The Real Deal: OKTOBERFEST

Just in the nick of time, Patrick and I were lucky enough to have our siblings (plus Brenna!) come visit for the fest of all fests: Oktoberfest.

On the very last day of the festival, we tightened up our dirndls and braved the wind, rain, and cold for some liters of beer and an all-around awesome day. 

Approximate timeline of events:

11:45: Arrive at the festival... finding a table is priority #1 as usual, but particularly in this weather!

12:00: Sit down in the Lowenbrau tent. I cant believe someone left half of their beer??

12:10: First round arrives...

2:00: Tent starts cheering for another chugger, but this one is standing on the table buck naked. Sadly I couldn't get the iPhone out in time.

2:30: Band starts playing Amazing Grace and trumpeters on all of the balconies provide excellent surround sound.

3:00: Snuck into Hippodrom tent (of course I go to HBS, I'm in one of your classes! Don't you recognize me?)

5:30: Receive a call from Patrick - "Can I tell you a secret?? I'm in the hospital!"

6:30: The end. In case you're wondering, the mugs can shatter if you are too aggressive with your "Prost." Jury is out on whether Patrick's torn tendon will require surgery. Either way he will have a lifetime souvenir on his hand that will last longer than the pictures we bought! I cannot wait until our children ask him how he got that scar... 

Bayern München

Patrick and me with the back of the President of the Vilseck fan club!

I have quickly learned that soccer is a BIG deal across Europe. After moving to Bavaria, I of course noticed that Bayern Munich was a popular team. But after further research, it is actually the most popular team in Germany and the 5th most popular across Europe with over 20 million supporters. Their fan club is the largest organized club in Germany with over 147,000 members. Even the Pope way over in the Vatican is a fan!
Recently, we had the opportunity of a lifetime to attend one of the many sold-out games. In Munich. During Oktoberfest. Below is what ensued:

After the Texas Rangers broke my heart last week, I think I may have found just the remedy to put it back together. It doesn't hurt that Bayern Munich is also undefeated and #1 in the Bundesliga either...

Pils, Pils, everywhere, and lots of it to drink!

Just an hour and a half east of us over the Czech border lies a very important place: the birthplace of Pils beer!! That's right - Heineken, Amstel, Stella, AND Beck's would not exist if Josef Groll had not brewed the first batch of clear, delicious lager in the city of Pilsen 170 years ago.

Highlights of the trip:

1) The beer: isn't that the reason you travel to Pilsen?

2) The prices: the Pilsner Urquell brewery tour was less than €4 a person, our meals were incredibly cheap (especially given the amount of beer we consumed!). We also stayed in a great hotel (Hotel Rango) right in the city center for a great price.

3) The world's largest elevator: included on the Pilsner Urquell tour is a trip in the world's largest elevator, which holds 72 people! We only had 30 on our tour but Patrick's fanny somehow was too large for the doors to close... 

4) Experiencing unfiltered Pilsner Urquell: included in the  €4 admission fee, and professionally poured straight from a wooden barrel, is a taste of the unfiltered product in the brewery's basement.  At first I was a little wary about "unfiltered" beer, but then we learned that the water they use for Pils is higher quality than that for infants, so we gladly drank it all. 

5) The history: pictured here is Josef  Groll, the father of Pils beer. The Pilsner Urquell brewery was not only the first brewery to have its own railroad system, but because of that it was the first globally exported beer. Who knew? 

6) The Pilsner Urquell bottling facility: Watching the incredibly efficient brewery wash, sort, and recycle bottles. The factory needs only 27 employees to run at full capacity. We saw one employee and millions of bottles! 



When you decide to go to Pilsen, look for the lighthouse in the center of the extensive Pilsner Urquell brewery property. It marks the "sea of beer" in the middle of the city, and will help you find your way to the amazing brewery tour! 

Whip it good!

I thought I had seen Hofbrauhaus - but I was dead wrong.
Huge travel tip: next time you go to Munich, make reservations for the Bavarian show on the third floor. With reservations, you will not have to jockey for a table, AND you can witness the amazing Bavarian Goaßlschnalzer (whipcrackers) who literally crack their enormous whips across the crowd to the music.

You will thank me later.

Andy Warhol in Amberg!

Not quite sure how our tiny city of Amberg landed a pretty impressive Andy Warhol exhibit, but they did! If you are living in Bavaria- it is worth checking out for the €4 admission fee. Not only do they have a few Marilyns and a Campbell Soup print, but they also featured some I had not studied in my text book that were particularly interesting for our area: four Neuschwanstein Castle prints and the "Seven Jews" series complete with Einstein, Freud, and Kafka.

Neuschwanstein Castle

I also loved the Brooks Brothers suit Andy once wore (he was not a big guy to say the least!), and the rejection letter from the MoMA - wonder if they regret that now..
Bonus: the major explanations are featured in English as well as German!

Couldn't resist putting this one in here... 

Munich spotlight: surfing in the river?

Who knew that surfing was such a big deal in Munich?? After we saw a barefoot, wet suit clad man biking past us with a surfboard, we decided to follow. Below is what we discovered:

That is a river - the man-made Eisbach river to be exact. And it was around 55° outside. Anyone want to hop in??

airberlin: Surprise Treat!

Everyone raves about the German train system. While I agree whole heartedly that clean, efficient, and most importantly on-time train service is amazing, I now have a new favorite mode of transportation in Germany: airberlin.

Delicious German chocolate snack

After we decided that nine hours on a train from Berlin to Amberg was a bit too much, my friends and I booked last minute plane tickets via airberlin.com. We were definite beneficiaries of their new fare structure which offers more amenities for business travelers, but rock-bottom fares for the two types of European explorers: planners and “maybe I should have thought of this earlier” travelers. For around $100 (dollars, not euros!), we were able to consolidate our nine hour journey into three, check one large bag per person, carry on two (normal size!), enjoy a refreshment, and receive the heartiest “snack” I have ever seen on an airline. Oh, and they didn’t charge us €60 to retrieve our boarding pass at the airport like RyanAir.

Chris was an instant fan!

To top it all off, we flew out of Berlin’s Tegel airport in the heart of the city straight to Nuremberg. Talk about convenience. All four of us agree that airberlin topped even Southwest Airlines in price, service, and of course food. This whole week I have been thinking of excuses to take another trip!