Munich

October 22nd-23rd 2011
Munich

I had been talking with a childhood friend of mine, Elizabeth Kays for a while about meeting up in Munich. It all worked out for this weekend and we planned our trips to meet up. She was staying in a lab that her job provided and offered me a place to stay with her. I arrived at the train station around 11:40 and she was waiting for me. We walked from there to the main square where we went to a market where i got some christmas presents and a bottle of federweisser - fresh wine which has holes in the cap and no cork. i of course did not know this and looked like an idiot while tipping the bottle over and wondering aloud why it was leaking. A friendly German lady informed me that this is normal. From there we went to the  U bahn to catch a train from there to Dachau concentration camp. I wanted to go again since i didn't get to sepend as much time as i wanted there with the kids. It was a long walk and my gps failed us a few times but the walk was lovely with with all the leaves changing color. We finally arrived and spent about an hour wandering through the museum. It was very interesting. We left there and found a bus back to the U-bahn where we got a train to the main square where the glockenspiel is. We tried going to the hofbrauhaus but it was Saturday night and crowded so we went to a quiet cafe and had pizza. After dinner we went to the glockenspiel for it's 9:00 night show which was extremely uneventful. We went back to the lab after that for some sleep. The next morning we woke up and got ready and went to St. Peter's church for mass which was interesting because it was in German and i'm not at all catholic. It was a beautiful church though. Then we went to the Jewish history museum and had lunch there. We tried going to the bier and oktoberfest museum after that but it was closed so we decided to try the hofbrauhaus again and shared a liter and some pretzels. From there we went to the train station and i departed for home. Wonderful trip!

Oktoberfest 2011

September 23rd-25th
Oktoberfest

Friday after the boys got out of school we packed up and headed for Munich. It was just about a two and a half hour drive. We ate on the way and arrived in around 9pm. Kenny, Muchelle and i made a deal that one night they would go out and i would watch the kids and the other night i would go out and they would have the kids. Friday night was kenny and michelles night to go out. I got the kids ready and in bed early. Kenny and Michelle came in late and gushed about how awesome oktoberfest is. They loved it and were excited for all of us to go. They bought me a coffee mug from starbucks that says oktoberfest on it.

In the morning we woke up and kenny took the boys down for breakfast while Michelle and i got ready. We blew a fuse trying to do our hair, so we couldnt use any curling irons or flat irons. We got dressed in our Dirndl then we headed out. We went to the Glockenspiel first. It was huge. We waited outside until 11:00 when the musical clock at the top has figurines that dance. It dates back to 1908. We watched that then quickly ran back to the hotel because we forgot Trevor's shoes. Then we went to Oktoberfest. There were people in Dirndl and Lederhosen everywhere and it smelled like the GA state fair. Except that its about 100X larger than the GA state fair and has much more beer and cool clothes. We walked around there all day. The boys enjoyed riding some rides and playing games. They loved all the food and gingerbread hearts with writing on them. 

They left oktoberfest around 5pm and i stayed to meet up with the english girls i met in Nurnberg the weekend before (Telle, Leah, and Lucy) I had a very hard time finding them since there are people everywhere and they kept moving around. I finally found them and we got straight onto this huge roller coaster called olimpia. It was so much fun. Lucy was not with Telle and Leah, apparently they had lost her. After the roller coaster we went to a bier garden and i had about 2 liters of HB Munchen. I brought the girls red solo cups because they dont have them in England and they were obsessed with them. So we poured beer into those so we could walk around outside of the tent. we went to a ton of beer tents and gardens. at some point in the evening i began grabbing strangers beers - chugging them - and handing them back empty while saying "Amurica".  they were more impressed than angry. 

we found Lucy later on. she was in the hospital the whole time we couldnt find her.

somehow, i made it safely back to the hotel by 12:00 (took a cab) 

The next morning i was counting my money and realized that I arrived with 200 euro and bought a 25 euro t shirt, beers, rides, and a 25 euro taxi home and i ended up with 170 euro in my purse. 

in the morning we all had breakfast and packed up to head home. i was not feeling awesome. but i wasn't feeling terrible. we went from the hotel to Dachau concentration camp. It was my first concentration camp. It was opened in 1933 - 55 days after Hitler took power. It was huge. We saw the living quarters and some memorials but couldnt stay at any place too long because the kids were being loud and didn't understand. 

I am sad the trip is over. I loved Oktoberfest so much.