The last day...and our most interesting night yet!

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I woke up on Sunday morning and found that for the third morning in a row, two of the people (one boy and one girl) in our group were sleeping in their clothes. Funny, funny stuff!

For the first time in Munich, I had a real breakfast. I think my body was happy to have the protein from eggs! Four people in the group decided to take an all day trip to this castle about 2 1/2 hours away from the city. Its the castle that Walt modeled his Cinderella castle after at Disney World. The pictures are amazing, but I decided there was more of Munich to see. The rest of us headed out to see Olympic Park - site of the 1972 Summer Games. It was quite spectacular! BMW has a large musuem there and all of the buildings from the Games are still being used. We wondered around the park a bit...saw a soccer facility...saw the main arena and then went up in the Olympic Tower (similar to the Seattle Space Needle) that is 900 ft high. It was fun to see the park and grounds from above and then see more of Munich and the surrounding area. It was a bit hazzy so some things were hard to see, but overall, the views were great! Being that it was late, we ended up stopping in at the restaurant and having a beer or two with our meal. Of course we were drinking by noon...as you can tell, it's worked so well for us every other day, why stop now. Lunch was great. The six of us were talking and laughing and enjoying a beautiful sunny day! I have to say, I had a little buzz when we left.

We headed back to the subway and went back into the city center area. We decided to do a bit more walking around to see more of the sites. We saw the Feldherrnhalle which is a monument with lions and some sort of warrior type person. I don't remember the whole story, but one of the lions faces the church and one faces the Residenz which is where the Kings and Rulers lived. Its a very interesting site and fun to take a couple of quick photos. We then walked over to the Residenz building to rub the three lion heads. There are a total of four heads, but you are only supposed to rub three for good luck. Then we walked into the grounds of the Residenz. The Residenz is a huge complex of buildings. It was started in 1385 and added onto over the years by the Kings of Bavaria. It was used until 1918. During the second world war, 3/4 of the estate was destroyed. One of the girls and I decided to buy a ticket and head in to see what they've reconstructed over the years, and what's left of the original interior. The other four decided to keep walking around. The Residenz as well worth the visit. Much of it has been reconstructed to mirror the original. Other parts are original...like wall paper from the 17th century that's somehow held its vibrant red tones. It was amazing. We weaved through the maze of rooms. Saw things from a collection of artist relics made from human bones to a porcelain collection to portraits of the royal families from over the years. The halls and ballrooms were incredible and just dwarfted you as you waltzed through and then the smaller interior rooms with their intimate decorations and a simple elegance. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to walk through the whole thing. I'm really glad I went.

From here we headed over to one more church I wanted to see. Its called Frauenkirche and was built in 1468. It has two soaring towers with onion domes on it. It was quite impressive. Now, at this point, I've seen my share of churches, but I was still amazed. It never ceases to amaze me how they could build something to intricate in the 1400s. The doors were my favorite thing here. They were massive! I hadn't seen anything else like them. Wood and carved with different images...they were awesome. It's really the only word for it. The interior had a quiet simplicity to it that made it extremely peaceful. It was one of the places that I could have just sat in for a while. But, we were back on our way rather quickly. I was hoping to hike up the stairs to see the views of the city from the tower, but since it was Sunday and they were doing construction on the church, the towers were closed. Oh well...next time I'm back.

At this point, we tried to meet up with the other four. The text message I got was, we're at the beer garden from yesterday. Well, I was in more than one beer garden on Saturday so I figured they were at the Hofbrauhaus which was only a few blocks away. We lapped this place twice...and it seats like 4000 people, and we couldn't find them. Turns out, they were at the other beer garden...oops! Since it was too far to walk to the other one, we decided to sit down and order a beer. After all, it was close to 5 pm. After a beer, we hopped back on the subway to meet up with the others at the condo. We got there early, so we went to the beer house near the condo and threw back another beer. The nice thing is that by the time we met up with the others, we were all equally buzzed. Tonight was our last night in town and everyone wanted to head back to the Fest for one last evening of craziness. If only we knew where we'd end up!

After a quick change of cloths for a few people (one of the girls in our group wanted to wear her German Beer Girl costume), we were back out the door. We stopped back at our neighborhood brew house for a quick beer before heading to the fest. Our waiter was great! One of the guys in the group said good-bye in german instead of hello. So when we ordered our beers, he brought him his in a shot glass saying he couldn't handle any more than that! The whole group was in an uproar! It was great!!! Once we all finished our beers we were quite prepared for the evening ahead. On our way to the subway, we decided to stop and take photos with painted lion statue in our neighborhood. I can't show the photos here...the poor lion...

We went into the main train terminal to meet up with those that went to the Dinsey castle thing. We were picking up two of the guys and dropping off one girl. Of our original 10, 3 were leaving on an overnight train to Italy. We were now a group of 7. During our people trade/hand-off, I decided it would be smart to grab some food. If the previous three days/nights had taught me anything, dinner was my only friend. Thank god for the Burger King in the station. Oh that's right, a Whopper saved my life! Armed with a fuller and slightly clearer head, I left with the group to see the Fest for the final night. We quickly made our way to the Hacher-Schor tent. This was the one tent I really wanted to go to and had not been to yet. Boy, was I glad we went! Since it was the evening, the tent was really hopping with lots of people standing on the benches dancing, singing and having a blast. The band was particularly livily and I couldn't wait to find a table for our group. After walking through about 1/2 the tent, I found a spot to slide in. One girl (the one in the german beer girl dress) and I asked a couple of guys if we could join their group at the table. They more than graciously allowed us in and before you knew it, we were on the benches dancing. The rest of the group seemed to have walked on past. I found out later that some of us enjoyed the inside of the tent more than others. But, one of the boys came back to rejoin us. And we were our happy threesome again!

The waitress came and I ordered us three beers. The support waittress (every table has 2 waitresses) came and I started to say that I already ordered...but my comrades said, no order more! So, I ordered 3 more. Both waitresses came back at the same time and were surprised and laughed that we ordered twice! There we were...3 people, 6 enormous beers. Oh yes, we were finally doing it up right on the last night. The great thing about the german beer, it actually tasted good warm so you did't have to worry about drinking fast before the beer got warm.

Armed with our beers, we started making friends with our table mates. One boy was talking to our girl and saying that he couldn't wait to be 21 so that he could come to the States for spring break. Oh boy...and did I mention he was flirting with her. Us other two, found this all very funny! I was quickly making friends with the married couple. The hubby says to me, I wanted to go home, but she wanted to stay. Now this is a German woman I can be friends with. The band was just fantastic! Out of nowhere, they started playing Tina Turner's Proud Mary! Here I am, in Munich, at Oktoberfest, dancing on a bench with a German man and we're both singing and dancing to Proud Mary. I love how some things cross all cultures! Everyone loves to have a good time. After a couple of more songs, the band busts out with Momma Mia. I thought I died and gone to heaven. Now the German and I are singing Momma Mia and clinging our beers and having the time of our lives! Before you know it, we are quite intoxicated and we've all realized that coming back to the fest was the best idea ever! After several more songs, another round of beers, more men to chat up (I'll admit, we found some single ones to flirt with) we were having the time of our lives. Before we knew it, it was 10:30 and the tent was closing. We each had about 1/3 left in our beers so we were slowly making our way to the exit. On our way over there, we meet another couple...either the girl or the guy was from South Africa and the other one lived in Munich. Either way, they were both tons of fun, very friendly and spoke good english. While we are standing and drinking and talking to our new found friends, we encounted an oops. Now, we're all pretty drunk, but after careful consideration in the days that followed this evening, this is what we happened...our girlfriend put down her beer on the ground to take a picture of us. When she was done taking the picture she bent back down to pick up her beer. In the process, she hit her head on the rim of my glass. Once she stood up, I was like, hey, you're bleeding. She was like, really? and reached up to touch her eyelid. Sure enough, lots of blood. Our new found friends paniced a bit and busted out a couple of tissues. (perhaps this has happened to them before...) Immediately, they're saying, we have to go, we have to go...I was like, ok, let's all take a step back and consider this. I did not say any of this out loud, it was only being said inside my head. I grabbed the tissue and immediately applied some intense pressure on the cut. My girlfriend was hilarious. You would have never known she was hurt. Of all the nights to have someone cry, this would have been it, but no...not a drop. She keeps trying to turn her head and is yelling at me saying, Ow! That hurts. I would respond with, well, if you stop moving around it won't hurt. I was cracking up! Now, in my head I was like, let's assess this...cuts to the head normally bleed A LOT. And, she's hammered so its going to bleed that much more. Let's give it a few more minutes to see what it does...I wait, remove the tissue...nope still too much blood...a few more minutes...nope, still too much blood...let's give it a few more minutes. Now, all the while, we're still drinking. I mean, we couldn't waste the perfectly tasty beer! So after maybe 15 mins, I get another look at the cut...it's finally stopped bleeding enough for me to get a good look at it...we definitely need stitches. No way around it. I deliver the news to my friends...I'm sorry to say this, but girl, you need stitches. Now, our new friends came in even more handy. I'm standing there trying to figure out how our drunk brains are going to find our way to a hospital in Munich and do we have enough money among us to pay the cabs/bills/ect. when our new friends announce, there is and infirmary at the Fest! What?!?! This is the best news EVER! So now we are trying to slam the rest of our beers so that we can get her to the clinic. It was only a short walk, just around the back side of the tent we were in.

I was like a kid in a candy store. Most would think that at this point, the three of us would get serious, but instead, we kicked up the giggle intensty. My friend signed in and when they went to take her back, they said one of us could go with her. Obviously, that was me. The guy with us grabbed me on the arm and said, "I'm going to wait, RIGHT HERE!" For the first time all weekend, he was very serious and stern. I was like, ok, we'll see you shorty. Armed with my camera poised to capture every moment of this outing, I was ready. We walked into the triage area and two nurses evaluated my friend. I snapped the first photo and almost got kicked out. Turns out, taking photos was not the best idea. They gave me a warning, at least I think it was a warning and I put the camera in my pocket. They took my friend into another area and told me to sit in the chair. At this point, I can barely contain myself. I'm hammered and laughing uncontrolably. This really is the most entertaining part of the trip. I start talking to two other unharmed people waiting in the chairs. The girl is looking at me like I'm crazy and the guy asked what's so funny. I said, all of this. They have a make shift emergency room at the festival in order to deal with all the injuries that take place...how could this not be funny! Turns out, there friend did not just hit his/her head on a mug. He/She was going to be transfered by ambulance to the real hospital. Um, that's not funny and I immediately stopped laughing. I was very thankful when another nurse told me that I could go sit by my friend again. She was now sitting with three other injuried people outside of a small room. Each one of them had some sort of deep cut that required stitches. And the pictures started again. We got a picture with each person. I took photos of the exam room and when the doctor took her in, he even agree to pose for a photo with my friend! I love it!!! We were in the infirmary for almost an hour. I kept snapping photos...my friend paying, the guy she paid, checking out at the front desk...and so on. When we exited, there was our other buddy who grabbed us with excitment. Turns out due to his drunkenness, we seemed to be in the back for an eternity and he was afraid perhaps they pushed us out some other exit. Look at that...the three of us were still together at the end of the night for the first time this trip. Goes to show you that when one friend is truly in need, the others stay close!

The walk back to the subway was hilarious! The Fest grounds were empty. And we have a new reason to take photos...the injury must be documented at every step. I kid you not, I have about 50 photos from the time we entered the infirmary to the time we got back to the condo. It was hilarious! My friend took a photo with every person that walked by and it kept getting more and more funny. We finally made it to the subway and then there were photos with the police, security, more tourists...then people on the train...it went on and on! I don't think I've ever laughed this much! By the time we got back to the condo, it was creaping up on 1 am. Mamie let us in and immediately, we started in on the story. She was laughing and couldn't believe this all happened. We all kept saying, but it was so funny! I don't think I've ever laughed this hard while one of my friends was injuried! I would say, that without doing it purposely, we out did ourselves on the last night of the fest! We all stayed together, we all had a blast and we survived the trip to the infirmary! Thank you Oktoberfest!

My girlfriend and I were on a 9 am flight the next morning. We had to get up early, about 6:30 am, to head to the airport. I'm not going to lie, I was still drunk when I got up. With a few quick adjustments to my pack, I was ready to go. We got on the subway with no problem and then switched to the other train that went out to the airport. We got on the very last train at the back...and thank god we did. Being that we were both still drunk and my friend was a little sore from her injury, we were not firing on all cylinders. About 1/2 way to the airport, there's an announcement - This train is going to separate. The front half of the train is going to (one place) and the back half will be going to the airport. My girlfriend and I look at each other...um, we're in the last car so we're going to assume that the second 1/2 of the train, so let's just sit here and see what happens. This could be the funniest announcement ever on a train. I mean, what if we were somewhere near the middle of the train. How would we know which 1/2 we were in. They didn't give a car count. And we're giggling again. Turns out, we were in the correct 1/2 and made it to the airport without a hitch. Checking in went well although I gave some pretty funny answers to the gate agent. I don't remember now what the questions were, but I could barely verbalize anything. We made our way to the gate and each of us tried to find something to drink and a quick snack. My friend was in one store while I was in another. I got some chocolate, crackers and a huge water. As I was leaving the store, I saw a man at the bar across the way...he was drinking a beer. It was 9 am...even I have my limits! And with that, we boarded the plane.

Thank you Munich! It was a blast!!!

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Photos

Dancing...
This photos sums up my experience at the fest. FUN, FUN, FUN!

Momma Mia!
Singing with my new German friend.

Beers anyone?!?
Trying to lift all 6 beers...the waitresses carry 10 at a time!

Our new friends
The local that knew where the infirmary was!

Comments

[Stacy]

Stitches
The injury...all dressed as Beer Garden Girl outfit too. Hilarious! And this is not the first time she's had a drunken injury in the form of a cut. The last time it was me saying "girl, you need stitches" and forcing her to go to the hospital. It was 10 or so stitches. Yea. Love that little klutz.