Day 15 - Munich

Today was our last big day in Munich so we were going to hit the tents at Oktoberfest again. We got up had our familiar bread and cheese continental breakfast and got into our tracht. We hopped on the U-Bahn and headed for Oktoberfest. Once we got there we walked up the main strip looking for the right tent. Some were already getting a little full and rowdy by 10:00. We walked almost the entire strip and then decided to sit at the Paulaner tent. We found a table in a corner with seats that had back rests (actually railings to keep people in the isle from falling into your table later on in the evening). The waiter came by and dropped off some menus in English which was good cause Jacob was able to find blut pudding, or blood sausage which he had hopped to try during the trip. We were informed by our waiter that the hot kitchen was closed for the next half hour but he would put our order in and grab us some beer. So we sat and drank and then got our food. Jessica got half a chicken but both of us really liked the blut pudding, perfect breakfast food, almost a little like corned beef hash but only cause it had some much salt.

We finished and were later joined by two female Australians who were halfway through their 3 months of backpacking through Europe. They were quiet at first, certainly cause they thought we were German with our clothes. We talked about the dust storms and water shortage in Australia as well as all the beautiful places they had been. They were shortly swarmed by 3 of the ugliest guys at Oktoberfest (one baring a striking resemblance to the sloth from Ice Age as Jacob noted due to the in flight movie on our way back home) who sat down next to them and occasionally tried to convey messages through Jacob to them since he was the only one able to make eye contact with them since everyone else had their backs turned. They had really cool pick up lines to filter through Jacob like "I like Dock Martins." Shortly after the girls left as did the guys. We were then joined by a group of younger Germans. Not much was said until Jacob broke the ice with a question and for the rest of the night we had very interesting and political discussions with Nicholas and Sebastian. We discussed the German school system, the election in Germany that was on the past Tuesday, lederhosen and language. Then around 5 the music started and shortly after everyone was dancing on the table, and by everyone I mean all 10,000 people in the tent. The band was amazing. There was lots of singing, dancing, swaying, toasting and spilled and stolen beer. It was a great night.

Day 14 - Munich

This was our first real day in Munich as we returned back to Irsee last night. We made the same drive and found the block our hotel was on in the maze of one way street inner city mayhem. Circling the block for a while we decided to park in a private really quickly so we could check in and drop off our bags and get back to the car. We did just that and came to find our car un-towed. Albeit if it had been towed that would have been the most amazing tow-truck driver ever considering how we parked it in the corner of this very small and tight lot. We then left to drop off the car. We arrived at the Sixt rental place and parked in back and then proceeded to wait for about half an hour while the two workers typed at the computers in panicked frustration only to be told that everything was O.K. and that we were free to go within our 20 second interaction.

So we left the rental place on food heading back in the general direction we came. We came across some beautiful buildings which turned out the be museums. We walked around the courtyard and took pictures and found a map. Jacob realized where we were and thought it would be a good time to go see one of the sites he had researched. We headed for a huge park in the middle of Munich. There we walked along fast moving rivers towards a beer garden Jacob had researched. Along the way we found the source of all the water coming from under the streets where it hit a cement lip which created a large rip curl in which lots of people were surfing. We watched for a while and continued to the English Gardens and Chinese tower passing the sun bathing nudists. Once there we were a bit parched and ordered the local favorite, Radler, which is beer mixed with 7-up. We sat down, ate some food and listened to the polka band play in the tall wooden Chinese tower.

From there we headed back towards our hotel past the Munich university. We got in and settled in a bit more and rested and watched some coverage of Oktoberfest on tv hoping to spot a clip of ourselves recorded by the camera crew a few days earlier. We then decided to go walk around Oktoberfest as it was too late to get a table in any of the tents.

The other part of Oktoberfest is all the rides. They rides are permanently built but they are very much carnival rides. Everything is carnival-ey and tacky. Lots of the booths have airbrushed murals of bad movies from the 80s. We passed a woman eating a giant wafer cookies, the kind that come in the neopolitan flavors, so we sought one out. We first grabbed some delicious chocolate dipped strawberries. We then found the cookies and split one, it wasn't as good as it looked as the wafer was stale and the filling was marshmallow. Our next mistake was trying the herring sandwich followed up by the deep fried mashed potatoes. Like I said, carnival... We continued to walk around people watching and finally decided to grab some gifts and head back.

Day 13 - Munich

While we are still staying in Irsee at the closterbrau we made a day trip to start our Oktoberfest festivities early. We woke up and got breakfast and then got gas to spare ourselves the awkwardness of pumping gas in our tracht. We got into Munich around 10:30 and headed from out parkinglot to the fairgrounds. We approached a hill top at the park and were able to hear the first of the Oktoberfest madness. We walked down and strolled down the main strip poking our heads in each tent and taking some pictures. We were stopped by a camera crew who had been looking and Jessica's Dirndl and then asked us to pose together as they taped us for a good 30 seconds. There is a good chance we were on some local news coverage of Oktoberfest that day. After that we decided to grab a seat at the Augistiner tent which we heard had the best beer.

We sat down at a completely empty table next to a rather roudy one. The table next to us obviously got an early start drinking and turned around a few times to comment/yell/laugh at us in German before realizing we spoke English. They seemed very interested in Jacob's hat and started their day long quest of bidding on it, joking of course as they were informed if it's importance to Jacob.

Shortly after 4 young women in dirndls sat with us at our table. Everything we pretty passive until the polka band started up. First a German named Joe from the other table came over to talk with us and stayed with us nearly the entire time leaving only to fraternize and pee. He was joined later by his friend Reiner who was far more drunk and unintelligible. They were there with their soccer team and had come to that very table for 10 years in a row. They all took a liking to Jacob's hat and Reiner told us his grandfather used to wear a hat like that hunting and before we knew it Jacob's new name was Yacob, Master Hunter which they proceeded to cheer often. The conversation was mainly focused on stereotypical assumptions about Californians. They also confessed their love for American football and the 49ers. At this point we were also conversing with the girls at the table who we found out lived only 10 kilometers outside of Irsee and kept inquiring about a ride back. They too were interested in American football and expressed their attraction to Jerry Rice and compared his strong attractive stature to Jacob's in a way that can only take place in a drunken Oktoberfest state.

Throughout the day we were continuously congratulated and wished well on our marriage in toasts, hugs, handshakes and embracing. The conversations carried on through music and movie preferences. All in all there was a lot of conversing and at times very little understood. There was also a lot of puking. Around 4 just about everyone was on the tables. Now having almost completely lost our voices we decided it was time to call it a day. We went and grabbed some sandwiches and headed for the car.

When we arrived at the garage we came to the entrance to find the gate shut and locked. We had apparently parked in a private office parking garage and were locked out. It was right next to the parking lot we had intended on parking in and we continued to walk around looking for a way in or someone to talk to. We went into the other parking garage to see if they somehow connected. We ended up in an emergency exit that connected to two garages and were able to make it to our car. We got in and drove around to see if the gates would open when approached but they did not. We were very lucky that an employee at the office building was leaving and we quickly followed him out as he opened the gate. Very fortunate and relieved we headed back to Irsee.

Tomorrow we will be heading back to Munich to stay and drop off the car to relieve ourselves of any more stressful situations.

Day 12 - Fussen

We decided last night that we would drive to Fussen today, so we left as soon as we were ready. There were a lot of round-a-bouts along the roads connecting the towns. We parked in the center of Fussen and took a bus up to the castles. We first toured Hohenschwangau Castle, which was the summer home of King Maximillian II of Bavaria. We saw the music room in which his son, King Ludwig II. Ludwig was a huge patron of Wagner.. We looked at some letters they had written to eachother and saw the piano that Wagner played and composed at.

Next we headed up to Neuschwanstein Castle, which King Ludwig started building after his father died. It was a bit of an uphill walk after the bus ride. Jacob pushed an old lady in her wheelchair up into the Alps. No big deal, it's only Monday. Ludwig had the whole castle built around the idea of fantasy romance. It was all dedicated to the operas of Wagner, which were all depicted there in some way. There were beautiful murals and ornate wood carings, and there was even an artificial cave built to replicate one from Wagner's opera. The tour ended in, fittingly enough, the opera hall. We were then able to walk around some of the unfinnished rooms (only 18 of the originally planed 60 rooms were completed before Ludwig died, putting a halt on construction). We walked back down the mountain after the tour and waited for the bus back into town. We finally got on with what seemed all the other tourists of the castles that day. When we got back to the middle of Fussen we ate some delicious lunch and drove back to Irsee.

Tomorrow we are getting up early to drive to Munich. We decided to take a day to walk around and take pictures and get on with the festivities, just in case we aren't able to on the days we had planned for Oktoberfest.

Day 11 - Irsee

We woke up, ate breakfast, packed and hit the road. We drove to Irsee where we are staying at a cloister brewery. Irsee is out in the middle of farmland and alpine countryside. Once we got off the autobahn we made our way through a series of small towns in the most amazing green field and forest patched area. The monastary is kinda like a resort, everything here is beautiful. We went to check in but apparently they didn't have us in their main books, so they started preparing a room for us and told us to check back in a little while. We walked around, found a duck pond, ate lunch and then checked in to a room about 3 times the size of the one we originally booked since there was the mix up at no added cost.

After settling in and taking a little rest we went out for a walk in the woods that we saw out by the duck pond. Our walk turned into a bit of a mushroom hunt. We saw such a large variety of mushrooms. Out beyond the forest clearing along a little path to the next forested area we passed a man and his dog. He was carrying what Jacob thought was a dug up sign post, but was infact a huge mushroom. We carried on into the thick birch forest. All the while we could hear the ringing of cowbells from just beyond the forest in the pastures, although we could never see them as the forrest was too thick. We cant describe how amazingly green everything was. The ground and treestumps were covered in the most lush, thick and flourishing moss. The sun shining through scattered light all across the ground and the smell of wood burning chimnies filled the air. We walked for about 3 hours and decided to turn back. We got back and took showeres and went and got some dinner and sat out in the beer garden and relaxed. Tomorrow we are thinking of heading to Fussen and seeing some castles.


Pictures are having a hard time loading, internet is a little slow here. Hopefully we can get some up soon, they are amazing.

Day 10 - Rothenburg

We woke up in Rothenburg this morning, ate some breakfast, and headed out. The town is quite small and it is surrounded by a stone wall with little towers. We walked through a main entrance and under a clock tower, through the town square, and out to a church with beautiful gardens. The gardens and much of the town overlook hills below, scattered with little cottages. We then walked through the convent gardens and found the Midieval Crime Museum. It was a pretty large building filled with original and replica pieces of torture equipment dating back up to 1000 years. There were a lot of old manuscripts and drawings depicting law enforcement procedures in Europe. It was pretty interesting.

Next we walked more through town. We saw a little biergarten and agreed that we would go back later. We walked across a little bridge to the edge of town and crossed the street. We were near a wooded area and there was a little doorway with steps leading down into the woods, so we walked down. There were stone terraces followed by what seemed to be a large private building. There were a lot of cars parked in front of it and as we walked back up the stairs there was a large group of people in fancy cloths heading down. We then walked back into town and up into a guard wall. We walked all along the inner edge of the wall surrounding the town.

After that we were a bit thirsty, so we found our way back to the biergarten. The restaurant was closed because they were serving a party elsewhere, but the bar in the garden was still open. Jacob asked if they had any Oktoberfest beers available, and the server went in the back to check. She came back with a two liter bottle and said that was all they had. We asked how much it was, to which she replied no more than ten euros. We decided to get it and started drinking. We were the only two people in the garden the whole time, aside from one server. It was pretty nice, even with the wasp dancing and gossamers carrying caterpillars.
When we were done we took some more pictures at the edge of town overlooking the hills and then got some lunch. There was some really good sweet pickled red cabbage, even Jessica liked it.

We then shopped around for some gifts and went back to the hotel to get the tripod for some night time photos. We walked around looking for a place for dinner, but it seemed there were only cafes open. We finally found a place, ate, and headed off back to the first gardens we had gone to. Jacob took some 20 second exposure pictures of the buildings in the hills, then we decided to call it a night. All the lights in town were tungsten, which apparently make for bad pictures of buildings.

Day 9 - Travel Day

So we woke up a little early, mostly because our neighbors on both sides must have been families of about 20 who needed to shower and slam doors. But that was alright since we needed to hit the souvenir shops before we left Brugge. We hopped in a taxi for the train station and were informed that our driver was an olympic swimmer and competed in the Atlanta and Sydney games and now teaches classes. The train was just about empty which was awesome. We then caught a high speed train to Aachen, Germany. The Belgain country side is absolutly beauftiful. It is so green with trees seperating property and fields rather than fences. As we got near Germany everything got even more green as the horizon rose due to rolling hills. Little villages scattered throughout deep valleys and old farmhouses fit nicely in their surroundings.

The trip to Aachen was about an hour, we got in another taxi headed for Enterpise rent-a-car where we had a reservation. We were then informed that we needed to be German residents and they don't have a large enough fleet for renters to make one way trips, so we couldn't rent there anyhow. They suggested we go to Hurtz up the road about a quarter mile. They did do one way rentals... but they didn't have any cars, so we had them call the other Hurtz in town... they had no cars as well. Well... there was another car rental place about a half mile back the other dirrection, so we walked. They don't do one way either. About another half a mile down the road is the last car rental spot in town. So off we went. Sixt was the name of the company. It just so happened that they do point to point, but it is the weekend and they are all out of.... oh wait! there is one car left! So we got our Ford Fiesta and off we went! We were a little discouraged when we heard Ford Fiesta, but the new models are solid, attractive and comfortable. We originally wanted to stop in Aachen to see the cathedral there wich Charlemange first started constructing. It later saw a variety of additions in various types of archetecture ranging from Byzantine archs to Gothic roofs. Unfortuanly due to all the set backs this was not possilbe. Here is what we would have seen. Oh, well.

We left around 3:30 and fiddled with the navagation system for a bit before getting on the right course. The German courty side is amazing as well. We are either surrounded by thick woods or high above little villages on bridges or hills. Everything was beautiful today. There were amazing little suprizes scattered all throughout the scenery like a little white house atop a tall and steep hill where the only thing breaking the thick green forrest was that house. Or, tops of castles sticking out above the tree tops and sitting above towns off in the distance. It took us 4 hours of driving at autobahn speeds, but we finally made it to Rothenburg, a preserved medieval town much like Brugge from which we just came. Tomorrow should be very exciting.