Munich & Oktoberfest – WOW!

After a less than great night train ride from Prague, we arrived at Munich at 0630. Since nothing opened until 0900, we stashed our bags & hung around the bahnhof area. Got some coffee and a sweet roll then found a café where I was able to pick up free internet from one of the local hostels. Since neither one of us slept very well on the train, wasn’t very productive time – snoozed between typing and surfing.

Once everything opened, we got a map and a bus pass to start seeing the city. Munich is a large city, full of museums and monuments with lots of interesting architecture throughout. This area is a copy of the entrance to the Greek Acropolis and was built by Hitler as government offices but it is now a museum of ancient art and artifacts:

Here is the monument to peace that was erected after WW II:

Munich is also the capital of the state of Bavaria and here is the Governor’s Mansion:

In downtown Munich is the central plaza or Marienplatz, where the famous Glockenspiel chimes and does an animated show with bell chimes. We ate lunch at the Marienplatz and here is a still of the clock. Unfortunately, it is currently undergoing restoration so it’s not a great picture but here’s a link to a site where you can watch a video of the whole performance:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=10721217

As we continued around the city, we came across this statue which is a monument to King Ludwig II, who’s marriage celebration spawned Oktoberfest.

And speaking of Oktoberfest – WOW! I been to two state fairs, mardi gras, a picnic and a rodeo and that’s the wildest thing I’ve ever seen! It’s sort of like a cross between a State Fair, Mardi Gras and a College Kegger! Here'a Vicki entering in the midway

And everywhere you look people are in traditional Bavarian dress like this:

Guess the closest thing I could equate it to in the US is the Blackbeard Festival in Hampton where everybody dresses up as pirates!

However, in addition to the midway, there are huge beer tents spread out across the whole area and there are a bazillion people. We went up on the hill overlooking the Oktoberfest and this is what it looks like:

And this is what it looks like when you’re at ground level:

The beer tents can hold up to 10,000 people and picnic tables are crammed in, one after another, and Oom-Pa-Pa bands play continuously. Here’s a view of the Lowenbrau tent:
Well, we got enough of the beer tents pretty quick so we decided to go back downtown Munich to the Hofbrauhaus, arguably the most famous establishment in Munich! Here I am out front:

We went upstairs to the fest hall

Here’s Vicki while we were looking a place to set:

After we found a table without too many people, I ordered a dark beer – this is some good stuff -I really got into the good natured beer drinking songs!

The group at the table with us spoke very little English but we communicated some. They were either from Russia or Eastern Germany, I couldn’t quite make out which! Even though Vicki doesn’t drink beer, they insisted on taking our picture together and put a beer in her hand just for looks!

She did taste mine & said “YUK! Tastes like beer to me!”

After leaving the Hofbrauhouse, we headed for the bahnhof so we could catch the train to Garmisch - a beautiful little town at the foot of Germany’s highest peak, the Zugspitz. We’ve got a hotel room waiting for us there in the Atlas Posthotel and it will feel great to be away from the cities and take a break in a smaller area. Will post more later, but for now, Auf Wiedersehen and Gute Nacht!