Gemütlichkeit

First, i need to thank the Tante Peggy Reisebüro for hooking me up with the biggest discount at the most amazing B&B i've ever stayed at.

I also need to thank Uwe and Thea, the owners of the B&B, for the 3 most delicious breakfasts of my entire first month in Europe. And for the shuttle service to and from the Eichenau Bahnhof Friday and Sunday mornings when we were carrying our bags.

please excuse any typos. I've switched the keyboard from italian to german, so i can get my umlauts instead of accents over vowels. The only problem is the german keyboard also switches around the z and y. Im trzing to catch all tzpos, but please excuse the ones i dont correct.

Oktoberfest:
it's all about knowing and meeting the right people.

Friday
Upon arrival in Eichenau, we were starving. Rob, being so cultured, wanted to find a place for a real German breakfast. The best place happened to be our B&B. Thea met us at the station, made some hot tea to warm us up and (not even knowing Rob's desire for an authentic German breakfast) asked if we would be interested in a real Bavarian breakfast. Our eyes lit up, so Thea said she'd be back in 15 minutes to get stuff for breakfest. Feeling guilty that she was going to run out, we asked if there was simply a place we could go buy breakfast, but she insisted. And thankfully so. The Weißewurst mit süße Senf was fantastic.

20 minutes on the S-Bahn. Made our way our way to the Oktoberfest grounds. It was still raining lightly, so the "just follow the masses" plan didnt really work. Twice stopping for directions, we got there with zero wrong turns. I felt like a tour guide. ..except i was only responsible for 3 other people. I guess i need a PR manager..

Arrived at 3:00ish. Walked past a carousel of drunk people. Grabbed a Bratwurst. Didn't notice many lines outside Beer tents. ...and by tents, i mean giant beer halls big enough to hold more than 9,000 people. Headed to the Löwebrau. Saw a crowd of people get let in, so we waited. We were near the front of the line, so we kept waiting... after an hour, someone from the inside came out to say they were completely full. At least by that time it'd stopped raining. So we picked another tent. Spaten. The line outside the Spaten didnt look nearly as long, but not wanting to risk standing at the front of a line for another hour, we grabbed a table outside.

We each had 2 liters. That was plenty to warm us up and put us in good spirits (if we weren't already). Walked around some more. Grabbed ein Bretzel. Had my first and only drunk driving experience. ...i hit a few cars. ...a few hit me. ...i think bumper cars are more fun when everyone is under the influence.

We left the Oktoberfest grounds at 10:00, and found a stand just north of the park selling 1/2 liters of beer. After a brief discussion, we decided to sit down. Good thing we did. We met three really cool Germans: Kai, Nina, and Armin. Armin would turn out to be the key of Saturday's experience.

Saturday
We slept in a little bit. Got up around 10. Had a traditional German breakfast (rolls, pretzels, etc. only with eggs instead of Weißewurst). After delicious breakfast and warm conversation, we finally left for Munich around 1:00. Got to Marienplatz around 1:30. Re-stocked our wallets at an ATM. The two girls were determined to find an H&M. ...not hard, since there were 4 right in the Marienplatz area. While they shopped, Rob and I kept walking, chilled at the foot of the Frauenkirche for a bit. At about 3:00, we decided to go to Oktoberfest to try and actually get in a tent this time. We'd planned on meeting Armin around 4 at the Augustiner.

He was already there when we arrived. But the Augustiner was already full. The girls called him and we met outside the main entrance. He walked us around to one of the side entrances, peering thru the window of door until he found one of the bouncers he knew. The bouncer kinda rolled his eyes when he saw Armin was dragging four people with him, but he let all of us in. Turns out Armin's grandma worked as a server in the Augustiner for 44 years. She's now 75, and this is the first year she's no longer working there. So Armin has connections.

I got to practice even more of my German with the old folks we were sitting next to. They've been coming to Oktoberfest every year for 30 years straight. They left around 7 after downing 13 liters between the three of them. Impressive. Even more impressive is that the only sign they'd had a lot to drink was the old man getting up to pee every hour.

When the two girls we were with went for a toilet break, i joked with Armin that we now had room for ein paar hübsche deutsche Mädchen. (no offense to the American girls, but with the departure of the old folks, i was looking for new company to speak german with). He laughed, but said one was actually her way.

he wasn't kidding. ...eine der hübscheste junge Damen in Deutschland.

Armin lives at least 30 minutes outside Munich, so he left to catch his last train around 11:30. So Kara tried to get us into a club, but both were full. Instead she showed us the city center by night. ...which unfortunately included a stop at McDonalds to satisfy the girls' cravings. It was a goal of mine to avoid McD's my entire time in Europe. ..and i still haven't had a bite. Drunk or not. We left Munich at about 1:30 to make sure we didnt miss the last S-Bahn at 2.

Sunday was a second day of beautiful weather. First time meeting Flora, another great breakfast, goodbyes, and a 12 hour bus ride thru the Alps back to Rome.