My Weekend: Oktoberfest

This past weekend, I met up with my Canadian friend K (yes, the same K I went to Interlaken with) in Munich.  She has been touring around Italy since we last saw each other, and unfortunately, this weekend was the last time I'll see her in Europe.  She heads home mid-October after almost 4 months in Europe.  I will miss my travel buddy terribly, but will see her again at Christmas!

Anyway, back to the story.  Back when I first arrived in Switzerland, K mentioned the idea of Oktoberfest.  Since it is an incredibly popular festival and a frequent item on peoples' bucket lists, we decided to book ASAP.  Good thing we did.  The hostel had very few rooms left.  After booking the hostel, I booked my flights and we were all set!

Friday night, I got a ride from P to the airport after he generously offered to take E to football practice and me to catch my flight.  From the start I knew my journey to Germany would be less than worry free.  It all started with the check-in desk attendant questioning the size of my carry on luggage.  She was trying to convince me to check it, but I managed to prove to her that it would fit in the compartment by shoving it into the little measuring doo-hickey they had.  It took some effort, but in the end I got a nod from the attendant.  And I walked away with my head held high.  Until I check my first flight.   It ended up being delayed half an hour.  I managed to catch my connecting flight in Zurich in time thanks to the wonderful Swiss Air on-board staff.

Despite the cost of flying with Swiss Air, the services are worth your money.  Once we had been delayed, they were quick to send me an SMS letting me know (although I was already at the airport, but that's beside the point).  Then they presented us with amazing Swiss chocolate and a complimentary beverage. After that, they ensured we all knew where to go for our connecting flights.  I know a lot of other airlines do the same, but the fact that it all came with chocolate just made my night.

My connecting flight was with Lufthansa and as I boarded, I was greeted with a Toblerone.  Yes!  I love Switzerland.  The flight was quick, and soon I was landing in Munich.  Unfortunately, the Munich airport is not as centrally located as the Genevan airport, so I had to take a 40 minute train ride.  And that 40 minute train ride turned into a 50 minute train ride because of some German issue (the announcements were in German, so I had no idea what was wrong.  But it sounded like a very German problem).

At 11:30pm, I finally met up with K at the train station Starbucks.  It was so great to see her again!

Now for those who have never been to Oktoberfest, I feel like you must be warned.  Don't expect people in lederhosen to just be hanging around the fair grounds.  No, they're everywhere.  The train station, the grocery store, and the local mall.  They're also passed out everywhere.  No matter what time of the day, expect there to be someone out stone cold on the sidewalk with a half-empty bottle of beer still in his or her hand.  Oh, Germany.

Anyway...

Our hostel (Euro Youth Hostel) was just around the corner from the station, and was (for lack of another word) popping.  We quickly checked in and decided to spend the night in at the hostel bar.  We met some cool people from Ottawa, Jersey and California, and some very strange people as well.  But it's Oktoberfest right?

We called it a night around 2am since we planned on an early morning to get a spot in a beer tent.  In hindsight, it probably would've been a good idea to set an alarm.  So we got up around 10:30am and slowly got ready. We stopped at the local supermarket and got ourselves breakfast for €2,50 (altogether!).  Those of you who live in/near Switzerland, you know that this is so much less than what we would've paid in Geneva.  I was blown away.  


By the time we finished our breakfast and made our way to the Oktoberfest grounds, it was just past noon.  We figured it was still early enough that we could wander the grounds then get a spot in a tent.  Boy were we wrong!


Here's how Oktoberfest beer tents work:

1. If you check the Oktoberfest website, it says no reservations can be made.  But when you get to the tents, they're all reserved.
2. You're told that you can sit in the beer gardens surrounding the tents.  They're full.
3. To get a spot in the beer gardens, you are told to go to one of the many entrances, but when you get to it, you're told it's an exit only, so you have to go to *that* one.  And when you get to *that* one?  It's exit only.
4. So now you need to stand in a hoard of people and wait for a server to come and pick you.  And what do these servers want?  Big groups of guys who can drink a lot.  What was I?  One of a pair of girls.  Didn't go well.

After standing in the hoard for 90 minutes, K and I decided to give up.  We purchased our souvenirs then decided to walk around Munich and find another beer garden.  Thankfully we did.  The trip got infinitely better the second we left the festival grounds.  I got my stein(s) of beer and we met some really cool people.  

Munich is a great city and I can't wait to go back when there aren't thousands of drunk tourists falling all over the place.  I am happy to say I *ticked* Oktoberfest off my bucket list, but I don't plan on going back.  Great experience, but definitely not one that I can't find somewhere else.  You live, you learn.

How was your weekend???

The first stein! 

All done!

Some more?  Why not?

Loving life

Main brewery's beer hall

Government buildings at night

  

Checking In...

I just have to say, I love my job!

I know I've only technically been on the job for 3 days, but they've been great days.  The boy I'm watching, E, is the most mature, intelligent, and friendly 9 year old boy I have ever met.  He's very inquisitive; always ready with a question or observation.   He's become very interested in microchips at the moment, so we've been scouring the house for old electronic games (like ones that come in Happy Meals) for him to open up and remove the chip.  He hasn't yet decided what he'll do with the pile of microchips that has accumulated, but I'm sure he'll have a solution tomorrow.

I honestly need to start carrying my camera everywhere I go.  E and I went on a bike ride today to the soccer field he used to play at (he's made the top team, so he now plays at a different field, much farther away), and just simply gawked the entire bike ride.  I don't think I've ever been to a more picturesque place in my life.  Next week, E is in a camp all week, so I'll take out my good camera and get some shots to try to capture the gawk-worthy scenery.

As part of my job, I have to make lunch for (almost) the entire family, depending on who is home each day.  For those in Switzerland, and most other parts of Europe, you already know that lunch is the biggest meal of the day.  Breakfast is still the most important, but lunch definitely takes the cake for size. This means this poor family has left their life (yes, life) in my hands.  Luckily, I've been practicing (see here, here, here, and here) and I don't think the food's been too bad.  So far, I've made a Mango Chicken (borrowed from a friend, KN - THANKS!) and a vegetable spaghetti.  Tomorrow, along with lunch, I'll be making a Jello dessert for the family.  For those that don't know me, and my family, well, you probably might not be familiar with this REALLY HARD recipe to make.  It has a total of...are you ready for it?...three ingredients (four if you count water), and takes forever to make (less than an hour).  Wanna try it?  Check back tomorrow after I've made it, and if you've been really good, I'll post the recipe (although I might get scolded by my mother for that).

And surprisingly, I still haven't felt homesick.  Yes, I miss everyone, too much to even say, but I don't have any interest in getting a plane and heading home.  It just makes me want to get on a plane and go see more of Europe.  Speaking of which, I have made some travel plans with my friend KW who is studying in Berlin.  In two weeks she'll be in Geneva, so we get to hang out.  Then we plan on going to Interlaken for the weekend (aka the most beautiful place on Earth - I promise to take too many pictures).  Then at the end of September, we plan on meeting in Munich for Oktoberfest.  If you've happened to check out my bucket list, you'll know this is something I really want to do.  Thankfully, so did KW, so I won't have to go solo.

I can't believe my first week is already half over.  Time is just flying by!  Excited to Skype with some of my friends back home and my parents on the weekend.  Miss you all, and chat with you soon!

Until tomorrow, thanks for checking in and have a great day/night!

PS: In amazing news, learned that there's a Bibliobus (Library on wheels) that drives right through the village.  I am obviously more than excited.