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10/2 – On to Munich and Oktoberfest

THEN it was off to Munich!  We decided to take the train, Deutsche Bahn.  Trains are, after all, more climate conscience and scenic than flying.  We bought the ticket a few months ago and we had a seat reservation from Essen to Munich. 

When you think of Germany, what do you think?  Efficient, great engineering, cars, beer.  You certainly expect the train system to work, right?  Let’s just say, DB did not have a good day on Monday!  Our train arrived in Essen, missing half the scheduled cars (about 8 cars total missing), including the one we had a seat reservation on.  The DB conductor  said, “Sit anywhere”.

“But there are no seats” …

Oh, well”, he shrugged!

We found seats for about 2 hours before two people showed up with reservations in those seats. We gathered up our backpacks and joined the gaggle of people standing in the aisles.  About this time, the train arrived at Frankfurt Airport station; announcements told passengers (in German, of course) to use a different train to Munich and what tracks alternative trains could be found on. 

Mark and I decided to get off the train and see what we could find.  I went to visit the ticket office and managed to find 2 seat reservations on the 2:38 PM train in about an hour. Nope!  The ticket agent discovered that train was cancelled! Like I said, DB was having a bad train day!

We grabbed the next train to Munich with no reservations and managed to find 2 unassigned seats to Munich and chatted with two businessmen – a German and a Belgian.  The German said DB doesn’t do very well in the opinion of Germans. It’s late, equipment problems, rude employees.  If Germany is serious about climate change like they profess, DB needs to get their act together in increase train use and reduce flying and cars!

We arrived in Munich only about 1 hour late so all was well. 

One note … we stayed in a Sheraton Westpark in Munich using points. Great hotel in a convenient location.  For the first time ever in 29 years of visiting Germany, the breakfast breadbasket did not have any German brotchen!  These are yummy crispy rolls and we have NEVER not seen them on the breakfast table.  They’ve been on small B&B tables, brand name hotels, campground bakeries.  What was I supposed to eat my cheese and ham on for breakfast?? 

We’ve had 2 enjoyable days here with friends from University of Iowa, Sam and Josh. Good weather for Oktoberfest, English Gardens, a bit of sightseeing, and visits to 3 tents to compare the differences – Marstall, Spaten, and Hofbrau.
Marstall serves Spaten beer in their test as well as champagne and wine! We opted for beer and pretzels at 11 AM.
We both did some shopping and bought some Bavarian clothes to wear. The dirndl was pretty comfortable but needs a little work done to it when we get home. We are not carrying these around for the rest of the trip. We mailed them home with DHL.
Oxen cooking in the tent
This is one of the oxen being cooked in the Marstall tent. They go through about 97 of them during Oktoberfest, according to last year’s stats.

Jutta showed up on Thursday after work in Munich.  We spent Friday afternoon at Marstall tent enjoying the food and beer.  A table of French guys near us provided the entertainment  as we watched them break 2 glasses (one handle and on big chip out of the top of another one); got told to stop after they danced on the table top – not allowed! They also spilled a glass of beer on the shoes of a Lufthansa flight attendant and she was NOT happy!  She flies to Denver all the time and had just flown back from DC that morning before coming to Oktoberfest.

Mark, Susan and Jutta at the entrance to Oktoberfest. Susan has bright orange shoes on because her other ones fell apart after 20 some years of serving their purpose. Guess I’ll have to do some show shopping in November!
platter of cheese, ham, radishes, pickles on a wooden platter
This was a yummy food platter to go with the beer. No chickens for us this year!

1 Comment

  1. gwen A ROGERS

    I love your new Octoberfest outfits. Susan I think this is the first time I have seen you in a dress 🙂 Very, very cute!!!

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