Be a traveler, not a tourist

My first big trip out of Schweinfurt was yesterday to Oktoberfest in Munich. I didn't know much about it, except that it was a big beer party! I wasn't too far off. We boarded a train at 6:45 in the morning, and the train was packed already! It was about a 5 hour train ride to get to Munich; I had no idea it was that far away, but we had to change trains and make a lot of stops, so that makes sense. People were already drinking on the train at 7am! I can't drink beer that early! Some folks were also drinking wine! Crazy. Poor Sara got sick on the train; pretty sure it was motion sickness. She and Richard almost had to get off the train it was so bad, but that wouldn't really have been a solution because she would have had to get on another train to get back home.
We all made it to Munich, and the train was packed by the time we arrived. The station was crowded, too, and Kathy, Darlene, and I ended up leaving Sara and Richard at the station while we headed to the fest. There were a lot of people heading toward the fairgrounds. I learned that Oktoberfest is the equivalent of a state fair, just with a lot more beer. There were rides and games, and a lot of beer tents. I had a huge pretzel; after all, we're in Bavaria, so I wanted a Bavarian pretzel. It was delicious!

[caption id="attachment_91" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Me and my pretzel"]

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We walked around, looking at the various rides and booths, and then we headed to the area with the beer tents. Pauliner, Augustiner, Hofbrauhaus; they all had huge buildings, which were full! It was only noon. We even tried to get into the beer gardens which were associated with the different breweries, but every place was full. The reason they were all full was because you couldn't buy beer unless you were in a beer tent or garden and were seated! So all picnic tables were packed! They wouldn't sell beer to you if you were standing up. Crazy; I had no idea. We kept walking around, and saw where the parade they have every year was held, and we witnessed lots of guys were lederhosen, and lots of girls wearing drendls (I'm sure I've spelled that wrong!). Darlene got a bratwurst, and as we were walking by the Lowenbrau biergarten, we noticed that there was no line and we could walk in! I was so happy because I was going to be very angry if I made it to Oktoberfest, and did not get to have a liter of beer! But I got one!

[caption id="attachment_92" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Look at the size!"]

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After attempting to get into the Lowenbrau house (we were unsuccessful) and watching some people just be total morons...shouting, chanting, pounding on tables...we finished our beers as best we could and headed out. One liter of beer can make you a little tipsy, so we headed to get some food in our bellies. There were bakeries and food vendors everywhere, so we stopped and got this apple jelly dumpling thing! OMG, it was delicious. It had this hot vanilla sauce on it, and boy, was it good! I think Darlene (she was our resident expert because she'd been to Oktoberfest for, like, 7 years running) said these are only available during Oktoberfest. The place we bought it from also had some kind of liquor called "Julia." I felt so special.

[caption id="attachment_93" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Named for me...it's sweet! :)"]

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Once we'd had enough of Oktoberfest, we headed to the Marienplatz, which is the downtown area of Munich. It brought back memories of when I got separated from the teacher group there a few years ago, and thought they'd left me, so I'd resigned myself that I'd be spending the day alone in Munich because they'd ditched me. I even saw the place where I was reunited with Susie and Coultas, and it made me happy because they didn't actually ditch me. They just went ahead and I couldn't find them. I think that's one of the reasons I always want to know where we're going so if there is a separation I can still get there.

Anyway, we wandered over to see Hofbrauhaus because Kathy had never seen it, but it was just as packed as the Hofbrauhaus at Oktoberfest with a line outside and everything. We walked around a bit, but then headed to a little cafe to get some lunch/dinner, and I had this cucumber soup which was amazing! It wasn't cold outside, but if you weren't in the sun, there was a definite bite in the air. We ate outside, and I was reminded of how much I love a big city, with people bustling around all the time. I miss Chicago at times like this.

We walked back to the train station to catch our train, stopping, of course, for some gelato for the ride. We wanted to be there early to ensure we got seats and wouldn't have to stand for two and a half hours. We also wanted to see how Sara and Richard were doing. Fortunately, Sara was much better...she had gotten some motion sickness meds from a local store (probably stronger than the stuff she could get in the US) and it helped immensely. When our train arrived, we had to throw some elbows, but we all got seats. There was one stop where the German police cleared an entire car of people because there was a rowdy group from some soccer game, and they wanted them all in one place. All these drunk people got into the car, followed by about 10 cops who rode along with them!

We had the best ride back. I feel so fortunate to meet these people and have them in my life. It's so much fun meeting new people and we have a great group at the high school. I look forward to taking more trips with them. They're my German family!

I've spent the entirety of today working on grad school stuff!

Photos from Oktoberfest!