Anyway, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!
There was a special guest present, and those of you from the Louisville area may recognize him…
I was also asked in an earlier post, for some pictures of women. So Janie, I don’t know if this is quite what you had in mind, but I took these for you. See if you can tell what these two fine Bavarian Fraulein have in common…
Here is a plate of appetizers from our table (American Size)…
Then we saw bigger ones going out and we demanded a Bavarian platter…
Of course it was about three times as expensive as the other one, but there was a point to be made! Actually we had the second (large) one later in the day.
All in all, I think that I was a little disappointed by the Hofbrau tent. Last year we were in the Hippodrom, and it seemed much nicer to me. The waitresses were prettier, the beer was better, the band was better, and I think it was just generally a better place. Now don’t get me wrong … everyone had fun, and we definitely drank our share of the Hofbrau suds. Maybe it is just that the novelty had worn off. I didn’t really even take too many pictures because everything looked pretty much the same as it did last year.
Maybe I’ve become jaded…
However, I am willing to try it another two or three times (for the sake of science, you know).
The day before we went to Oktoberfest a couple of us went to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial. We arrived late and the museum wasn’t open, although we were able to go into the camp. After wandering around the camp for a while … I don’t think that I would have had any interest in going into the museum.
Visiting this place is a somber experience. It’s probably not really the kind of thing you would want to do the night before going to Oktoberfest, but I’m not sure there is ever a good time to visit this place. I think that it is a good thing that they have left it as a memorial, and have even rebuilt two of the living quarter buildings.
I’m glad that I got to see it, and would hope that every person in Germany visits it at least once in their lives.
After the Oktoberfest, a couple of us went into Munich and visited the Olympic complex and the BMW museum across from it. Both of these were really quite nice.
We went into town for lunch at the Weissesbrauhaus - the home of two of my favorite beers in Germany (Schneiderweisse, and Aventinus). Apparently many more folks had the same idea, and there were no seats available. This is the place that has the miltzwurst, and sauerlungen. I was planning on trying the sauered lungs or sauered kidneys, but was now unable to.
We ended up going across the road to a restaurant owned by the Paulaner brewery. And although their menu was lacking in viscera, we still managed to have a decent lunch.
The next day we were back in the Rheingau, and went up to Schloss Johannisberg for a wine tasting. It was fun, and the wine was good. It was a clear day so I tried to get some pictures to show how many vines there are in this area.
Over Columbus Day weekend a friend and I went to Trier. Trier is a German town not too far from the Luxembourg border. It was once a capital of the Roman Empire. The town is pretty, but the weather was not great when we were there. There are a few Roman ruins around there, and I would definitely like to get back there someday when the weather is a bit nicer.
Oh … and while in Trier I was able to take a picture of what is obviously Barack Obama’s favorite place in Germany.
Good ol’ Karl was born in Trier, and it seems that the city officials don’t have the sense to try and cover it up or to at least NOT celebrate it. There are more pics from Trier on the flickr page.
I other news, I have procured another vehicle. After driving to Munich in a friend’s BMW, and seeing another friend buy a new Mini-Cooper, I decided it was high time that I join the sporty European class. So after much internal debate, and a little financial reckoning, I … well … let’s just say that I will take delivery of my new wheels in about two weeks. You can check back around then for pictures.
The next six weeks a going to be a whirlwind of trips for me. Starting Monday, I will be away for a week (work), back for the weekend, then another week away (work), then a long (4-5 days) day weekend in Portugal (fun), then two days at the office, after that gone for another week for work, then another long (4-5 day) weekend in southwest France (fun), then two more weeks away for work. This will bring us up to mid December.
If I can remember where I live by that time, I may sleep for a while.
