Hello Germany!

Friday 9/21

It was an early morning start with the alarm going off at 5 am! We had a taxi coming at 6 (at least we hoped he'd show up!) to take us to the train station and begin our second leg of the trip to Munich.

The train ride wasn't quite as scenic as I was hoping it would be. Honestly, I felt like I was in Pennsylvania as we just rode through all the farmland, making an occasional stop in a fairly sized town. I did really enjoy seeing the small towns pass, especially as their churches and steeples are so quaint looking. We were barely even off the train when we saw our first boy in Leiderhosen!

We took a cab to our hotel, only to find out that they were overbooked and we would be staying elsewhere in town at an apartment that they had arranged. We also learned that we had to pay in cash!!! T had made all the arrangements and had booked it from one of those non-refundable travel sights and on the 3rd page of her receipt it said in really small letters "a charge will be held against your account until check in, then cash payment will be the only form of payment accepted". OOPS! Long story short the lady tried to explain a tragic story about credit card fraud from the previous year and we tried to explain that we had valid credit cards but our banks would not allow us to take out THAT much $ to pay her. After some persuasion and photocopies of all forms of ID we had our room...or apartment...and she paid for a taxi to take us to our new destination.

The apartment was actually pretty great! They had completely stuffed the fridge with all the OJ and yogurt we could want, as well as the buffet that was overflowing with muffins, breads, tea, and the cutest individual packets of Nutella! (I LOVE NUTELLA!) Oh, and the location, we were barely 2 blocks away from the Oktoberfest fairgrounds! We settled in quickly and then set about to explore downtown Munich. It was an easy walk (about 15 minutes) to the Marionplatz, a sort of town center. Along the way we browsed through a few boutiques, entertained the idea of buying Drindle's, and picked up a few souvenirs. I didn't know just how badly Tonya had wanted to go to Oktoberfest, and my practical side talked me out of spending the money on a drindle when it was supposed to be cold and rainy, and seriously, when else would I wear it? We ended up buying cute "baseball" type T's that say Oktoberfest Munchen 2012 instead. (Sorry T, I didn't know just HOW important it was to be in costume!).

We headed over to Hofbrauhaus, the original Beer Hall since 1589 and entered into a madhouse, a fun one, of very happy people who are fond of spontaneously bursting into song, dance, and cheers! It was a "fend for yourself" seating sort of place and we found a table occupied by several Americans and joined them for a Liter. Matt, who works for Audi and who grew up just 30 mins away from where Tonya is from, was quite a source of knowledge as he's been to Munich several times. He gave us a few pointers and suggested we visit the Neuschwanstein Castle in Fussen (instead of the Dachau concentration camp). After finishing our beer we decided to check out Ratskeller, per our British friend Darren's suggestion. It was quite good and we dined on Pork Knuckle (I know, what a name! It was so tender inside and crunchy outside) and a Sausage Variety plate. We also happened to spot our new friend Matt here as well! We didn't stay out too late as we had plans to attend the Oktoberfest parade in the morning!