This past weekend I traveled to Munich, Germany and accomplished more in 3 days than I could have imagined. This was probably because I had approximately 4 hours of sleep a night and was staying with a bunch of crazy Australians! I guess I could just break this down by day.
Thursday- after classes I rushed home to pack and headed over to Termini with my room mates. We left on a bus trip with Bus2Alps to Munich. 14 hour bus ride- quite uncomfortable but I actually was able to sleep thanks to the Dramamine I took. Also, I was exhausted from the night before. We found this awesome club in Testaccio and partied until 4am on Wednesday. Anyway, when I woke up Friday morning, I was in Germany!
Friday- We arrived at the campsite around 11am. Yes, I said campsite. We CAMPED in Munich- and it was FREEZING. I was not prepared for the cold weather at all. All I had were cardigans to get me through the cold 40 degree nights! We were supposed to get there at like 9 to go on a bike tour, but we were obviously late. Luckily it was pushed back and we were able to freshen up and eat some breakfast before heading out at 12:30. The hospitality at the campsite was awesome. They had free breakfast every morning and all you can drink beer for 5E. Of course being in Germany, we were enjoying a nice brew for breakfast along with my eggs and potatoes.
After breakfast, we went on a bike tour of Munich and it was awesome. Our tour guide took us to some really pretty places around the city, A church, some nice gardens, and some historical sites from WW2- we got to see a piece of the Berlin wall too. Then we stopped for lunch at the English Biergarten. We had really authentic German food for lunch. So authentic I can't even pronounce it. And of course we washed it down with some beer. Which they served us in liters! Needless to say getting back on the bike after lunch was quite fun. We passed by some man made surf spot in the garden, it was cool and random to see people surfing in the middle of the city. We rode back to the train station and took the train back to the campsite. We then started the party the night before an all day beer festival and danced the night away. I'm not even sure what time I crawled into my tent, but I know I didn't sleep much.
Saturday: Our wake up call "It's 5 in the morning and your sleeping in your tents. Wake up Mr. and Mrs. America! We're going to a beer festival" The scottish guy in charge of waking us up just kept screaming different variations of that until we were all awake. The morning is kind of a blur because I was so tired, but somehow I showered and ate and was ready to go by the time the shuttle bus came to take us to Oktoberfest. Some crazy people - including the Australians - we're starting the day off by drinking a ton of beer before we even left. I don't know how they do it! When we got to Oktoberfest, we headed to the Hofbräu-Festzelt tent to get a seat. by the time we got there, it was PACKED. Thankfully we had some guys that left at 6am save us a table and we were able to get a spot. I think they stopped letting people in an hour or so after we got there because it was filled to capacity. We had to wait a good 3 hours before we got served though. They mayor of Munich came to tap the first keg at 12 noon and the opening ceremonies were insane. There was a band and tons of news people and loud music and it was just the start of the craziest party ever. As soon as the keg was tapped, they beer just kept flowing, again in liters. I'm telling you, my hands were bruised from holding those heavy glasses! It was seriously the most fun I've probably ever had. We prosted- the right way of course- and prosted and prosted until the last of us couldn't order any more beer. We left the tent after a couple of hours to explore more of oktoberfest. The place was PACKED. There were people in drndls and lederhosen and rides and food and just crazyness every where. Of course I ate a lot and bought some post cards and t-shirts, but didn't think going on rides after a couple liters of beer was a smart idea, so I skipped out on that. We met back up with the larger group at 7pm and caught the last shuttle back to the campground at 730. I honestly thought I was going to pass out by the time we got home, but these crazy Australians just wanted to party and party. They had a nice BBQ dinner waiting for us when we got back and we danced and drank the whole night away. Literally. I didn't go to bed until about 4am. That's 23 hours of straight partying. I am a champion. It was all good, clean fun though. No one got hurt or sick or anything! We all just had a really amazing time and took lots and lots of pictures!! I became a tattoo artist that night with a magic marker. "I played tic tac toe on his neck against myself". Woke up the next morning covered in ink- things that apparently I had to remember cause they were really, really important...But also left my mark on just about everyone at the camp!
Sunday- Our Scottish alarm clock woke us up around 7am. This time it was more like "I have a full beer in my hand, which one of you Americans wants it?!" I don't think this guy slept the entire weekend. Anyway, after breakfast, a group of us decided to go visit Dachau concentration camp so we took the train to visit the memorial. (That's after I got hit by a car that morning!) It was honestly really, really hard to see. They made the entire camp into a museum basically, with photos and documents of the prisoners in their memory along with facts about the camp during the war. It was hard enough to walk through the museum, which is where the prisoners worked and were beaten, but then we got to see where they slept and the crematorium. That was the hardest part. It was so hard to see what was left after millions of people died on the grounds that we were standing on. Regardless, I'm glad I went, if only once in my life, to pay some respect in memory. On a lighter note, after visiting the camp, we went back to meet the group and get on the bus for the 13 hour ride back to Rome. We left around 2:30 in the afternoon, and didnt get home till about 4am.
That's Oktoberfest, in a nutshell. I'm probably leaving a lot of details out but I would go back there in a heartbeat if I could. Munich was really beautiful and the festival was something that I'm seriously considering making an every year tradition. But next time I'll remember to bring warmer clothes, but wear very little to the beer tents. There are thousands of sweaty people and its a sauna in there. Other than that, I really did have THE BEST weekend of my life. I'm nostalgic about it, really. Now I have to go back to school when I really want this vacation to last forever!
This weekend I'm actually staying in Roma. But then on the 30th I'm heading to Tuscany for another weekend adventure. Stay tuned. And enjoy these great songs to dance too. (especially after a few beers and with some craaaaazy Australians!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJCQDd4vYjg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy2nBvtkgyE
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