(Our flight out of Vancouver - yes, that's a tri-engine MD11, KLM being the last passenger operator)Well, that was an adventure...flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam - rental car from Amsterdam to Utrecht. And then, after arriving at our Bed and Breakfast for the evening, and strolling out to explore the city a bit, Geoff learns his first valuable lesson of the trip - bicycles are silent killers. Ok then, so I'll keep my head on a swivel.
Our first night in Europe we stayed at a nice B&B in this college town. It was very comfy, casual, and provided for some much needed rest. The next morning, after a fresh breakfast (including some awesome fresh squeezed orange juice) we ventured out onto the Dutch highways, and headed for Munich.
Funny moment of the morning - passing through the countryside, not seeing a speed limit sign, freaking out that you don't know what the speed limit is, seeing a sign that says "ausfahrt" and suddenly realizing you've crossed into Germany, you're on the autobahn, and there IS no speed limit! Unfortunately our rental car was a bit underwhelming - A Volvo C30 with a 2.0 liter engine, no turbocharger, and only 5 forward gears. Not really an Autobahn cruiser. I DID manage to get it up to 175kph at one point, but not for long. We averaged ~140kph. Ok, that's fairly decent...
To break up the length of the drive (~8 hours from Amsterdam to Munich) we stopped in Wurzburg for lunch. Got a much needed walk in, and had some recommended fresh Italian food from a restaurant where they didn't speak English. Lots of pointing at the menu ensued. Thank god "Coca Cola" is universal!
(the palace above the Rhine river in Wurzburg)Another few hours on the Autobahn, and we were finally nearing Munich. I'll admit it, we had a Garmin...which leads to our next insight - the freeways run all around Munich, our hotel was in central Munich, and there was no direct route there. "Turn onto (insert weird German road name here) and continue for 7km" then "turn onto...and continue for 9km" Finally, the little finish line flag was visible on the map. We had arrived! We parked the car and greeted friends Lian and Mike in our hotel room. After an authentic German dinner (and a beer warm up) we headed to bed to prepare for the main event!
Wednesday, 9:30am, our journey to the Theresienwiese begins. We began our day at the Augustiner tent, where Lian talked to a waitress setting up who promised us she'd get us seated, since most all of the inside tables are reserved. We walked around for a while and checked out the rest of the tents, and then as people started multiplying on the fairgrounds, we headed back. After again locating our waitress, we sat down, I bought some giant pretzels, and we ordered our first round!
(Live every moment, and prost!)With a toast to my late boss to start, our Oktoberfest experience is on. This is what it's all about. I know in the picture it looks like there was a lot of foam in the glass, and there was, but it was the first pour of the day. We'll cut them some slack, after all, I'm pretty sure the folks at Oktoberfest know how to pour beer...
Food was ordered (1/2 chickens, more pretzels) another round was ordered, Phase 10 was played (awesome card game!) and the tent slowly filled. A nice couple from New Jersey sat down with us. Then the Austrian Police force K9 unit sat down with us.
Madness ensues, more beer is ordered, German phrases are taught (ask Jaime!) Music is played, and slowly, the afternoon begins to run together. Funny thing about that...yes Judy, the beer probably is a bit stronger, but after 4 liters, ANYONE is going to start to feel it.
Time to stretch our legs. We part company with our Austrian friends, and head outside into the sunshine. Good lord it's bright out here! So, what do you guys want to do? Hey, let's head to a beer tent and have a drink! Awesome...
I'd love to tell you about the rest of the afternoon, I know we ended up in the Hippodrome tent...that's really the only detail I'd be able to confirm...maybe ask Jaime...
Gonna pause for now - will continue the story tomorrow...in the meantime, here's the link to the Shutterfly album (some of the pictures have captions)
