Munich, Germany
October 3-4
Day 7 – Munich
This was quite possibly the longest day of the tour – and the most fun. We got up early to get down the mountain and meet Sylvan and the bus to get on the road to Munich. After spending our last Swiss francs (as Fabian put it, they are as useless as shrapnel when not in Switzerland) on Swiss chocolate at a rest area (buy all the Alpine milk chocolate you can – sooooo good!!), we made good time and arrived at our hotel in Munich (Hotel Viktualienmarkt) with enough time for a quick orientation tour before heading to the final night of Oktoberfest!
This was a bucket list item for me. I had heard how amazing Oktoberfest was, but really had no idea. It is like a carnival combined with New Orleans’ Jazzfest and a fraternity party all in one. Everywhere you look there are men wearing lederhosen and women wearing dirndls. There are families. There are drunken people riding amusement park rides (not advised). And there is so much great smelling food! And that is just outside the tents.
Inside the tents – which are enormous, football field-length tents (there are eight of them) – there are long tables with benches everywhere, and a bandstand in the middle. The band is the best wedding band you’ve ever heard – they literally play everything from Bon Jovi to Neil Diamond to Nina (99 Luftballoons) to Prince to classic oompah songs. We found out quickly that EVERYONE stands on the benches to belt out the words to the songs, while hoisting these enormous beers.
We didn’t have a reservation, so Fabian encouraged us to just ask the people at tables if they could squeeze together to make room for us. Anna and I found a table with some French ex-pats, a Spaniard, and a couple of Germans right away, and several others in our group found room a couple of tables away. By the end of the night, we were all at the same table, and had a highly entertaining trip back to the hotel. We sang, we danced, we ate some chicken and an enormous pretzel, we drank beer, and we even bought hats (they have vendors wandering throughout the tent selling hats, pretzels, and gingerbread cookies with various sayings on them). It was everything I hoped it would be, and more.
Day 8 – Munich
I still feel bad for our local guide, Kathleen, as a large portion of the group was a little hungover from the previous evening’s activities, and to top it off, it was really chilly and rainy this day. But she gave an excellent walking tour of Munich!
After lunch at a little spot in the Viktualienmarkt (where we saw them take down the old Maypole that morning on our tour…must have been confusing to tourists looking for it that afternoon, as they didn’t replace it straight away), I was ready for some souvenir shopping, followed by a nice nap. We had a group dinner at one of the Pauliner restaurants, and then everyone went to bed early. Too much excitement the night before!