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Published: October 15th 2005
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Mr funnel head
Within 5 minutes Grunta was hitting form Hey hey,
On Sat the 24th Sept a bunch of us made our way to Munich to indulge in the madness that is Oktoberfest. The crew was myself, Kristin, Ostrich, John "Raw" Calland, Grunta, Shano, Az, Sam, Elley and Eden.
We had four nights in Munich, staying at the tent city Wies'n'Camp. As soon as we made it to the camp site we found a stein in our hands and enjoyed a cool litre in the sun. Some of the lads cut a fast track straight to the fest, whilst the rest of us headed into the center of town to the Marien Platz in search of the more traditional (and permanent) Hoftbrau House. As luck would have it we managed to get ourselves a few seats at a table in the garden at the Hoftbrau house, and so had a waiter keeping an eye on our vessels, and the chance to have the half Bavarian chicken who's reputation had proceeded it. Funny thing is that when I ordered the half chicken I was expecting to get some chicken, maybe some salad or chips, but not one half chicken and that's it! Fantastic... a man meal! Worthy of mention is
Proud kiwi's
Shano sporting a top mo for Munich Shano, who I believe slept in a bush somewhere near the Oktoberfest site because he missed all public transport to get himself home!
On Sunday we all nursed a little bit of a hangover (who says German beer doesn't give you a hangover because its so pure!?), and dragged ourselves around Munich taking in a few sights and basically relaxing (oh hold on, no the lads went to Oktoberfest again!!!). The girls took the chance to do a bike tour of the city, but Greg had already done it so JC and I kept him company walking around the town at jandle pace. That night most of us met up for dinner near Marien Platz and kept it fairly quiet in expectation of the 'fest tomorrow. Worthy of mention again is Shano, who I think took the tube to the wrong side of Munich this night and had to pay for a cab (the infamous cream tuckings!) to take him the length of town to get back to the camp site.
On Monday we rose early and made out way to Oktoberfest. Now I don't know if words can describe Oktoberfest but think along the lines of the
Hello Mr Ambassador
So where are you from mate? Easter show at Claudelands showgrounds in Hamilton, on steriods, then times 100!!! It was huge! And although there are beer tents all round the show, there are also amusements, decent sized rollercoasters and food stalls everywhere. But really, its gluttony on a grand scale, top notch! Anyways, it was about 11am and we made our way to the Hoftbrau tent and found ourselves a table and pulled up a stein. All the tables were reserved from 4pm so we planned to have a beer and then take a walk and look around a bit... wrong! The beers were tasting a bit too good, as Ostrich will testify, and we ended up staying in the tent til around midnight when we thought it would be a good idea to catch the last train home. For those of you in the know we were in the Pig Pen all night... good times! I think that this is the night that Shano fell asleep on the train and had to catch a cab back to the camp ground. 3 for 3!
Tuesday wasn't as slow a start as you might think, and we took the S Bahn out to Dachau to do
Weiss'n'camp
A few of the crew at the camp ground a tour of the original Nazi concentration camp. The weather set the mood this day, being our first day of rain, and we were all humbled by the museum... so to pick up the spirits again we headed down to Oktoberfest for a cheeky stein. I'm happy to say that we spent this night at one of the more traditional beer tents, full of Germans in the leiderhousen (how's the spelling on that one?). Funniest moment this night, we were standing of a table singing away to the band and a local chap asked me where we were from. I, of course, puffed out my chest and told me that we were from NZ, and what does he do? Cracks a grin and starts into a chorus of "We all live in a Kiwi submarine!!!" Legend. One glance at one another and we were into it!! That an "how much for the goat" became the calls of the trip (long story).
Wednesday and we headed south of Munich to the Bavarian Alps to a little town called Fussen. Our aim here was to check out the Neuchwanstein castle built by the last Bavarian king Ludwig II. Well, we managed
Marien platz
One of the beautiful buildings at Marien platz to check out of the campsite and get ourselves to the train station in one piece, with time to spare, so we bought our tickets and hung out. Well all of us except for Eden... "I'll just run off and check some email and I'll be back in 10". Well with 5 mins til our train no sign of the big man, so we made our way to the train and kept an eye out. And as I watched the train leave with the rest of the team on it I thought to myself, if I were Eden where would I be? After 30mins of walking around looking for a man with a German hat on, and having checked the bar 3 times, I come across a flustered looking Eden walking hard towards a train with a ticket in his hand to the wrong place!! Glad I stuck around ;-) To Eden's credit, it was a ticket to Augsburg, to destination for Friday night, but that's all the credit he gets! Anyways, we made it down there, found our hostel (kicked a goal with this one, top hostel!), and that's about it. An early night.
The weather on Thursday
Oktoberfest
Kristin and Sam at the entrance wasn't too kind, but we still got out to Schwangau and got up to the Neuchwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles and were blow away by the spectacular scenery, and phenominal castles (see photos below). That night, we were all a bit jaded so we bought a few cheap beers from the corner shop and kept it at the hostel.
On Friday we were definitely starting to lose steam as we made our way to Augsburg for our final night. Now the reason that we were heading to Augsburg was because booking accomodation for a Friday night in Munich or Fussen for 8 people was impossible and the closest place that I could find was... Augsburg. Well we kicked another goal here because Augsburg has plenty of things to check out for a day or two, an as it was once the Bavarian captial many moons ago there are monuments all over the show. By this stage, and after walking around town all day, we were all in need of a square meal, especially some greens and we were in luck because we found a great little restaurant at the end of Maximilianstrasse and were treated to the best salad and
Az looking a little worse for wear
Az and Grunta a little jaded from the day before, and Raw looking fresh. steak I have had in years!!
And Saturday we all made our way back to Munich, and those of us flying out that night spent our spare hours checking out the market place near Marien Platz, and the Residenz.
And that was the Oktoberfest tour. All in all, a great trip with great people. Munich is a beautiful place, and Oktoberfest is a great time that I would recommend.
Righto, that's enough rambling. Enjoy the photos and I hope that everyone is well where ever they are.
Cheers,
Ben
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Ryan Trenberth
non-member comment
Nice!
Hey Ben, finally got a chance to look at your blog. Looks like Oktoberfest was great for you guys - sad we missed you. We did end up making it to Munich and to Neuchswanstein. Munich was great! We did the Mikes Bikes tour which was good. We met some Aussies there and went to dinner with them at the Hofbrauhaus which was a great beerhall. We met them the following night at the Augustiner Keller beer garden which seated 5-8000 - love the beer gardens. We loved the two castles as well, although we did find the tours disappointing. They were the only castles we went to all tour where you had to take a sh!tty guided tour that only lasted 30 minutes. Anyway, back in London and job hunting. Will endeavour to catch up with you guys at some point, although not sure when. Need to get some money! Ryan