Back from the Wild Blue Yonder - Munich

So I'm back, with somewhere approaching 1000 pictures from Munich, Vienna, and Bratislava.

Wow.

Speaking of pictures (and videos), I'm in the process of uploading everything onto my Facebook account. I'll post the links to that once a good part of it's all done. To be honest, it's going to take a while. Anyways, let's get down to business.

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Where have I been in the past week? Munich, Vienna, and Bratislava. Was it fun? Oh yes yes yes.

I got to test out my new travel pack for this trip and, let me tell you, it works great. 7 days worth of clothes, shoes, formal wear, and an assortment of school supplies and accessories all fit neatly into its confines. The pack itself separates into a smaller day pack, which was invaluable during the trip.

We all got onto the train at Berlin Hauptbahnhof last Friday, squeezed ourselves and our luggage into the seats and compartments, and set off on our 6 hour ride to Munich with one thought in common (so I believe): Oktoberfest starts tomorrow. That's right; we were in Munich during the opening weekend of Oktoberfest. I'll give you a moment to stop screaming, Ian.

Alright. Let's get back to it.
The ride was pretty quick, all things considered, and I got to see a whole lot of the German countryside. Germany is truly beautiful. I don't know what it is, but seeing landscapes from a train lends a certain romantic quality to them (I'm talking classical Romanticism, not Kiss-Kiss-Lovey-Dovey Romance). That's just me, though.

We hurried to the hostel in Munich, and then everyone dispersed just as quickly. There was a city to see, and we still had the better part of an afternoon. A few of us went to Marianplatz, and began a small sightseeing tour of our own, specifically of a handful of churches each in a different style of architecture (Renaissance, Gothic, etc). Hijinks ensue. I couldn't help but wonder if I had been to any of the places that we went that day on my family's European Vacation all those years ago. Munich is a beautiful city, and it's a damn shame that it took 12 years for me to honestly remember that fact.

September 22nd was a big day. We left the hostel around 9 or 10, intent on spending the middle of the day at the Big O. First, though, there was shopping to be done. A lot of girls in the program bought Dirndls, while most of the guys bought plaid shirts (or the full Lederhosen, if they could stomach the 200+ Euro price tag); basically, festive garb all around. Despite this preparation, we were not ready for what we encountered at the Fest.

The population of Munich swells from its normal size of about 2 million to somewhere between 8 and 10 million when Oktoberfest hits. The fairgrounds are absolutely gigantic; we walked for maybe half an hour or forty-five minutes, and probably only covered an 8th of the entire area. There are several gigantic Festhalle that dominate the landscape, with smaller foodstands and shops that line the wide paths in between. There was also a roller coaster, giant slide, and other assorted carnival rides. Here's the kicker: you can't get beer at Oktoberfest unless you are sitting outside or inside a Festhalle. Our group split up while we walked around the grounds, and my fragment had the fortune to meet up with Libby and Phil, another pair of confused Americans who wanted nothing more than to sit down and have something to drink. Both of them had come to Munich on a day trip from a nearby military base (although neither of them looked like they were in the military); they're originally from Missouri. They're real nice people, and I'm glad that we bumped into them. As a side note, it's always a little weird when I bump into an American in Germany, since it's not always readily apparent. I mean, it's not like Americans and Germans look totally different.

Anyways, we walked around for a while, and finally decided to wait in line for a shot at getting inside a Festhalle. We managed to get in with about 45 minutes to spare before the historical tour that afternoon. The Hall was packed to the gills, and everyone was either dancing, singing, or drinking. Waitresses pushed through the crowds carrying 10 or even 15 liter glasses of beer (the only way it is served at Oktoberfest), sometimes using whistles to clear the way. There was no way that we could sit down, but we were in luck. As we watched a woman climb up onto the bandstand and begin her impromptu position as conductor, a random drunken Italian thrust his Mass ('measure' - Beer) into Heather's hands, and told her that it was a shame that she didn't have anything to drink. We passed the Mass around, so although we didn't get to stay, we didn't miss out on a taste of the full experience. Never underestimate the power of the pretty girl. Bidding the Italians farewell, we made our way to the tour.

I'll say it again. Munich is a Beautiful City. The tour made its way through the historical center of Munich, and ended with some old buildings that the Nazis had built for their own purposes (like Hitler's Munich offices). We even got to see the location of the 'Beer Hall Putsch' of March 1923. I'm not really here to tell you the tour, but I will relate one highlight. We went to St. Petersdom (Peter's Cathedral, which is really beautiful by the way) during the tour, and we got to see "the Devil's Footprint." Legend has it that when the cathedral was being built, the architect solicited the Devil's help, which would only be given if the Devil could not see any windows when he inspected the cathedral after a certain period of time (he'd help, if it looked crappy). On the day of the inspection, the architect had the Devil stand in such a spot that he could not see any of the windows, due to the columns being in the way. Furious at being made to help construct the cathedral, the Devil stomped his foot, creating the impression that remains. The tour guide asked my to put my foot in the print before I knew any of this - it fit almost perfectly. Strange world, huh? No regrets about the tour (it was nearly 3 hours), although this was the start of a series of painful days for my feet.

That night, a few of us went out to a bar, and then to a mall that had been converted into one big dance hall that night. Fun times indeed. Ask me about the passed out guy in the Burger King getting 'helped out' by his friends.

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The next day, we watched the opening parade of Oktoberfest, with representatives from all parts of Germany in their traditional dress. It was awesome, but it did make getting to Oktoberfest afterwards mighty difficult. We did manage to get a table outside one of the tents, though, so everything worked out fine. Through the course of the 2-3 hours that we were there, I drank 2 liters of Festbier. Just as clarification, the recipe for the beer was decided 4 or 5 years in advance, so it's a high quality, smooth beer. You can really just drink it like water, which is bad, because it also has a higher alcohol content than normal beer. Needless to say, I was done after that.

There was a tour of the Residenz, a royal apartment and symbol of Bavaria, but there were extenuating circumstances beyond what I had to drink that prevented me from attending. I'm not going to go into graphic detail, but this last week was really the head of a lot of built up frustration and stress between people. I was a little bit busy feeling like the loneliest person in the world to go on a tour (although I did try to get there), and it was a lucky break for me that I ran into some of the other people from the program that were in our Oktoberfest group. It would have been bad news if I had been left alone. I'll leave it at that.

The four hour train ride to Vienna the next day was fine, although the cabin that we were in was like an oven. I'll close this entry off with a cautionary tale.

One of my roommates in the hostel, Josh, had left the door open a crack while he and another roomie, Matt, were napping the first day in Munich. They thought that they were being courteous to Danny, the other roomie, and Myself, so that we wouldn't have to use the key to get in. Bad idea. Josh wakes up to find this 6'2"+ guy standing in the room rummaging through his stuff. Confused, Josh isn't quick enough to stop the guy from running out the front of the hostel Josh isn't that big, so it's not like he could have forced the guy), although he does manage to stop the guy outside (while wearing only boxers). He gets the guy to come back to the room, and wait while he checks his stuff. Nothing is missing; not his passport, not his wallet. Matt is too groggy to realize what's going on, really. The guy leaves after dubiously answering what he was doing in the hostel (and the room), and that's when Josh realizes that his phone is gone (although where the guy had it stashed was a mystery to everyone). Not an hour later, Josh is taking a shower, and he sees a very familiar hand creep through the door (which wasn't locked). The guy, caught again, answers that he was "looking for girls." Yeah. Matt and Josh bring him to the front desk, but they just send him away because he doesn't have a room key (which gave you permission to be in the hostel). The guy never comes back after this, but I think you can see my point.

That's all for now. I've got work to do for school tomorrow, but the second half of the trip should be up here tomorrow night.

Good night, all.