Oktoberfest Shenanigans: 2009 Edition...

Wow! What a whirlwind of a weekend! Oktoberfest 2009 definitely lived up to its reputation... Great times were had by all! :)

Now, before I get started on the events of the weekend, let me explain a little bit about Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest runs for two weeks (3 weekends), with the weekends being the busiest time... namely Saturday. On Saturdays during Oktoberfest, the crowds come out in full and it can be rather difficult to find a table to sit at in one of the tents... And, if you don't sit at a table, the waitresses won't serve you... And, that's just not a good thing. :) So, if one must go to Oktoberfest on a Saturday, the goal is to arrive at the festival as early as possible so that you can stand in line at the tent of your choice and wait for the doors to open around 9 a.m.... At which point, you run (literally) into the tent in the hopes that there are still tables available to sit at (Many tables are already reserved so there are a very limited number of free tables distributed throughout the tent). If you can find a table, you sit down and stake your "claim" on it, and then hope and pray that everyone in your group can either get into the tent and/or find you... It's actually a very tricky process. :) And, unfortunately, no matter how hard you plan, it's all just a matter of luck... So, now that you have a basic understanding of Oktoberfest, you'll be able to better understand why we did what we did this past weekend... :)

We decided to shake things up and do things a little different this year... We opted to take the train to Munich rather than driving. Plus, in an effort to reduce the cost of the weekend, we decided to spend the night in Ulm (which is about 1 1/2 hours away from Munich by train and the hotels are MUCH less expensive) instead of in Munich (the cheapest hotel we could find near Munich would have cost us 170 Euro a night and we still would have had a 45 minute subway ride just to get into the city!! Yikes!!). So, we headed to Ulm around 8:30 on Friday night and we arrived at 10:00 p.m.... We checked into our hotel and attempted to get some sleep, considering we had to be up by 3:45 a.m. so that we could catch the 5:00 a.m. train... Yes, you read that correctly... We had to wake up at 3:45... Now that's dedication! :)

After our extremely short night in Ulm, we headed back to the train station and hopped on the train at about 4:45... By the time 5:oo a.m. rolled around, the train was almost packed full of people heading to Munich for Oktoberfest. Now, in case you're wondering, it's quite easy to pick out the people heading to Munich for Oktoberfest as they're all wearing dirndels and lederhosen! :)

Now, this is the part of the trip that gets very interesting. Being that the four of us (Brian, me, Larra, and Katrina) were quite tired from our early morning wake up call, we figured that we could catch a few zzzzzz's on the train into Munich... Not so much! The other passengers had brought lots of beer and drinks with them onto the train, and let's just say that there was ALOT of cheering and singing... Making it rather difficult to fall asleep... Grrr!! The train ride also took much longer than anticipated considering there were so many people trying to get onto the train at every stop, which required the train to take longer to get through each stop... There were literally so many people crammed onto the train that they couldn't move! It was absolute chaos! (Let's just say that, even amidst all of the chaos, the four of us were sitting quite content in our seats and we were very happy that we had decided to get up as early as we did seeing as how it helped us score some seats! :)) And, due to the fact that the train had to sit so long at each stop, it ended up being a half an hour late getting to our destination, which caused us to miss our connection... Lovely! Lucky for us, another train was scheduled stop there on the way into Munich shortly after we arrived so we were able to wait for that one.

Once we arrived at the spot where we had to change trains, we joined the hundreds of other Oktoberfest goers on the platform... I managed to get us towards the front of the platform closest to the train (the advantages of being short... you can maneuver through crowds a little easier! :))... As we stood there, we were hoping that the train would stop strategically so that the doors would end up near us... That way we could just waltz right on and not have to fight the crowds... Well, needless to say, it was not our lucky day! The train stopped in front of us... And we were literally standing between two train cars... Great! So, we headed to the nearest doors with the shortest line and joined the mob of people trying to get on the train... It was absolute chaos!! I managed to get caught up in the crowd and I was literally "carried" by the crowd onto the train... My feet weren't even touching the ground at one point!! I will admit, I was a little scared by that! Once I got on the train, I stood by the doors and hoped that Brian, Katrina, and Larra would be able to get on... Thankfully they did... And for the remainder of the train ride (it took over an hour to get into Munich), the four of us stood near the doors, with Larra, and I standing against some type of wall and contorting our bodies to fit around a trash can connected to the wall, Katrina holding onto a railing and being squeezed between two very tall German men, and all the while Brian hovered in front of us holding onto two railings, thus preventing anyone from taking over our little space... It was quite a scene, and had we been able to move even a centimeter, we probably would have taken some pictures... But, considering we were squished into a very small area, there are no pics. :( Let's just say, we definitely questioned our sanity during the never ending train ride! :)

We were quite happy when we finally arrived in Munich! We arrived in Munich much later than we expected so we quickly headed to the festival area... Now, in the midst of us taking the train, we had some other friends that had camped overnight in Munich, and had headed up to the festival at 7:00 to stand in line... By the time we arrived, they had already gone into the tent and claimed a table... yay! So, we felt pretty good about things... That is, until we saw the line outside of the tent... It was quite large! We quickly got in line and crossed our fingers that we would be able to get in... At 9:00 a.m. they opened the doors to the tent, and the crowd went absolutely crazy trying to get in! They pushed, shoved, elbowed, yelled, etc... Absolute chaos! And, for the second time that day, I was lifted off my feet by the crowd and carried towards the tent... Not a fun experience!

The four of us managed to get through the first entrance to the tent before they shut down the line... We were all happy until we realized that we were only in the "Beer Garden" portion, and we had to stand in yet another line to get into the main tent... Crazy! So, we proceeded to stand in line for about another hour... And then, wouldn't you know it... They shut the line down and we were turned away! My first reaction was "Are you kidding me?!" After all that work to get there and then we were turned away... I could have cried! :)

We proceeded to find a table in the beer garden area and we ordered a drink... We figured that we were pretty deserving of one by that point in time! :) We spent the next hour trying to figure out where to go and what to do... And that's when Brian found the perfect answer! When he was returning from the restroom, he noticed a side entrance into the tent... As he stood and watched it for a few minutes, he noticed that there was no one at the door and everyone was just walking right on in... Hmmm?? So, he returned to our table and informed us of his "plan"... He took Katrina around the side to see if they could get in, and if they could they would call Larra and I so that we could join them... And, wouldn't you know, within five minutes of them leaving, we received a phone call that they were inside... yay! So, Larra and I headed around the corner and we literally walked right on into the tent... Nice!

We ended up finding the rest of our group, and after our shaky start to the day, the rest of the afternoon went quite well. We ate, drank, sang, danced, ate and drank some more... :) Overall, we ended up having a great time at the Oktoberfest! And, looking back, I'd definitely say that it was worth all of the chaos! :)

On that note, I'm off to bed. I have to get up early for German class... Fun, fun! Have a great day... Oh, and enjoy the pictures of our weekend! Miss you much!

This was the train station in Ulm at 4 a.m. People had sleeping bags and spent the night in the station so that they could get on the first train in the morning... As you can see, even though we stayed in a hotel, we were still up and at it much earlier than they were! :)

On the train... Don't they look thrilled to be awake that early in the morning?? :) Thankfully, we managed to get on the train and get seats before the festival goers arrived...

Rise and Shine! :)

Within 20 minutes of us getting on the train, this is what it looked like! Yikes!

This is where we changed trains to head into Munich... Notice how packed the platform is?

Getting off the train in Munich... Notice all of the Dirndels and Lederhosen? :)

The mob of people waiting to get inside the tent... Crazy!

Welcome to Oktoberfest!

Our first masse of the day... We were both feeling quite whipped at that point... We had fought through so many crowds just to be turned away at the tent...

Katrina and Larra...

Look at the size of that brezel!! You know you're in Bavaria when you're drinking beer and eating brezels at 10:00 in the morning! :)

Inside the tent...

The ceiling decorations...

Becky, Katrina, and I posing for the camera... :)

He was hungry! :)

Towards the end of the afternoon... Can you tell? :)

Our waitress... I give them alot of credit... Carrying all that beer and dealing with the crowds of obnoxious drunk people... I definitely couldn't do it! :)

Posing with my masse... :)

Me demonstrating how to drink out of a glass that size! :)

Katrina showing off her new Dirndel! :)

Prosting!!

Our Oktoberfest crew... Minus Brian...

Not quite sure... This is what too many masses of beer will do to you! :)

This is what we did on the train ride home... Nice! :)

Oktoberfest 2009... Here We Come!

Happy Friday! It's been quite a hectic week on this end, so I'm quite happy that it's Friday... Plus, the fact that we're heading to Oktoberfest in Munich this weekend made it even that much better! :)

I'm one week into my German class... only 4 more weeks to go for this session... Yay! And then I get to start another 5 weeks for the next session... Oh boy! But, I have to admit... I'm actually enjoying the classes. Being that I'm going every day, it definitely helps with retaining the information. Plus, we're moving along rather quickly... Can't wait to see what's in store for us next week. And, on another good note, I'm actually beginning to pick up quite a few of the words and phrases our teachers have been using... Yay! Needless to say, I get quite excited when I understand what the teacher is actually saying... Definitely helpful when trying to learn a new language! :)

Well, we're off to catch the train... We're taking the train to Munich this year. Should be fun! :) I promise to take lots of pictures of the festival so that I can share them with you when we return!! Have a great weekend! Oh, and if you're interested you can check out this website, www.oktoberfest.de/en/, for some Oktoberfest info... You'll see what we're in store for! Miss you much!

Deutsch, Deutsch, and More Deutsch!!!

Hey all! I have to start out by apologizing for my lack of posting recently... This week has somehow turned into chaos! I literally have not spent more than 2 hours at the apartment (aside from sleeping) for the past few days... Making it quite difficult to blog, to say the least. :) And don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining... Those of you who know me well, know how much I like to keep busy! :)

Our weekend was actually pretty low-key... I guess that's what they call the lull before the storm! :) On Saturday, Brian and I immersed ourself in the German culture... That's right... We spent most of the day in the kitchen making up some traditional German recipes... Yes, you read that correctly... We spent most of our day in the kitchen or at the grocery store. :) We picked apples from our apple tree in the backyard and made some apple crisp. And, I'm very happy to report, we did a MUCH better job with it this year than we did last year! For those of you who remember our attempt at making apple crisp last year, you'll probably recall that instead of apple crisp we ended up with what we like to call "Apples and Oatmeal"! :) Fortunately this year we were met with success, and I have to admit, the apple crisp turned out to be quite tasty!!

After our success with the apple crisp, we decided that we were in the mood for some "autumn-like" food... namely zweibelkuchen (i.e. onion cake). Zweibelkuchen is a typical early fall specialty here in southern Germany. It's similar to a pizza, but instead of the traditional pizza toppings, you use sauteed onions, cream, egg, and bacon... Yummy! So, Brian and I spent Saturday afternoon grocery shopping, cutting up onions (2 pounds of them... yikes!!), making the dough, and baking our zweibelkuchen... And, of course, I took pictures of the whole process to share with all of you! :) We spent the rest of Saturday evening sitting on the balcony, soaking up the autumn sunshine, and enjoying our homemade dinner and dessert. :)

The apple tree in our backyard... This is where our apples came from! :)

Brian hard at work in the kitchen...

Mixing up the topping... Notice the big bag of onions (zweibeln)? We used them all!

Getting ready to go into the oven...

Our finished product... Zweibelkuchen is delicious! :)

It's apple time in Germany! And, look, it's actually apple crisp... Not "Apples and Oatmeal"! :)

YUM!!

I'm quite happy that we had such a laid back weekend, as it helped to prepare us for the upcoming week... I started my intensive German course bright and early Monday morning. Let's just say that waking up early in the morning to get to class is something that I'm not quite used to anymore... I've gotten quite accustomed to sleeping in and enjoying my leisurely mornings of drinking coffee, emailing, and blogging. :) This getting up at the crack of dawn so that I can get to German class is going to take a little getting used to! :)

The German course is proving to be quite interesting! The whole course is done in German... Yes, that's correct... Not one word of English is spoken during this class... UGH!! The instructor babbles away in German, and if you don't quite get what they're telling you, then you're simply out of luck! Needless to say, my instructor gets ALOT of blank stares from me... Especially when she calls on me to answer a question or to read something aloud, and I have absolutely no idea what she's asking me to do, so I just stare at her blankly while I'm trying to process what she said, deep down hoping that she'll eventually ask me again in English... Which never happens! I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever felt quite this clueless! I'm definitely hoping that it gets easier as time goes on... Otherwise it's going to be a very long 5 weeks!!

On another note, I spent Monday evening shopping for dirndles with Katrina and Eva... We were on a mission to find some to wear at Oktoberfest in Munich this weekend. Dirndles are a traditional dress worn in southern Germany, and they are based on the historical costumes of Alpine peasants. They are hugely popular among the women at Oktoberfest! Last year I vowed that I would have one to wear this year, but in the end, Eva and I didn't have much luck finding one to wear. Oh well... We did have quite a bit of fun trying them on! :)

On that note, it's getting rather late here, and I have to be up early for class... Oh joy! Have a great Wednesday! We miss you much!

License to Drive...

Happy Friday to you!! I just wanted to share my excitement with you! I received a letter in the mail from the Landratsamt yesterday, and it stated that my driver's license was ready to be picked up (and, yes, we translated the letter ourselves! :))... So, this morning I headed, by myself, down to the Landratsamt to pick up my new license. Admittedly, I was quite nervous about going down there by myself... I had visions of people yelling at me in German and me not understanding what they were saying and not being able to get my license... I know, I know... It was a little dramatic. :) However, based on previous experiences with going into German government offices by myself (i.e. the whole visa situation), I really was somewhat concerned about the outcome of this trip. :)

Either way, the whole process ended up being very anti-climatic. I walked into the office, handed the girl my letter, she opened up a drawer that had my file in it, handed me the driver's license, asked me to sign a form, she took my Michigan driver's license, and then I headed out of the office on my merry little way... with my brand new license in hand. I'm now a legal driver in the country of Germany... Oh, how excited am I?! :)

Well, I'm off to help a friend move into a new apartment... And then who knows what the rest of the weekend holds for us... I do know that it's the official start of Oktoberfest tomorrow, so maybe we'll see if we can hit up an Oktoberfest celebration around our area... I'm sure it won't be difficult to find a place celebrating Oktoberfest around here! :) Have a great weekend! Miss you much! Oh, and check out my new license (and try to disregard the fact that my picture looks like a mugshot. :))....

Kory's German Adventure...

Hey all! What a week it's been! My dear friend, Kory, arrived in Germany last week, and we had such a wonderful time exploring Germany together!! We tried to fit in as much as possible during the 5 days that she was here, and let's just say that we were quite successful! :) We spent our time exploring old castle ruins in Singen, wandering through the streets of Strasbourg (France), hiking from Germany into Switzerland, traipsing through the flowers on the island of Mainau, strolling through the streets of Meersburg, buying lots of fruit at the Farmer's Market, shopping in Konstanz, experiencing a German dance club, and dining with friends... Overall, we had a great time! And, needless to say, time flies when you're having fun! Sadly, I had to drop Kory off at the airport yesterday so that she could head back to the U.S. It's always hard to say goodbye, but one thing that did make it easier is the fact that I'll be heading home for a visit in 3 months... Yay! :)

In other news, I'll need you all to keep your fingers crossed for me today... I've been in a desperate need of a haircut for quite some time, but being that I'm super finicky about my hair (my friend, Sherry, is about the only one who I will allow to touch it!! :)), I've been trying to wait until I get back to the U.S. to get it cut... Well, being that that's 3 months away, and my hair is in a very poor state, I've decided that I can't wait that long... So, I'm taking a chance today and heading to the hair salon to get my hair cut... Yikes!! Fortunately, my friend, Maike will be there with me to help translate, AND I have an appointment with a younger woman who speaks English.... I have also printed off pictures of what my hair normally looks like... So, I'm putting on my brave face today and heading to a German hair salon... Gulp!! I'll keep you posted on the outcome... Wish me luck!

Here's some pictures of Kory's adventures in Germany... Enjoy!

Kory's 1st day in Germany!

Becky, Kory, and I at Hohentweil Castle in Singen...

Hohentweil Castle...

This was the dinner we attended that celebrated Matt & Becky's recent wedding and move to Germany...

Prosting! :)

This was at the end of the night... Can you tell by our eyes? :) We attended Matt and Becky's celebration dinner at the restaurant at 7:00. After dinner, everyone stayed for drinks until 12:30. The restaurant closed at 12:30, and instead of heading home, the whole group of us (about 20 altogether) decided to head to Metropol (a German dance club) to do some dancing. We finally left at 4 a.m. What a night! :)

And after only about 5 hours of sleep, we decided to get up the next morning and head to Strasbourg, France... :)

The Cathedral in Strasbourg...

Kory and I at dinner in Strasbourg...

Strasbourg, France...

Strasbourg, France...

The following day we hiked from Germany to Switzerland... 15 km! The guys wanted to stop for a photo op with the sunflowers... How cute! :)

What a motley looking crew... The was the group of us that went hiking (minus Matt and I)... We called ourselves the North American hiking group, considering we're all from North America (U.S. and Canada)... The only person not from North America was Benjamin... He ended up being our German guide! :)

Kory and I taking a break... That's Switzerland in the distance...

Brian and Kory on the way down...

We ended up in this cute little Swiss town called Stein am Rhein... Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to walk around... So, I'm definitely planning a return trip! :)

Kory in Stein am Rhein...

Kory in front of the Meersburg Castle...

She decided to befriend the knight! :)

From Meersburg, we took the car ferry over to Konstanz... Notice our very windblown looks! :)

Kory at the helm... :)

After we wandered through Konstanz, we headed to the island of Mainau, which is known for their flower displays... They were gorgeous!!

Kory taking a break and enjoying the flowers... :)

Isn't this the cutest statue?!

Gorgeous!!

The island is known for their tulip display in the spring, the rose display in August, and the dahlia display in the fall... Fortunately, we were able to see the dahlias in full bloom... Beautiful!!