we stayed at olli's house, with his wonderful parents. i woke up early each morning and had breakfast and coffee with them before they went off to work--yes, i woke up early in the mornings ;) don't ask me, apparently bavaria agreed with me. it was probably also due to the fact that i didn't sleep much with al the coughing and pseudofedrine i took. olli's mom is a teacher and dad is an electrical engineer. both very interesting, and had great stories. his dad is working on a project involving train signalling across european countries--each one at a different voltage in the eu, so the idea is to design one for the train that will process between all of them...so, yeah, we had some chats..i think of it as future classroom information--why is this physics stuff important? or maybe, it is just my nerd side coming out--you know me and my engineers. they are really a sweet family, and the trip reminded me quite a bit of the weekend freshman year at USC when i brought 15 of my :cough: closest friends home to watch the gamecocks play the vols.
PS: it's official, i will be in the US from 13DEC - 30DEC. make your appointments to visit early =)
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international characters:
Vincent, the French kid
megan, New Zealand
Oliver (olli), Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Corey, the Canadian
Megan (left)
and Me, Carolina/Tennessee girl, USA
OKTOBERFEST:
the bavarian flag--it's everywhere, much like the danish flag in denmark. only oktoberfest seems to be a pretty good reason for the show of state pride. (i have to admit, i'm learning more about european geography and politics here than i expected. it's a great thing, but i feel a bit uneducated at times... and one of the most important things that i learned on this trip is the break down of germany into states--i knew of bavaria, but not that it is like a state...and i have been to several others now, and had a small taste of the differences between them--much like the differences between NJ and TN.)
the heart shaped "cakes" that are so prevalent at oktoberfest are actually decorated gingerbread or spice cookies. they aren't normally eaten, but i did see some little kids munching away a few times. they come in many different sizes and you can get them with almost anything written on them. i love you, was of course quite common.
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there is a small difference between life in munich and life in copenhagen for us--we used a car to get around quite often in munich. but, it is also not terribly sensible to take your car downtown and try to park for the day/night when going to the oktoberfest (Wiesn). so instead we travelled on the very accessible (and clean) munich public transportation system. this bus stop is just a block from olli's house, and goes to the metro which we took to the festival. simple enough.
B1: hey man, do we know where we're going? what if we get off on the wrong stop?
B2: yah, i don't think we have a problem there mate--i'm thinking if we just follow that chap (pointing to olli) we'll make it alright.
so it guess it is true: tourists who are after beer can be very wise.
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and also not, because as soon as olli found out, he started moving around at the train station to confuse them...oh that special german humor :)
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and also not, because as soon as olli found out, he started moving around at the train station to confuse them...oh that special german humor :)
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| this isn't the best photo of julia and olli, but you can see her dress pretty well. the trick to the dress is the corseting in the front--that's a major dirndl feature |
the dirndl is comprised of the dirndl (dress) a shirt (usually white, cropped) and an apron. the apron is special because where you tie the bow in the front designates your marital status. left is single, right is attached, and middle is widowed. also part of the female dress are necklaces with hunting or other charms--i saw hunting ones, pretzels, and edelweiss. there is usually a small purse to go with them--the really "cute" ones look like the heart cookies. i know, it's so sweet it hurts. =)
and lederhosen are EVERYWHERE in munich during this festival. EVERYWHERE.
part of the Wiesn is a general sense of fun in the tents--there are bands and music and singing and dancing. i know, it's really nice to know there is more than beer. and pretzels ;)but truly, it is fun just to be there with 4,000 other happy people. the picture above is from some sort of game where you have to drink enough to hold the mug on your finger (as shown) without any spilling... not exactly a complicated game, but we tried it. i'm including a link below (in the song name) to one of my favorite oktoberfest songs. it's really a children's song, and this version is NOT in bavarian, but rather high german. but it's played all the time in the tents. and we sing and dance like the guy in the video.
it's called:
i picked the cartoon version because it has the best images of what the words to the song actually mean. but basically it's a kids song (the where's waldo looking guy is some famous kid's entertainer--don't ask!) it starts of talking about the clouds in the sky and the chorus goes on to say: fly fly fly like an airplane, be strong strong strong like a tiger, tall tall tall like a giraffe...then to jump jump jump like a kangaroo, swim swim swim like a fish and i take take take your hand because i like you and oh what a beautiful day.
:) cheers.
riding the ferris wheel
the oktoberfest, or wiesn, really is a grand state fair or festival--complete with food and rides and run in addition to the liters of good german beer. there is even a "student" or "kids" day when the rides are discounted and lots of families come that day.
i will just say this--i really wanted to see this view, and i'm quite glad that it was so nice--but the cost of this ride was approximately 10USD. when we say that everything is expensive here, we mean it!
this is the main street of the Wiesn--a classic postcard shot. you can see the beer "tents" (yeah, those giant buildings that are misnomered as TENTS!) on either side, and all the food, pretzel, roasted nut stands between. it's really quite impressive--many locals and others come to work here for the 16 days because they will make more in that time than in an entire season. it takes about 4 weeks to put the park together, and in 2 weeks it's over.
vincent is a little bit afraid of heights and rides, so the ferris wheel was a big challenge for him =) but he survived it well.TOURING MUNICH
i would just like to point out the BARE LEGS here. i may have loved munich/bavaria so much because of the weather. it was really really nice. i mean, danish clouds and cold have their charm...but 22C (70's) has its charm. =)
Dinner out in Munich: Augustiner's
this is supposedly the best place to eat in munich, or best brewery perhaps. it was very german, and we embraced the meat and potatoes and corey even threw in MORE sauer kraut. i loved this place more for the fact that it was HUGE inside--so many people with a great atmosphere, but in the back there is a beer garden which really just means there's an outdoor courtyard, which is where we ate. it reminded me a bit of charleston, actually--gotta know where to go for the best view on a nice day :)
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I had a half pork shank and the mashed potato dumpling thing on the side there...this is pretty common, i think we had it 3 or 4 times during our visit...but always good.
in the background there is not cole slaw and not sauer kraut, but something in between. tasty enough, but i'll stick to bavarian kraut i think.
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| can you tell we think too much? or just pondering the GERMAN menu? |
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| there are no words necessary here. :P |
back to munich
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| so proud of his city. |
can you say carolina girl in bavaria? bc the palm tree and flags in this picture (not to mention the girl standing there) scream carolina/bavaria :) pretty cool--i miss PALMETTO TREES/GRASS!!
this is actually taken in that lovely clean metro i was talking about earlier. the only problem with the metro was that there was a strike (a really big deal bc there was an agreement that there would NEVER be a strike during the oktoberfest) while we were there, but i didn't notice too much that there were less trains or efficiency--it was actually a great system. 
MARIENPLATZ, MUNICH Center
BAVARIAN ALPS:
we took a day trip to schplitzingee-a lake in the bavarian alp foothills. it was a beautiful area, and reminded me quite a bit of the smokies. gentle foothills, with the alps in the background. the fall colors were just arriving--i would say that this was my favorite day by far.
PAUSE:
big cow parade in the bavarian alp foothills. TWO OF THEM. hehehe. so much fun to be driving along a curvy country road and have to stop for the locals prodding a long line of prettily decorated bovines down the road. a surreal and priceless moment to break the days of oktoberfest.
see! i told you they were decorated prettily. :)
end PAUSE:
back to the hiking and nature in the bavarian alps. first thing: find a bavarian creature. this slug will do. =)
yes, i picked it up. i tend to do that to creepy critters. also, i was afraid for its life--we did have a frenchman along. he keeps eying the horses in copenhagen.
behold, all of you, this is my country.
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| little mermaid in bavaria |
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| SNOW CAPS IN THE ALPS! |
SNACK TIME
we stopped for cake at a local place in the country side--about a hour from munich and near where we were hiking. the cafe is known for its cakes--and a well deserved reputation. olli's parents had a 30th anniversary here, and it's a popular place for people to come for a good dessert (much cheaper than in munich).
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| hazelnut cream cake...nutty and heavy and delicious! |
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| you just can't beat this kind of charm. =) |
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| and the tortes weren't bad either--angel/sponge on the bottom topped with a fresh fruit suspended in gelatin. YUM. |
BAVARIAN/GERMAN FOOD!!! eat your eyes out dad!
i discovered that my family must be german this week. so many of my family meal thoughts are tied up in sausage (polish keilbasa, but don't tell olli that) and sauer kraut. it was both home sickening and lovely to have this kind of "soul" food around all week. and i'm glad to know that the picky sauer kraut choosing is not just me or mom--there are different styles and tastes, and even olli is picky. like mom, i am now a bavarian style fan, but not so much of the franconian one. i like the carroway seeds, but can do without the funky caper berry things.
ABOVE: bavarian breakfast called ... Weißwurschtfrühstück ...
if you can say that i'll give you 10 euro.
Weißwurschtfrühstück consists of sweet mustard, a pale sausage and pretzels. in addition there was a carbonated type of apple juice, beer (of course) and coca cola or coffee... the trick to the sausage is that you don't actually eat the skin, so you have to suck the sausage out...imagery is everything for this meal. and it's boiled sausage, so very soft. i was really good, but i don't think i would want it for breakfast... :)
sausage and sauer kraut in Nuremberg. add some mustard and bread and i'm in vankoughnett heaven.
last note: a special thanks to megan poon for sharing some of the photos on this post :)
