Bonjour de la Suisse

Hello from Switzerland! ~~ The adventures of a California girl who got married to a great guy, G, and traded in her old life for the chance to live in a foreign land and live the expat life for a couple years. We live in Geneva, Switzerland with our globe-trotting cat, Scout.

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Lieu : California, United States

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land." ~ G.K. Chesterton

mercredi, octobre 18, 2006

Cheers to Oktoberfest!

Last year G had a business meeting in Munich during Oktoberfest and I was in the US working away. I'm thrilled to say it was decided to have this year's meeting in the same place this time and I was able to tag along!

Oktoberfest is one of the biggest festivals in the world and the statistics are staggering... in two weeks, Munich gets over six million visitors, who spend over 950 million Euro, and drink over a million gallons of beer. There are over 100,000 seats spread out over several huge festival halls at the Oktoberfest fairgrounds, most of which are booked well in advanced. At the fairgrounds there are over 200 carnival attractions and people EVERYWHERE!

I took the train from Geneva to Munich and 7 hours later I arrived at the hotel. I had just enough time to shower and get ready for the big event. G's company had reservations at one of the many big tents that line the Oktoberfest fairgrounds at the heart of the festivities. In no time, huge plates of food and liters of beers were appearing at our table. Soon everyone was singing and carrying on and really getting into the spirit of the evening. After several hours our large group spilled out onto the fairgrounds and made our way back to the hotel. It was quite a night!

The next day G had to work so I decided to spend a somber afternoon at Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, which is about 45 minutes outside of Munich. It was a very moving experience and even though I planned on spending only a couple of hours there, I ended up visiting for almost 5 hours. That night we took it easy and had a quiet evening.

The next day we went on a Mike's Bikes tour around Munich. One guy in our group could barely stay on his bike and was all over the road, crashing into cars and almost running several pedestrians down. I'm taking a wild guess to say he has never been on a bike before, but it's just a guess. We rode through the English Garden, which was, let's just say, very interesting. No, I'm not talking about the surfers who take turns surfing the river in the park, but the folks who take advantage of the "clothing optional" rule. You see all these families with kids and then a naked guy! Then a bunch of naked guys and gals, most of which were not all that attractive. But I wasn't looking too close, so I'm not sure on that one. After a beer at the beer garden and then riding past some more naked people, our bike-challenged friend was really having quite a time staying on the path! Good times!!

After the tour we went with about 7 fellow Mike's Bikers to the Hofbrauhaus, the world's most famous beer hall. It was loud, festive, and so much fun! We sang our hearts out while eating Bavarian faire and of course partaking in a beer or two. In addition to our Mike's Bikes friends, we met a really nice expat couple living in England and a group of Air Force guys (and their wives) who were in town for the festivities. Eight hours later, we walked back to the hotel. What a great day!

Saturday we visited the fairy-tale Neuschwanstein Castle, which is the inspiration for the castle at Disneyland. It was amazing, I have never seen such a perfect castle, gleaming white in the Bavarian forest. We spent the day exploring the surrounding area and marveling at the beautiful scenery. We headed back to the Oktoberfest fairgrounds that night, but we were there for the rides (best without beer). The 5-looped rollercoaster was insane, but really fun!

On our last day we went to the Deutsches Museum, which is the Smithsonian Institute of Germany. It was quite an impressive museum and we could have spent much more than the four hours we did there! It has over 10 miles of exhibits of all kinds, including a US Air Force helicopter and a real mining exhibit far below ground. We didn't have time to see even half of what was there. But we both had a train to catch. G had to get to the airport and I was on a train to Salzburg. I was going to spend a day there on my way home to go on "The Sound of Music" tour.



Now that's a lot of food!


Party in the Oktoberfest tent!


The iron gate reads, "Work makes you free" at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial


Surfing the river in the middle of Munich's English Garden


Riding in the "clothing optional" English Gardens (yes, those folks are not clothed!)


On the Mike's Bikes tour... I don't think this guy had ever ridden a bike before in his life... here he is kicking a car to stay balanced!


Taking a break in the English Garden


Our new Mike's Bikes friends


Fellow expats living in England


Our new military friends


Just the girls


In front of the Neuschwanstein Castle, the inspiration for the castle at Disneyland


Back at Oktoberfest, we braved the 5-looped rollercoaster that Rick Stevets calls "the wildest on earth"


G winning me a prize at the Oktoberfest fairgrounds


In a mine car at the Deutsches Museum


G and the mighty mitochondria (at the Deutsches Museum)

1 Comments:

Blogger Kid said...

Ahh Munchin...good times for sure. B and I did the Mikes Tour and also found the naked guys somewhat disturbing. At the Hoffbrau I was heckled by a pack of Soccer Hooligans who though B was too good for a chump like me. I agree. I think B blew a .12 on the breathalizer upon our departure.

Traveling Tip: Take Obus to Halstatt (Austria)...look in the Rick Steves guide.

kid

9:27 PM  

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