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If there's one
place I visited on my trip where I wish I'd been able to stay
longer, it's Munich.
Yes, I made the mistake of
trying to squeeze all of Munich into a day trip, including
OKTOBERFEST for Pete's sake. This was quite a bonehead
move, since it was a 3-4 hour trip each way just to get
there from Frankfurt in the first place, and the last train left
Munich at around 7 at night. I was also not even sure the
day prior whether or not I would be headed down in the first
place, since I was totally lost on the fact that "Munich" and
"Munchen" are the same place. Why are proper nouns
different from language to language, anyway? My
realization went something like this:
Me: "This is ridiculous!
There isn't a single train that goes from Frankfurt to Munich."
Friend: "What? That's impossible, I see a whole
bunch listed right here."
Me: "Nope, there aren't any in my book of time tables.
All I see is a bunch of trains to some place called 'München.'"
Friend: "...You... you do realize that that's the same
place as 'Munich,' right?
Me: "Hum."
My tattered book of timetables,
by the way, was pretty much my bible in Europe. And this
Eurail company?
Totally great, I recommend them highly. I also have to
give some major props to
Rail Europe, which is the company I actually purchased my
pass through. They have excellent phone customer service
and lots of other packages for sale. I bought (still
unused) tour bus tickets through them, as well as a Paris museum
pass. I did all of this at the last minute, too, and they
still managed to be accommodating. Free advertising aside,
here's what the inside of my book looked like:
The inside is hilariously
mangled and dog-eared, which can partially be attributed to a
few nights of planning while intoxicated. Does my writing
make any sense? No, not really. It's a wonder I was
able to get where I was going when all of my planning looked
like this. Fun fact: Kölne and Cologne are also the
same place, and I didn't know this until I was standing in the
outdoor area of the Kölne train station and saw the Cologne
cathedral towering above me.
The trip to Munich was long and
uneventful. The German countryside is beautiful to look at
out the window of a moving train, but I got an unlucky seat
assignment and wound up craning my neck to see around the giant
window divider that occupied the row of seats I was in.
All alone on the train, I looked into the gray sky and mused at
the fact that it was the same color most of the time in my
hometown. The buildings looked vastly different, but
German grass is still green, the sky is still gray, and
evergreen forests roll over the hillsides just like back at
home.
I was supposed to meet up with
two friends at 4 in the afternoon (or 16:00, on a European
clock), but I'd taken an early train on purpose so I'd have some
time to goof around in Oktoberfest first. Forget
Disneyland, folks. THIS is the happiest place on earth,
even on a gray day.
Apparently the
local population sort of avoids this place, because the majority
of the crowd is comprised of loud, drunken tourists. There
were lots of people of all ages dressed in silly hats and
lederhosen, and pretzel and souvenir stands as far as the eye
can see. It was like a drunken state fair on steroids.
Before I get too
far into describing the surreal-ness that is Oktoberfest, I just
want to state for the record that this is considered a family
friendly event. There were babies in strollers, here.
Every building
here looked like it was made for some sort of gigantic doll
house.
I really do wish
the weather had been nicer, because some of the sights and
colors here were just fantastic. Not a single person wore
a frown. Even the drunks were happy! There was music
in the air!
I took a picture of
this thing (bumper cars, I think?) because this is where the
surreal weirdness of Oktoberfest reached its climax for me.
As people were bumping along under the neon lights,
Shaggy's
"It wasn't me" was blasting over the attraction's
loudspeaker. What says "family fun" better than blinking
lights, bright colors, booze, and a graphic, 90's musical
interpretation of trying to hide copious amounts
inappropriately-ordained sex? Good times! Turn up
the volume to that song and keep it playing as you look at the next few pictures. I find
that it really captures the atmosphere well.
Some more
attractions. I think that one red stand on the right is a
shooting gallery, and there were many of these.
What goes well with beer? Guns, of course!
This is the world's
most awesome, ornate, incredible carousel. Please note the
presence of little kids and strollers... this is fun for the
whole family!
The slide itself is
pretty amazing. What's more amazing than the slide?
Look at how many people are standing around watching it.
This is some serious entertainment right here, apparently.
A lot of
attractions were decked to the gills in glorious blinking
lights, crappy pop music, and animatronics. It was sort of
like being trapped inside some sort of surreal Disney cartoon,
only a hell of a lot spookier and with alcohol involved.
HÖLLENBLITZ. I'm pretty sure
this translates into "Freaking scary-ass rock wall
haunted house thing that will terrorize you in your sleep for
the next ten years if you climb it while drunk."
This is one of the
immense beer tents of Oktoberfest; the main reason people travel
here in the first place. It was LOUD, and a strange sort
of haze hung about the top of the building. As a fun
exercise, see how many silly hats you can count in this picture.
At around 4, my
friends showed up and we moved away from Oktoberfest into the
city. Also, it started to POUR rain. I hadn't seen
it rain that hard since my family drove up the Columbia river
gorge one day to see Multnomah falls. Either way, one of
my friends had an umbrella and we set off into the city to see
the sights of downtown Munich. I haven't posted pictures
of my friends here, as I'm not sure they would approve.
Our first stop was
a gothic church just outside of Oktoberfest. I was eager
to explore it, since this was the first real piece of gothic
architecture I'd seen in Europe. Most of the pictures were
too blurry to post, but here are a few goodies I managed to
salvage:
Up there on that
buttress is my first gargoyle encounter in Europe!
Look! A
real gothic triforium and clerestory!
From the church, we
moved into downtown Munich and toured what (I think) is called
the pedestrian precinct. No cars are allowed here, and
this is where most of the fancy-shmancy shopping in the city is
located.
The town hall in
Munich is simply stunning, decked out in full Gothic styling.
From the pictures,
it's hard to get an idea of just how rotten the weather was
while I was here. I wasn't about to let it put a damper on
my visit, though.
My friend claims
that Hitler gave a famous speech at this monument. I am
not sure whether or not that is true, or what the monument is
called. Oh well.
After a lovely
dinner at a little Italian restaurant, I had to hit the road.
One of my friends insisted on buying me a real German pretzel
before I departed, and it was one of the most delicious treats I
have ever eaten. It was slightly crisp on the outside, and
warm and doughy on the inside.
The train ride back
to Frankfurt (or home, as I kept accidentally calling
it), was a little bit rough, but also rather hilarious. A
bunch of mildly-intoxicated middle aged German guys in
Lederhosen were sitting behind me, and they had purchased some
sort of device (I never saw what it was) that sang drinking
songs and told jokes. They would roar into whooping,
raucous laughter and/or start singing with each recording that
played. My nerves played up on me again a little bit on
that train ride, only because it was pitch dark outside and at
one point the train actually turned around. Visions
started flashing through my head of being stranded in a strange
German town at night, and possibly having to sleep under a bridge
somewhere. Needless to say, that did not happen and I made
it back to Frankfurt safe and sound.
The next day, I set
off for Amsterdam.
Stage
4 - Amsterdam
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