Munich & Oktoberfest 2012

I said I wasn't going back but it was something that Travis and Kiersten really wanted to do so we booked our hotel and train tickets and headed to Munich for the real Oktoberfest!  DH was out of town on business so the 3 of us trekked it to the Hbf and set off for 3 fun-filled days where we were quite possibly going to try some of the beer.  HAHA - oh ok - I mean where we were going to try to NOT forget any of the different beers that Munich has to offer :)

The 7 Brews on the Maypole

We got into Munich early afternoon and went directly to the excellently located Hotel Munich Inn right down the street from the Hbf to check in where we shared a pretty decent triple. We set right out on foot to explore and no sooner did it start o rain!  There was supposedly no rain in the forecast so we popped into the first good looking Wirshaus we saw, the Hackerhaus, to get out of it.  We enjoyed a bite to eat and a beer and headed back out once the rain started to let up.  I had to make sure to get K & T to see the Glockenspiel at 5:00 so we made our way over to the Viktualienmarkt to check out the market, grab a beer and people watch.  A lovely local woman joined our table while she ate Sauerbraten or something of the sort.  There is nothing like a super confidence booster when struggling through a "Deutschlish" conversation and my friends compliment me on my awesome job at communication!  I said to them, "What, you didn't understand any of the conversation?" And they said, "not really!"

After the excitement in Marien Square we went back to the Hbf to meet up with a tour that we had booked for the night.  Sandeman's New Europe Tours offers the Beer Challenge that seemed like a pretty good deal for €14 because that included 2 beers, a shot of Jager and guide telling us how beer is made; the important part beer halls play in the history of Germany and Bavaria, and we were to learn drinking traditions and songs along the way.  Um well, maybe with a more experienced guide but our guy - Blake,  the AFL coach in Munich - basically just led us from place to place and was more interested in the single chick-a-dees on the tour than giving us any pertinent information!  The details are a little foggy but we started at a Kiosk outside the Hbf, went to the Löwenbräu Beer Hall, The Park Cafe, Oktoberfest and finally to the Euro Youth Hostel.  Surely we can't complain though, we had a fabulous time and met some fun people.  Luckily we were close to our hotel - we think - because we headed back to rest up for our next day at Oktoberfest.

With Phil, one of the many Aussies from our night!



Dressed in our Dirndl's and Lederhosen we headed out late morning on the beautiful Tuesday morning to Theresienwiese.  For being a weekday,I was still amazed at the mass flow of people to the Fest but we later found out it was family day - which explained all of the ADORABLE children.



We found plenty of seats in the tents so we stayed put in the Winzerer Fähndl for a while to enjoy our first Maß and people watch like crazy!

 

Most of the reservations in the tents started around 4:00 which meant we had to leave the table for them to prepare.  It was still early in the Paulaner tent so we left, grabbed some souveniers and a bite to eat and headed to the Schützen-Festzelt because it seemed a little more lively than where we were before.  And it was - the later in the day the more crazy it gets!  But oh what fun, and just seeing all of the shiny happy people leaves one with a permanent smile on their face.  (That smile may have had something to do with the beer?! :)

Approximately 3:oo and the tent was a-rockin!

As expected, we were asked to leave our fun table so we said our goodbyes to our new found friends and wandered back into the grounds of the Fest before hopping on the train across town to visit the ever famous Hofbräuhaus.  We made a quick pit stop at the HRC right across the street for K to pick up her souvenier then settled in at the Hofbräuhaus for more of Munich's gastronomical delight.  It was quite low key but we were completely ok with that!  It had already been a fantastic time in Munich and Gnomey was really pooped.  He wanted one last dance with the Oompa's then we slowly made our way back to Hotel Munich Inn.

Gnomey does Oompa.



On our last day in Munich, K & T headed to Dachau and I went in search of some Christmas oranaments and gifts before we met back at the Hbf for our journey back home.  We had an awesome time, the three of us, but were glad to be heading back since DH would be getting home at the same time.  Going back to Oktoberfest during the week made me realize that I could possibly go again...so if anyone is game for 2013 I say we reserve a table!

"WARNING - Pictures contain Maß amounts of alcohol consumption!"

An overnight to Venice and Murano

For months we'd been anticipating the arrival of our friends Kiersten and Travis from Nebraska. We'd tossed around about a million ideas for their 10 day trip and finally came up with a realistic (from an American traveler’s standpoint) itinerary that would hash out some pretty major sights for them in a short period of time.

After a quick introduction to Deutschland including Flammkuchen, Spätzle and Weißbier we jumped on a cheap Ryan Air flight to Venice (all within 24 hours of their landing :)! It's a quick 1.5 hour trip to the Treviso Airport which is an easy bus ride into Venice with first stop in the mainland city, Mestre where we were staying. Hotel Regit was conveniently located near the train station for about a 10 minute journey into Venice. The weather was beautiful and we were excited to go "get lost" in the crooked little streets and alleyways.

Pulling into the Santa Lucia train station we noticed about 5 cruise ships in port.  Just a few geographic and demographic facts: Venice is a lagoon made up of 118 small islands of which about 60,000 people populate.  On average there are about 50,000 tourists a day in Venice which, mind you is so relatively small that you can walk from one end to the other in roughly an hour.   Needless to say, we were about to encounter a lot of people!  C'est la vie!  We were in good company and we really had no agenda but to soak up the sun and culture...and wine...and gelato...and murano glass...

We stopped for a late lunch at a sidewalk restaurant on the Lista di Spagna, had some house wine and Kiersten tried the "American" pizza complete with french fries on top!  Even though we had Rick with us as guidance, we really did get a little lost in the streets of Venice, not to worry though, we were going to run into water :) but we did find our way to a water taxi - the vaporetti - along the Grand Canal that took us directly to San Marco.

It's so unbelievable that something as large as St. Marks' Basilica, The Piazza, and Doge's Palace can be on such a small island!  The overwhelming architecture of different time periods here leaves you a little puzzled while at the same time creates a sense of harmonious balance.  It's all beautiful!  We spent some time in The Piazza, reading about all of the different buildings, walking around the numerous shops and cafes that line the square and of course dodging pigeons every step of the way.  We didn't have time to venture into the Palace or Basilica but were definitely impressed with all that we saw from the outside.

Dave and I were not alone in our want to find the HRC, Kiersten is a collector so we had to go!  Plus it is the smallest Hard Rock weighing in at only 360 sq. meters!  We slowly made our way back to towards the train station where we were summoned up to a rooftop Wine Bar, ok.  Kiersten and I had the best Muscato we've ever had and then I had the worst - Aperol is an Italian aperitif and I had to try it to see what it was all about.  Disgusting, now I know not to drink anything orange in a wine glass- ever.  It was a fun long day in Venice though.  We took the standing room only bus back to Mestre that night. 

After breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and headed back into Venice for the entire day since our flight didn't leave till 10:00 that night.  We attempted to store our bags at the train station but unlike all others we'd been to there are no self-serve lockers.  There was a mile long line to check your bag in and we didn't want to waste that time.  We lugged them around all day - take backpacks!  Or be a good sport like Travis and wheel the bag :)

We hopped right on a Vaporetto to take us to Murano.  The €20, 24hr travel ticket that we bought the day before was perfect for our time there.  If you are going to take 3 or more Vaporetto trips it's worth it since one trip is a whopping €7.   We really loved Murano!  It was smaller, more quaint and of course had beautiful museums and glass filled shops around every corner.  We watched a glass maker presentation where he whipped up a glass horse in a matter of minutes, it was pretty impressive and of course you could buy the horses in the adjoining show room :)

It was another beautiful day as we wandered through the less crowded Murano.  Before heading back to Venice we settled at a lovely outdoor cafe for a wine and cheese snack since that was a much easier souvenir to enjoy than the massive, colorful, glass chandeliers that I really wanted.   Back in Venice we wandered for a bit longer until we found a nice sidewalk table to drop off the the boys and bags while K and I ventured out for a little shopping.  We couldn't possibly leave without buying a Venetian mask, or glass or the perfect Christmas ornament.  I found all three, yippee!

Just a day and a half was good in Venice for us.  We all agreed that it was a nice trip but not really a place that we'd go back to.  We had fun but it was time to get the bus back to Treviso for our late flight home.  Dave had to leave on a business trip on Sunday and the 3 of us were off to Heidelberg, then Munich and Oktoberfest, then a Rhine River cruise, then Bad Dürkheim!  A fun-filled vacation for the Richards had just begun in Venice!

The Pictures of Venice and Murano can tell you more of our story in greater detail! 



Venice & Murano

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