Munich

Munich was so much fun!

We missed our stupid flight over there thanks to U.S. Air getting us into Philly late, so we wound up traveling for about 23 hours with two layovers. Not fun. But once we arrived, we figured out the train to our hotel, and were happy to see that it was about a three minute walk to the main train station, and a five minute walk to Oktoberfest.

Our first full day there was Thursday the 25th. We went on a Mike's Bike Tour of Neuschwanstein Castle. This is the castle that King Ludwig built in the 1800's, and Walt Disney designed Sleeping Beauty's Castle after. It was really foggy, so your best bet is to click on the link above to check it out. It was about $40 for the whole day including the two hour train rides there and back, the tour, and great guides. The best part about it is that we met some cool people that we wound up going to dinner with that night. We hiked uphill for a half hour with no relief to get to the castle, but I was so proud of myself when I got there! While the inside of the castle is cool, it's more the experience of getting there and the excitement of seeing it that I enjoyed.
We went to dinner at the Hofbrauhaus right in downtown Munich for dinner that night with our new friends. It is famous for being one of the largest breweries in Germany, as well as a meeting place for Hitler and his people back in the day. It's like a mini-Oktoberfest every night! You just walk around until you find open seats at the picnic tables, and they serve one size beer. BIG! Holding those steins up is quite a workout! I ordered a plate of sausage and sauerkraut (which you could not pay me to eat at home), and we had a fun night.

Friday was Munich sightseeing and... Oktoberfest! It was so cold there that I had to buy a wool coat, just to survive the day. Little did I know that I would be wearing it EVERY DAY for two weeks because we had horrible weather, so I guess it was money well spent.
We watched the famous town Glockenspeil do it's little song and dance at 11am and spent time walking up and down the streets. By 4:00, we were ready to celebrate my 30th at the biggest party of the year! Oktoberfest was soooooo fun! 1.5 million people live in Munich, and 6 million go to Oktoberfest. I have posted a few pics and videos below. We did not have a tent reservation, which is required to get in. However, you can sit outside at the non-reservation tables, if you can find a seat. We found two open spots after about 15 minutes with a bunch of drunk Swiss guys, had a stein, and move to the quieter Swede table next to them after a bit. The guys there were NUTS!! Picture tens of thousands of people there for one reason- to drink beer. We finally got into a tent through a friend, and that was crazier than the outside! It was about 40 degrees hotter inside than out, bands were playing, people were standing on table singing, and it was packed like sardines.