I had a great ride into Munich. There was a guy in our sleeper car that had great stories and helped me get situated with the right subway ticket when we first arrived. I waited around in the airport for a little while and easily met up with Steve and Chris (friends from High School) after they landed.
We immediately hopped in a rental car and drove to Neuschwanstein Castle. The Walt Disney castle is based on this place. It was pretty sweet. Once we were there, about an hour south of Munich, we went the last 20 minutes into Austria for the sake of having visited Austria. We found ourselves in a family run restaurant in a tiny little town. They were so nice to us.
That night we just went to a local bar. It was pretty empty when we arrived, but soon after the place was packed. The tents in Octoberfest close at 10:30. The next day, once we recovered enough, we headed to the grounds. We walked around, took pictures, peeked in all the tents, rode the ferris wheel, that kind of thing. Then we had lunch and some beers at tent with a boat stage inside, I can’t remember the name. It was so fun. We made friends with some Swiss guys next to us. We learned from the night before and did a quick pit stop back in the room and drank a lot of water. Then we headed back out for dinner and more Octoberfest. We spent the night at the Hippodrom. It was such a party. Everyone was dancing on the benches, which is not easy, by the way. They are shacking like mad from everyone jumping on them and people are bumping into you and I was wearing really tall heals. I fell a few times. We were lucky to be there during the week when you can just walk right into the tents. On the weekends there are lines to get in.
The next day the boys had to catch a plane back to Paris, where Chris is at University. We had a delicious free breakfast together at the Marriott, thanks to Steve’s platinum status, then had to say goodbye. I planned on traveling overnight to Milan, so I had the day to kill by myself. Luckily there is no easier place in the world to make friends than Octoberfest, so I figured I would just pick a tent and go in for a beer. Even though this breaks my personal philosophy of never going into a bar by myself. Luckily I made friends with two guys, Craig and Michel, as soon as I went to a table. We had a great night! We sang this drinking song, which is based on a children’s song.
This was my second time to Munich, but my first time to Octoberfest. I was here once before in April with Jeff and Drew two years ago. I’m glad I did it that way because Munich is a really cool city with a lot of sights. But being there during Octoberfest, all we wanted to do was go to Octoberfest. Since I had been before I could ignore the Glockenspiel without guilt.
Now I’m on my way to Milan, my last stop before Rome and where I’ll be for my birthday. I can’t believe it’s my 25th birthday tomorrow. I thought I would be bummed out not to be back home having a big party, but I couldn’t be happier. Well, I guess maybe if I wasn’t so hung over right now. I was thinking I might die my hair as a crazy thing to do for it. But everyone seems to think that’s a bad idea, that I should keep my color. Well see what happens tomorrow!
[Edit] Photos from Neuschwanstein Castle:
https://picasaweb.google.com/kaitlyn.hanrahan/20100919NeuschwansteinCastle#
Photos from Octoberfest:
https://picasaweb.google.com/kaitlyn.hanrahan/20100920Octoberfest#