it’s a hop-on/hop-off tour so we were able to get out and see a few things. I think Acacia fell asleep a couple times on the bus. The positive was that it definitely didn’t require much energy from us so it was good for someone with jet lag…but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
The second day we did some wedding dress shopping. I knew this was something I wanted to do with her because we probably wouldn’t have any other chance. I booked an appointment at one shop and another friend from Munich also met us there. The shop was lovely and served us some Champagne. The dresses were beautiful but way more than I wanted to spend but it was nice hearing some opinions and I was grateful to have that experience with Acacia.
The big highlight was our planned road trip to Slovenia. We bought tickets for the long haul bus for something like $60 round trip from Munich to Ljubljana. The ride was supposed to be about 5.5 hours but on the way there we were stopped for awhile due to a tunnel having construction. It added about 2 hours to the trip. Overall though you just can’t beat that price.
Once in Ljubljana we walked from the bus station through town to our hostel for the night. This was actually my first time staying in a hostel. We decided to get a private room so that we’d get a good night sleep. The problem ended up being the pigeons outside our window keeping us up rather than fellow travelers. Next time I’ll remember ear plugs. But again it was a good, budget friendly place to stay for the night. After dropping our bags off we headed out to explore town. Ljubljana is one of my favorite cities so it was really fun to be able to share it with Acacia. We wandered around the cute streets in the old part of the city. Ate some gelato, had dinner at my favorite restaurant (Marley & Me) and took a walk up to the castle. I forgot to take photos in Ljubljana for some reason.
The next morning we rented a car and started our road trip. I felt bad because I don’t have a driver’s license anymore so Acacia had to do all the driving. The good thing about Slovenia is that it’s so small it doesn’t take long to get to the next place. I tried to plan our trip so there was just about an hour of driving between each destination. Truth be told I ended up doing some of the driving so that Acacia could enjoy looking at the scenery. Oops!
Our first destination was the Skocjan Caves which are a UNESCO National Heritage site. We decided to stop on the way there to see Predjama Castle. The castle is about 700 years old and is built into the side of a 123 meter cliff. It’s a pretty amazing sight. We decided to just view it from outside the entrance to save from paying the fee. The view was pretty good from there anyway and we didn’t have the time to take a tour of the inside since we’d booked a tour of Skocjan.
The Skocjan Caves were really beautiful and the tour was informative and in English. The caves are formed by the Reka River which disappears underground and then reappers 34km away. The river flows through some caves which total about 6km. There were some points when the water was flowing really powerfully through the caverns which was impressive. There were other areas where you could see the old caving equipment and boardwalks that had been built (no longer in use) and you could really imagine what it might have been like to be an early explorer of the caves. You especially felt this when they turned out all the lights and you experienced total darkness. If you’d been in there with only a lamp and in a few places 100 meters drops into raging water…that would’ve been a bit scary.
We weren’t allowed to take photographs in the caves but we took a few when we exited. There were a few ways back to the car and we decided to take the longer, scenic route which involved a few hundred steps. We got our exercise in for the day!
After the caves we were heading toward Dobrovo, which is in the wine region. We decided to take a short detour though when Acacia asked if we were near Italy and if we could pop over to check it out. So we headed there for lunch. I knew nothing about the area so we picked a coastal town on the map. It turned out to be a pretty dirty looking port town. We got some lunch and decided to try a nearby village on the way out that might be more appealing. We weren’t so lucky with that town either but we stopped anyway for some gelato. Acacia tried ordering a coffee and instead got the strongest espresso ever and had to add water to it. So Italy was kind of a bust but at least she can check it off the list. 🙂
In Dobrovo, I’d booked us a room in a house that overlooked the valley with a nice view of the vineyards. After checking in we headed into town and enjoyed some wine and a nice dinner. Our stay was a little bit too short in this area. It would’ve been nice to have an extra day and get out and do some wine tasting. Even so, the scenery is well worth the quick visit. As we headed out the next day there was some sort of festival in town that people were getting setup for. As we drove slowly through we saw something that I’m not sure I’ll ever forget. They had begun roasting an entire cow on a spit. The thing that made this so crazy looking is that all of the skin of the cow had been removed and the eyes were open and just staring. It was really unexpected first thing in the morning!
Our next stop was Tolmin to see the Tolmin Gorges. This area is heading into the mountains but we didn’t have time to get too far into the mountains as that really increases the driving time. I’d never been to this area before either so I was pretty excited. The GPS directed us to start going up the mountain. I had decided to drive this part so Acacia could get a good view. The road quickly turned into a very narrow one way mountain ridge. We kept driving for 20 or 30 minutes and still didn’t see a sign of the gorge. Finally we reached a spot where some people had parked and were starting to hike up to a site. But it definitely wasn’t the gorges so we asked them about it. Luckily they spoke English and they told us where we wanted to go was all the way down the mountain back in town. We’d somehow taken a wrong turn. So back down the mountain we went, hoping that no cars would be trying to come up the mountain as there was no place to really pull over. We decided to have some lunch when we got back down and get some more instructions about where to go. It turned out that getting there was quite easy as long and we’d just made one wrong turn. We’d come to the gorge with our swimsuits hoping for a swim in the turquoise waters and maybe a dip in the hot spring. Sadly there was no swimming allowed. So we hiked along the boardwalks and just looked longingly at the beautiful water. It probably would have been much too cold to enjoy anyway.
After the gorge we hopped back in the car and headed toward Lake Bohinj where we would stay for the night in a farmstay. Alex had been doing a solo motorcycle trip through Slovenia and decided he would meet us there for the night. The hosts were so generous and when I asked if Alex could tent camp on their property they said they would just put us in the bigger apartment for the same price and he could stay with us for free. So nice! The farm was in a tiny village outside of town and had it’s own chickens and cows. The people were really friendly and the apartment was clean and comfortable. We went into town for some dinner and to walk around and check out the lake.
The next morning Alex left us to continue his trip and Acacia and I headed to Lake Bled. This is the “fairytale lake” of Slovenia and I figured we should make a stop for some photos before heading back to Ljubljana to return the car and catch our bus to Munich.
Once back in Munich we just did a little relaxing before Acacia’s flight back. Our neighbor’s had a birthday breakfast so she got to hang out a bit with some Germans and see what a German breakfast is all about.
All in all the trip was a success! I’m so grateful that she made the trip over here and that I was able to share so many amazing things with her. I know life will just be getting busier and busier but I hope this isn’t the last time she’ll make it over to Europe! 🙂
Let’s see. We’re going back quite a ways here to remember my first months in Munich. I guess I’ll just summarize a bit of my experience from when I arrived until present. Of course the first thing to mention was how exciting it was to arrive in Munich with Alex waiting for me and knowing that this would be (hopefully) a more permanent stay than when I arrived in Basel. This time I was arriving to a city that was new for the both of us and a much larger apartment that we would be settling into together.
As anyone would be, I was very excited to explore Munich when I first arrived. Unfortunately I was greeted with four weeks of cold rain and it quickly drowned out any hopes I had of getting to know the city. By the time the weather turned nice my initial high had faded a bit and it was more of an effort to get out and see everything. I think ultimately this hindered my settling into life in Munich. I would advise that anyone moving to a new city should move during nice weather so they can take advantage of their excitement and use the energy to explore everything. I don’t really have any photos from the rainy time for obvious reasons so here’s a few from the first few sunny days at our apartment and exploring the city.
clockwise from top left: [1] We officially live together! [2] Sunrise from our back window [3] Our terrace with the new sunshade [4] BBQing at our new placeImages from our first mini exploration of the city center
The positive part of the bad weather was that it allowed us plenty of time to get the apartment setup, shop at IKEA, and do some home projects without feeling like we were missing out on sunshine and the outdoors. This has been the first time I’ve really put effort into settling into an apartment and it was quite fun working on some projects for the house. Fun and a total frustration at the same time! But lessons were learned and next time hopefully I can work more efficiently. Ultimately I think I ended up with some pieces that I’m proud of and were worth the effort and the sawdust. The three main projects were refinishing the used dining table, building a wine crate coffee table inspired by something seen on Pinterest, and making a couple photo walls to display some of our travel photos. We also pieced together a little kitchen island/storage from some different IKEA products. It fits the beer crates perfectly!
left and right columns: the progress center: the finished table!left top to bottom right: [1] The raw crates we purchased from ebay [2] Alex sanding and adding some extra support [3] Painting and staining [4] Transferring the graphics. Each one represents a place we’ve been together [5] Putting it all together [6] The finished coffee table!Our photo walls. The big one was done with second-hand painted frames. The smaller with IKEA frames and shelves. Time consuming but saved a ton of money!
left: The DYI IKEA-hacked kitchen island. right: Some new furnishings in my office with a pull-out couch. We’re ready for visitors!
Once the weather warmed up I bought a bicycle to get myself around and explore a bit more. The public transit system is great but a bike is just a much better way to explore in the nice weather. Alex and I spent a day riding all over Munich through the English Garden and along the Isar River. This is my favorite part of Munich! Cruising around Munich by bicycle
Our apartment has a fairly big terrace and so we set up a nice BBQ and eating area, a hammock, and a garden area and evenings and weekends were spent enjoying nice meals out there. Alex has quite the green thumb and we enjoyed fresh lettuces, tomatoes, strawberries, herbs, etc. all summer long. Enjoying the hammock all summer long! Our terrace garden
As beautiful as Munich is it hasn’t all been easy. Moving to a new place is always hard and when it’s a new country with a language you don’t speak it’s even more difficult. Working from home doesn’t give much opportunity to meet people either so it was easy to get homesick. I joined CrossFit Munich in hopes of meeting some people and on the first day met another American, Rachael. Her and her husband have become good friends here and it was nice to meet someone who has gone through a similar experience and could give me some tips. CrossFit itself has been great because it’s something that feels familiar and gives me a place to belong to. My summer was amazing in terms of travel, exploring, and staying active. There’s so much to do in this city from the historical buildings, beautiful gardens, swimming pools, great restaurants and beer gardens, summer festivals… and in just an hour or so you can be in the Alps or at one of the many lakes surrounding Munich. Some graffiti around CrossFit Munich clockwise from top left: [1] A picnic on the train with Alex, Daan, and Marlene on the way to the lake. [2] A day at beautiful Tegernsee [3] Munich’s Summer Fest [4] A typical summer evening at home BBQing [5] Watching a summer thunderstorm from the terrace clockwise from top left: [1 & 2] After work rooftop party [3] A day at the pool [4] Outdoor Film Festival clockwise from top left: [1] Trying out a Mexican restaurant [2] The Summer festival Ferris Wheel at sunset [3] Meeting up with a high school friend and his fiance [4] The fountain at Karlsplatz Exploring the Nymphenburg Palace and botanical gardens in MunichA beautiful motorbike ride outside of the city
Ok, so I’m not painting a very good picture of all the hardships I suffered by posting those photos! :p Seriously though this has been one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. Looking back I think if I had started taking a German course right away it would have made a big difference. The hardest part of settling in has been not knowing the language. People have often remarked that I should be fine because most people speak English. But what most don’t realize, and what I didn’t realize at first either, is how much of an outsider you feel when you don’t share the language of the place you’re living. The smallest things become a challenge and take mental effort. Going grocery shopping, to the post office, to the bank, etc. Asking someone for directions even. Just asking the question “do you speak English?” takes a bit of courage for me because I honestly feel like an asshole that I don’t speak German and am making someone switch languages to accommodate me. Now maybe most people don’t mind at all and I’m making a big deal of it in my head but I just can’t help feeling like I’m an inconvenience to others. It just wears on you after awhile because it’s constantly on your mind. All of this “culture shock” (which I recently found out is a real mental condition that people can suffer from), really wore down my spirit and left me feeling like a person I didn’t recognize. I went from feeling like an independent, confident and self-sufficient person to someone who is constantly second-guessing herself and needing help. When it comes to socializing with other German-speaking people I get very quiet and can’t participate in the conversation as I usually would. This is especially frustrating when it comes to Alex’s family because I really want to know them and for them to know me. I’m realizing how much we communicate who we are through language. I worry about how other people view me then and I think about times when I’ve seen American men with quiet, foreign wives. While I’m ashamed to admit it I viewed them as submissive women that don’t have their own identity. Now that I’ve been in that situation I realize how wrong it is to assume that. When I first meet someone and they ask why I’m in Germany I struggle with telling them it’s because of my boyfriend. I feel like I can almost see the judgment in some people’s faces and I imagine that they’re assuming I’m the type of girl that has no life of her own and just followed some guy she met to his country where I sit at home and do nothing. I always feel the need to follow up my answer with an explanation that I work as a freelancer and have a business. Needless to say I’m learning a lot about my personal insecurities and realizing that I care a lot more about what others think of me than I ever thought I did.
Part of the reason I held off on learning German was because my first goal was to get a visa so that I could stay long term. It was hard to allow myself to truly settle in until that happened because it would have been such a letdown if I didn’t get the visa. I did a lot of research on the self-employment visa in Germany and over-prepared myself for the meeting at the Auslanderbehörde. I had read mixed stories online about how difficult it is to obtain the self-employment visa. I brought Alex with me in case I needed a translator. The process couldn’t have been easier for me. I went in with all of my paperwork; work contracts, references, bank statements, proof of health insurance, and my portfolio. The woman spoke English and she just went through all my forms, made a comment that I was very organized, and then told me to go pay the cashier and come back with the receipt to get my 2-year visa. I’m serious when I say that the instant I got that visa I feel like I could breathe and finally start to view Munich as my home.
A lot has happened since those first few months. The roller coaster of emotions has started to have less dips and as I’ve adjusted to working from home and getting my schedule in order I’ve been able to make more time for networking events in Munich both for social and business connections. We’ve met some awesome people and now have a nice group of friends which really helps to make Munich feel more like home. I finally started taking German classes and as frustrating as it is I think it’s really helping. More on all of that in a later post though.
While this has most definitely been one of the biggest challenges of my life I wouldn’t trade a single second of it. I’ve learned so much about myself in such a short time. More importantly I’ve been able to have this adventure with Alex and every second I’ve spent with him proves to me that I made the right decision in coming here. Beautiful Munich sunsets!
Summer began to turn to Fall and then I had my first guest come out to visit me. My friend Lauren from CA had been visiting her sister in Turkey and flew into Munich for a few days before going back to the States. It was so nice to see a familiar face and have a girlfriend around for a few days (especially a native English speaker!). Showing her around Munich was also fun. I think when you give people a tour of the place you live and see them enjoying it your pride for your city grows a little bit. This was really good for me and just what I needed at the time. We went to a few of the typical tourist spots like the Hofbrauhaus, tried on some dirndls together, and then did a day-drinking tour of the city on our own. This basically means we walked around the city with beers in hand stopping wherever we felt like. At one point we bought beers but forgot to ask the clerk to open them. I figured I’ve seen Alex open a beer using basically any object at his disposal…how hard can it be? I walked over to a metal gate by the park and tried to use it as a lever to pop the cap off. I managed to make myself bleed and draw the attention of an older couple who was obviously German because he produced a bottle opener on the spot for us. I’m going to really have to practice being a better German. By the time we were ready to get some food I was a bit too buzzed to navigate google maps and find the Mexican restaurant I had intended on going to. Instead we ended up as Weisses Bräuhaus and ate until we were ready to burst. This is probably one of the best German meals I’ve had since getting here actually. What follows are the best selection of photos from a huge batch of drunken selfies we took throughout the day.
One of the last days of Lauren’s visit we decided to rent a car and drive into the mountains of Austria to go canyoning. The weather was absolute shit that day but we’d already made the plans so we just figured if we didn’t go canyoning we could check out a little mountain town. It was raining and freezing cold when we arrived to the town of Haiming in Ötztal and found Fankhauser Rafting. We were still undecided so we went in to get some information. We saw one other group that was there to go rafting but other than that we were the ONLY ones there. After some flip-flopping we decided to just do it. The water is freezing anyway so maybe it wouldn’t matter if the air was cold. We definitely made the right decision. This canyoning tour was even better than the one I did in Slovenia. Our guide Johannes was very experienced and did a great job keeping us alive! 😉 We got to do some rappelling down huge waterfalls which was really fun. Lauren had done some similar things when she was in Australia but nothing like this and she was the perfect person to bring on this tour, she did great, wasn’t afraid, and was having fun. A day like this definitely would be pure torture for some people so I was really happy when she said it’s one of the best things she’s ever done. The big moment for me was toward the end when we approached a spot where we had the option of doing a high jump, lower jump, or slide down the waterfall. We had just come off a pretty high jump so I was feeling some adrenaline. I didn’t necessarily feel the need to do the high jump but wanted to take a look before deciding. I walked up and looked over…it was really high. 15 meters which is about 50 feet. I think the highest I’ve jumped is maybe 40 ft but it wasn’t measured so who knows. Lauren took a look and said she wasn’t going to and that kind of gave me an out so I said I’d skip it as well. The tour guide responded “that’s totally fine, you’d be the first girl I’ve seen do it anyway.” What?! Why would he say that?! Obviously now I have to be the first girl to do it! So I changed my mind and stepped up to the edge. Lauren did her lower jump first while I stood above still trying to decide if I could do it. It took a lot of mental coaching, my body just naturally doesn’t want to follow what my mind is telling it to do. It’s such a weird sensation. Every time I thought I was going to jump I took a tiny step to the edge and then stepped back. It felt like I did this for 5 minutes but Lauren said it was more like 10. Finally I just stepped to the edge where I was supposed to jump from and leaped off. I was supposed to keep my body really straight and rigid but that all went out the window when I jumped. I definitely smacked my ass pretty hard on the water and at the same time that I was experiencing this amazing rush I was also thinking that I probably wouldn’t do a higher jump than that. When I asked the tour guide if I was really the first girl to do it he said I was the first one HE had seen do it. Tricky tricky! After the tour we had a nice tall beer and hot meal in the hut before driving back to Munich. This was such an awesome day and I can’t wait to go back there in the spring or summer when the weather is nicer.
This is someone else’ video but it’s the same canyon we did our tour of. If you skip ahead to 5:15 you can see the big jump. It gives a rush again just watching it!
Lesson #1: In preparation for Oktoberfest I spent a lot of time shopping for a dirndl (the traditional dress the women wear) and making sure I had all the correct pieces to the outfit. This felt a lot like shopping for the prom. I was finally satisfied with what I got and tested out some different hair braiding techniques. Once I had everything on I felt like a princess from a Disney movie. And not in a bad way, this was really fun like when you played dressup as a kid. I left the house feeling a bit awkward like I was going to stick out somehow. I quickly realized that while I may stick out wearing this in America here in Bavaria I couldn’t have blended in more! All that stress of picking the perfect thing only to realize that once you’re at Oktoberfest it really doesn’t matter that much. Yep, same as prom. That being said…dirndls are awesome and I wish I had a dozen to wear all the time.
My hair for the first day of Oktoberfest.Alex in his lederhosen and I in my Dirndl at Oktoberfest.
Lesson #2: Speaking of dirndls. My second lesson was immediately after we entered Oktoberfest. A small blonde girl in dirndl and braids in her hair was sitting on the steps with her head in her hands. Women really appear innocent like little girls in these outfits so my first thought was that she was crying. I was concerned as she was all alone. I stopped Alex and asked him if we should see if she’s alright. Just as I was feeling a bit of shock at him unsympathetically saying no I also saw the pile of vomit in the shrubbery next to her. Nope, not an innocent little girl, just severely intoxicated.
Lesson #3: The passed out drunks are removed by stretchers. For privacy purposes these stretchers are covered by a plastic yellow tarp. Similar to what a body bag might look like only yellow and with space for air to circulate. So no, there aren’t dead people in there.
Alex and I smushed between gingham and lederhosen. This was only about 15 minutes in so we were still smiling.
Lesson #4: This is an IMPORTANT one. If there’s a line at the front of the beer tent you should check the side entrances before standing in that line for an hour with your body pressed against people on all sides of you crushing you to the point of not being able to breathe. Because when you check that side entrance you will find you can walk right in without any wait at all. Seriously, a full hour standing amidst loud, obnoxious drunk people who are so close to you that you feel like you should at least know their names. And I use the term “line” loosely as it isn’t really the right word. More like a horde of people trying to make it to the ropes in the front with no regard for order. And if you think getting closer to the front means you’re closer to getting in, think again. When they do let people in they pick seemingly at random and often from the back of the line. When that happens everyone has to somehow move aside to let the chosen ones through and in those moments I think I could have lifted my feet off the ground and just been suspended in the air by all of the forces pressing against me. And doing all this while still sober? Well, it was like being in a moshpit where everyone is wearing gingham, lederhosen, and dirndls and there is no music.
Once inside I took a photo of the line at the main entrance. Like a herd of cattle. Stupid cattle. I can say that because I was one of them.Not the best photo but an idea of the crowd once we entered the biergarten.
Lesson #5: When we entered through that side entrance with no line I kept feeling like we’d gotten away with something and were about to be caught. But no, we had just been dumb tourists waiting at the front. We were finally in and holy crap what a shit show (in the best way possible)! Having a table would be amazing just so you could sit and people watch all day. Within the first minute I watched a security guard lead a Chinese guy with a Bruce Lee haircut out by his leather jacket. I turned to watch and just as I did Bruce Lee turned to the security guard, leaned in close to his ear and in English but with a thick accent said “YOU…SUNOVAHBITCH!” I still am laughing today when I think of it. Two seconds after that a fight almost broke out next to us for unknown reasons so we decided to make our way through the crowd and attempt to find a beer and our friends. And later still when we made our way to the opposite side of the beer tent we saw Bruce Lee coming right back in like nothing even happened. Sneaky guy. What’s the lesson here? I’m not sure exactly.
Lesson #6: If you come late in the day on opening day don’t expect to actually get inside the beer tent. Yes, those lines we waited in were just to get into the biergarten outside of the tent. Also, if you don’t have a table (by reservation or pure luck) then you have to follow around a waitress/waiter carrying beers to a table and hope that everyone at that table doesn’t need beer and you can buy one off her there. This could take a good hour which now makes me completely understand why the need for liter size glasses.
Lesson #7: Alcohol levels the playing field. No matter what country you’re from, how you’re brought up, what you look like, etc. If you drink enough alcohol you will act like a drunken moron. With all the tourists from all over the world at Oktoberfest, this concept is hammered home. And it is oh-so-fun to watch.
After finding our one friend who remained at the end of the day we gave up on getting another beer at Oktoberfest and bought some on the street for the trip home.
Lesson #8: If you try and meet your friends in Oktoberfest and they are already drunk when they text you where they are…you will spend the next three hours trying to find them in the WRONG tent!!! And then come out to find only 2 people left of the group who haven’t gone home drunk and one is leaving to go to the hospital to check on her friend who left Oktoberfest on the drunkbus. Always meet your friends before entering the festival.
Lesson #9: The festival outside of the beer tents seems just as fun, maybe more so because its less crowded and there’s plenty of food vendors and a ton of rides. Then you realize the only place you can buy beer is inside the beer tents. Definitely not as fun.
Alex and I at Oktoberfest. Much happier after getting our first liter of the good stuff.
Lesson #10: A liter of beer and a giant pretzel can totally change your attitude.
The first day of Oktoberfest didn’t include many photos since it was just constant chaos and an attempt at getting our bearings on the whole thing. Hopefully the next few weeks I will get some more photos. But here are some photos from the impressive Oktoberfest parade we went to this morning. Apparently there were over 8000 participants in the parade the route was 7km. I can’t imagine walking that far in some of the shoes they were wearing and carrying the heavy instruments and flags!
