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Published: January 22nd 2010
Oktoberfest
Paulaner tentSo the past few days have flown by. On Monday we got up and left the hotel a little before 10am and walked to Oktoberfest. The grounds were only about 15 minutes away. When we got there we went directly into the big Paulaner tent. It was huge. I was so impressed that it's a temporary structure. We found the non-reserved section of tables and sat down. It was pretty empty in the tent at this point. We each got a liter of beer, which was tasty, and over the course of finishing it the tent had filled up a lot. By where we were sitting we could see the hundreds of chickens that they had roasting. Everything just seemed really big. We finished our beer and decided to head out and walk around. We fairly quickly came to the Lowenbrau tent - it has a large lion in the front of it who every so often swigs his beer, roars, and wags his tail. It was really packed in there. We thought we found some non-reserved tables, but when we asked to sit at one this bitter young guy told us it was reserved (when we later learned it wasn't!).
Oktoberfest
Paulaner tent We found another table with some openings and got seats. There was a group of Italians on one side of us and a guy from Egypt next to me at the table. We got another liter of beer each (it wasn't as good as the first) and the band had started playing. They were up high on a stage in the middle of the tent. It was definitely more rowdy in this tent. We clanked lots of glasses, clapped along with the music, stood up on the benches, chatted with our fellow tablemates, etc. It was a lot of fun and we were drunk. We got a giant pretzel and 2 more beers. Sometime around a quarter of the way of finishing mine I decided I couldn't have anymore. Adam finished his and moved onto mine, but we left shortly after. We stumbled out of the tent and to a stand where Adam purchased a giant heart cookie necklace for me (that he doesn't really remember doing). We weaved our way back to the hotel (impressively, not getting lost) and ....passed out (about 3:30p). We woke up five hours later and a rough night followed. By morning though, we both
Oktoberfest
the first liter... felt better.
We packed up, and left to pick up our rental car. We got a diesel VW Golf Wagon. It was a much nicer car than was expected. We got some food to go, and came back to the car as we were getting a parking ticket! Apparently we parked in a handicapped spot (d'oh!!). It's only 55 euros - cheap compared to home! We then headed to Fortchenberg, where Dominik lives. We got there in the afternoon and hung out with his wife and their two kids. They have a really nice house that they built. Very modern and green. We got a tasty home cooked regional meal for dinner that was a chicken and spinach stuffed pasta, cut up and fried with egg and onion. It was served with a salad. We also had a local wine to go with it. It was all really good. We hung out with Dominik until bedtime - he had to work in the morning, and I slept really well.
This morning we got up and Regina made us breakfast - pretzels with some pepperoni and chicken ham and butter, and some tea. It was good. We decided to
go to Rothenburg and then head south. She booked us a room at a guesthouse in Oy-Mittelberg. We left and went to Rothenburg, which is enclosed behind a wall. It was really cool. you could walk up along a pathway in the inner part of the wall - I really liked that. Most of that was still intact, as well as towers around the wall. It was fun to see where you could explore. We walked into the main/center part of the town. It was all quaint and old looking. Very charming. We just walked around for awhile looking at all the shops and buildings. Eventually we stopped and got some lunch. We also bought some schneeballchen (snow ball), which is a local food. It's dough shaped into a ball, fried, and dipped in various toppings. I got a caramel one. We walked around some more and then decided to head out. The drive south was nice, the sun game out, Adam got to drive 190 km/h, and we didn't get lost.
The place we are staying is in what seems like a very small town. We walked around and the town has a lot of open area outside
Oktoberfest
the second liter... of the little cluster of buildings. We had dinner at our guesthouse's restaurant (it may be the only place to eat here) and it was good. Adam got some soup (which felt good on my throat) and currywurst, and I tried some pork schnitzel that came with a salad. We booked a guesthouse in Titisee for the next 3 nights. We tried to stay in Freiburg, but there was nothing available online! Titisee is close by and we figure with a car, we can go where we want.
We are getting up early (for us) to go to the famous castle tomorrow. Hopefully it all works out.
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