Oktoberfest

It’s been a while since I updated my blog and I realize I’m extremely behind. The last entry has me talking about the first of many stops to my 3 ½ week tour through Europe. That was more than a year ago but I’m still going to try to retell about each stop going by memory alone. Which, I know isn't the most reliable since I've probably forgotten some parts but on a good note I usually tend to remember the best parts and forget the not so interesting parts. So bear with me and I will share with my Europe adventures.

Let’s see I think I’ll pick up where I left off, the end of the Salzburg adventure and on to the Mϋnchen (Munich) part.

As I mentioned Philip, Flo and Marita picked me up in Salzburg and we made our way to Munich.

The drive wasn't terribly exciting but we did get to drive part of the way on the Autobahn although the coolest part was realizing, when we crossed into Germany, that I hadn't been here in 17+ years J

Philip’s Aunt and Uncle where cool enough to host all of us all the days that we were in Munich which I’m very grateful of since all the Hostels and hotels where packed because of Oktoberfest.

We arrived pretty late but Philip’s Aunt and Uncle where still up and greeted us with excitement and curiosity. I had previously met them when they came to PHX the prior year with Philip when he was going to compete in Ironman Arizona. The first time I actually saw them was at the Osborn Hospital the day before Ironman AZ. You see Philip had the misfortune of crashing his bike and breaking his arm the day before Ironman and I just happened to be in the Emergency room with a friend of mine at the same time. I hadn't met them before but did catch them talking in German and Philip’s uncle was proudly wearing his Lederhosen (leather pants). It wasn't until the dinner the day after Ironman that I formally got to met them.

Anyway the sleeping arrangements that they had for the four of us included two rooms with one queen sized mattresses each. Philip and Flo decided to sleep in one room and poor Marita was stuck sleeping in the same room as me. When I mean poor Marita I’m referring to the fact that I snore very loudly.

Waking up the next morning I found myself alone in the room and Marita sleeping on the sofa in the living room, I guess my snoring was unbearable.

Breakfast was the typical Austrian/German fare, bread, cold cuts, and all sorts of jellies/jams. The plan was to hang out and head into town around 1pm; being that breakfast was more of a brunch/lunch since it was around noon we soon found ourselves headed out the door en route to the subway or U-bahn. Flo and Marita had their Dirndls on and Philip was rocking his lederhosen. Me, I decided that a pair of jeans a long sleeved shirt and the national German soccer jersey was appropriate.

Our first stop was downtown Munich, and I have to say what a beautiful city. We made it to the central town square in time to see the famous “Glockenspiel” or clock play. The old courthouse has an intricate carvings and statues that go through and elaborate choreography every hour. It’s quite famous around the world and that fact was evident with all the people congregated waiting for the clock to chime.

We grabbed a quick snack while walking downtown and had a long quest in finding some bottled water before heading back to “U-bahn” to head to “die Wiese” or the field where Oktoberfest was set up.

Walking to it and catching the first glimpse of it was quite amazing. It was huge; there where fair rides and big tents everywhere. Some of the biggest tents I've ever seen. To give you an idea the big tent that Westworld seems to have up most of the times was the standard tent size there. 

It was about 4pm when we got there and the weather was hot (relative to Munich that is). Philip, Flo, Marita and I found a table outside of one of the tents and sat down to order our first “Maβ” (short for Maβkrug) or Stein (about a liter of beer). Once we all had our beer I was clued in on the drinking rule of Oktoberfest. The rule is that every time you drink you have to yell “Prost” (Cheers in German) and everyone at the table must drink with you no exceptions. Did I tell you that each beer “maβ” cost 10 Euros (about 14$)….

It was on a Monday that we decided to go to Oktoberfest we were hoping it wasn't going to be too packed with people but the particular Monday that we went happened to be industry appreciation day for all the “Maurer” or drywall workers so it was still packed with people.

Once we got inside the tent we managed to find a table to sit at and that’s when I learned of another Oktoberfest rule. You see the servers are paid for every beer they sell to their tables so if you want to move tables you need to finish your beer first before doing so.

Philip and I finished our beers quicker than the girls and stood up to wait for them. Immediately our seats were taken by other guys and soon the ladies had their own fan club buying them beers and flirting. I can’t blame the guys; they are good looking ladies and looked great in their traditional dresses or dirndls.

Philip and I decided to go find another place to sit at and ended up sitting with a group of older guys from Hamburg that were only there for the day. They had taken the train in that morning and planned to leave in the evening, talk about a crazy trip. A while later Flo and Marita joined us and we after a couple of more “Maβ” we were dancing on our chairs singing loudly to the traditional music the Polka band was playing in the center of the tent. Every time I went in for a “Prost” with an empty Stein a couple of people would pour some of their beer in my stein it was quite awesome. Everyone at our table became the best of friends. What an atmosphere, everyone was having a grand time and there were people from everywhere Italy, France, Spain, Austria etc.

At around 8pm a girl sitting at our table decided that she’s going outside to have a smoke and I had the bright idea that some fresh air was probably a good idea. Keep in mind that I had just finished my 6^th “Maβ” (that’s 6 liters of beer) Boy was I wrong, next thing I remember is waking up outside sitting on the ground feeling terribly sick and leaning against a wall with two paramedics telling me that they want to take me to the hospital to pump my stomach; this was not good. I manage to tell the girl that I followed out of the tent to go back in and get Philip. Everything was blurry and spinning and I was feeling very sick.

I have to thank my good friend Philip, because he was awesome enough to take me back to his Aunt and Uncle’s house and put me back into my bed. This involved keeping me awake and sneaking me on the U-bahn. Flo and Marita came back later that night and the next morning I woke up with a major headache and a painful stomach. Luckily my hangover wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and I wasn't the only one that had one.

It was over another late breakfast that found out some of the details that I had forgotten from the night before.

For the record this was the first and last time (so far) that I've gotten sick from drinking too much.

After breakfast we headed back into town to meet a friend of Flo’s who took us on a quick tour of Munich. The weather was, again, amazing and he took us to a park where they actually surf on the river. How? Well right after a narrow bridge they sunk rocks in just the right places that the fast water causes a reverse wave that guys are able to surf on continuously. It was pretty wild to see each surfer taking their turn riding the never ending wave. We also walked by the Mercedes House which was awesome, it had one of the latest F1 racer displayed as well as a SLK racing concept; just amazing works of art and engineering.

Philip, Flo and Marita headed back to Graz that evening but I stayed one more night since I was planning on leaving for Paris the next day.

 Initially I had planned on buying the Euro rail Pass but since I couldn't buy it in Graz I decided to go to Salzburg and buy it there but since Philip and co picked me up on the way to Munich I thought I’d buy it in Munich.

Next day I headed into town and made my way to the main “Bahnhof” or train station.

There’s where I ran into an issue with buying the Euro rail pass. You see the Euro rail pass is only for non residents, which shouldn’t have affected me but when they asked to look at my Mexican passport they did not find an immigration stamp showing when I arrived in Europe. Why didn't I have one? Well I had gone thru immigration with my expired German Passport and it seems like the immigration officer had been too lazy to ask for a valid one. It was for this reason that they refused to sell me the Euro rail pass unless I was able to show them my plane ticket, which I didn’t have. Now they have another rail pass they sell to residents (which is a lot cheaper) but you have to have proof that you've been a Europe resident for 6+ months. So no rail pass either way, luckily there was an English guy at the ticket booth that tried to help me out. He said that if I came back around 10pm that day that I they would, most likely, overlook the missing stamp and sell me a rail pass. So I headed to the German Museum to pass the day.

The Museum was quite awesome and the ticket was free since I passed myself of as an American student and students get in free. I didn't have time to see the whole museum but I got to go thru the sea vessel and aviation part of it and it was quite amazing. They had the history of each with replicas (some to scale some not) and real models of early sea vessels and flying apparatus as well as modern ones. It was a fun way of passing the day.

Around 10pm I found myself back at the train station but low and behold they still refused to sell me a ticket. I even went to the city police station for help and an officer went back to the ticket counter with me but no luck. He even took me to the immigration office at the train station and they didn't know what to do. The only thing they told me was I could take a taxi to the airport and maybe I can get the passport stamp there. No one knew what to do, I mean no one. You see in my opinion Germans are all about going by the book and sticking to rules, so much so that when someone (me in this case) falls thru the cracks they are caught off guard and don’t know how to handle the situation or how to fix it.

So I decided I would just buy a full price night train ticket to Paris and figure it out there. Maybe immigration would board the train before crossing the border to France and I could get the stamp then forgetting the fact that I was in the European Union.

150 Euros later I was getting comfortable in a small bunk bed. The train was packed with young adults. Some Americans, some Englanders even some from Latin America. I chatted with some but faded off to sleep at some point.

Next stop Paris, France; first and only destination where I didn't know the native language and first city where I’d be Couch Surfing; this should be fun.