Oktoberfest 2009

Our German family

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:31:38 -0700

Anyone who knows me has probably heard a few stories involving my good friend Martin. He was my roommate for the better part of my college days in Portland. After completing his master’s degree, he returned to his hometown in Germany and went to work building cars. We’ve kept in touch ever since and we never hesitate to stop in Stuttgart any time we’re in Germany. Martin and his wife - Simone - are superb hosts, and their extended family treat us as their own. It’s fantastic.

The Spanningers have two adorable girls. Leah just turned four a few days before we arrived, and Liv is about 18-months old. They both have blond curls and huge smiles. Leah is apparently just learning the not everyone speaks German. Martin asked that we bring her a CD with children’s songs in English. So Ann obliged with a a couple discs containing some classics like Old MacDonald and such. And it turned out to be quite a hit.

We usually don’t stay with Martin’s crew when we’re in town. That honor (ha!) normally goes to his brother and significant other (Stephan and Sandra). I stayed with them when I came over for Martin’s wedding, and when Ann and I came for the World Cup. But now Martin and Simone have a new house and plenty of room for everyone.

Stephan and Sandra were present most of our stay. They brought breakfast the first day (they live nearby, next to a great bakery), and they drove us to Heidelberg for some sightseeing the next day. They also came for a big family cookout on Friday night. Both sides of Martin and Simone’s family were well represented. Martin’s parents were there, along with Stephan and Sandra. And Simone’s parents also came, as well as her brother and his wife (Marcus and Gisela, who is due to have their first child in November).

I met all the parents back when I came for the wedding. None of them speak much English, but that never stops them from talking to me. I find it wildly entertaining that they just walk up and start chatting. Eventually they just laugh it off or seek out a translator. All of their kids speak English, so it’s never really hard to find someone to help communicate.

So one day to get acquainted with the kids, one day sightseeing in Heidelberg, and one day at a natural history museum with Martin, Simone and the girls before wrapping it all up with the family cookout. It was great to finally meet Liv and see Leah again. Last time we saw her she wasn’t even a year old, I believe.

And Martin and Simone are fantastic hosts. They cooked and cleaned for us, and made sure we had plenty of fun things to do. We can’t thank them enough for their hospitality.

Finally in Munich

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:01:47 -0700

After a great night out with good friends in Vienna, we jumped on a super-modern train headed toward Germany. We arrived around 12:30 p.m. and dragged our luggage right out of the train station seeking a dirndl shop. Ann was determined to buy the traditional Bavarian dress, and she succeeded. Soon after we acquired the dirndl, we got on the metro train to our hotel.

We couldn’t check into our hotel until 3 p.m., so we just lounged a while in the hotel lobby. Eventually Ann figured she needed to start getting ready, since our seating reservations were for 4:30 and we’d been told numerous times that we’d surrender our seats if we didn’t show up on time. So as soon as our room was ready, Ann was already prepared. We just dropped our bags and jumped back on the metro headed for the Weisn.

We arrived at the Oktoberfest grounds with time to spare. We walked around the carnival area for a bit then headed toward our tent, grabbing a pretzel along the way. We just walked into the tent a little after 4 p.m. and just started wandering around. Our tickets told us to enter a specific gate, so we found that number and just asked a security guard what to do. He pointed us to the stairs and told us to proceed up and ask up there. We did that and were immediately pointed toward an agent for our booking company. She introduced herself and gave us a brief rundown on what to expect. All this going on while our tables was cleaned up.

As soon as the fresh linens were on the table, we took our seats right at the edge of the balcony.

Eventually the rest of our table arrived and we ordered our first round, then food. Everything arrived quickly and we started to get acquainted with our group. One German, two Danes, one Pole and one Czech gal. About four Americans arrived later, but they sat at the other end of the table and I didn’t really talk to them much. In all, it was a fun-loving group and we had a great time.

The Hacker-Pshorr was great. They had live music throughout the night and the entire crowd was dancing, singing and carrying on. The only problems I saw all night involved dancing on the tables. Downstairs, everyone was dancing on their table seats (which were just benches). But upstairs they didn’t allow that. Most of the tables had someone stand up at one point and start dancing around, only to have security come over and give them a warning. If the security guard had to come over a second time, he’d give a final warning. Third time and the offender would immediately be shown the door. But no big deal really. We pretty much just milled around our table, dancing and chatting with everyone.

Ann and I decided to vacate our spots sometime between 9-10 p.m. I managed to knock down three beers. Ann knocked off just over two. The food was good, but the beer was what we came for. After leaving the fairgrounds, we just followed the herd until we came across a metro station. Went back to the hotel and slept like babies.

It was a very good day.

Vienna with friends

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:40:25 -0700

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we decided to spend a night in Vienna rather than travel directly from Prague to Munich. This is because I wanted Ann to get a glimpse of the Austrian countryside, and the Alps in particular. An added bonus to this plan is that we got to meet our good friends David and Catherine for dinner. They’re wrapping up a vacation in Slovenia and offered to meet us for an evening on their way back to Linz.

Everything went according to plan. Our train arrived in Vienna a tad late, but we made it to our hotel in the city center with no problems. And an e-mail from David was awaiting our arrival. They booked a hotel right around the corner from ours. So we freshened up a bit and drifted down the street a couple blocks to meet up.

They had a restaurant recommendation, so we chatted as we strolled through the busy Vienna city center. Dinner consisted of Austrian specialties: wiener schnitzel and potatoes. Ann had a fried chicken dinner (which looked exactly like my wiener schnitzel, but I’ll let it pass). We also imbibed some fine beers and wine, and David & Catherine even tried some fine apple strudel.

After dinner we drifted back toward our hotels and found a cafe bar with sidewalk seating. We chatted and laughed through another round of drinks before calling it a night. Catherine is flying back to the U.S. on Monday, so they had to head out early for the Linz airport.

So now Ann and I are on the train headed for Munich. It’s amazing how much difference there is between rail travel quality compared to the journeys earlier in our trip. Whereas we had modest luxuries in our first-class travel in Hungary and the Czech Republic, we’re now on a super-modern OBB Railjet train hurtling toward Germany at nearly 200 km/hr. A brand new coach, video displays of arrival/departure info, and power plugs for my laptop. We even have waiters bringing us fresh juice and cappuccinos.

Yes sir, I’ll have another. Bitte.

Prague

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:38:54 -0700

Prague exceeded our every expectation. I’d been here for one day (long story) back in 1993, and I knew it was a unique city. But man, did we ever enjoy our four days in the Czech capital.

We stayed at the Hotel Cloister Inn, a three-star place near the Charles Bridge that used to be a monastery. We also discovered that for almost 30 years during the communist era, it served as a station for the secret police (along with numerous other buildings on this street: Convictska (which translates to ‘Convict Street’). We recommend this hotel to anyone who comes to Prague. Great location, clean and friendly. Plus it has free wi-fi and a fantastic breakfast buffet that we took advantage of every day.

We hired a tour guide for a day-long walking trip. Eva is a Prague native who pointed out the major attractions, churches and monuments, but also gave us a great rundown on the city’s history. She had historical photos that really gave us a good idea of what the old city used to look like. This was especially true in the Jewish quarter, which has been totally re-done as a shopping district. The old Jewish town hall still stands, as does a 700-year-old synagogue (apparently the oldest such building still in use in Europe).

After seeing the old and new town, we crossed the river and had a magnificent lunch at a traditional Czech restaurant (no English menus). Then we trudged up the hill to some magnificent gardens adjacent to the American embassy, and on up to the castle district. Prague’s skyline is dominated by a gigantic castle, which surrounds a cathedral. It’s a huge castle complex and houses the presidential office. We actually skipped the castle and wrapped around the backside of the castle district in favor of an old monastery. We did that because Eva told us the monks brew their own beer that you can drink at a hillside cafe. Oh man, was she ever right.

So Ann and I enjoyed a couple cold St. Norbert amber ales. Magnificent. Then afterward, we strolled back to our hotel via a hillside route that offered unobstructed views of the Prague skyline. Red tile roofs as far as the eye can see.

See my YouTube channel for several videos of our Prague walking tour.

On Saturday we had a lazy day before walking back up to the castle district for some last-minute souvenir shopping. Then we dined on a roasted pork knee with some cold Pilsner Urquells. More pictures to come on that one. It was deeelicious.

Today we’re heading to Vienna. We’re just going to stay the night before jumping on a EuroCity train to Munich. This is just so we can ride through the Alps, which Ann has never seen. Our route will take us through Linz and Salzburg before winding up in Bavaria. We’re also meeting some friends of ours - David and Catherine - who are wrapping up a vacation in Slovenia. We plan to share a strudel tonight in Vienna.

Budapest

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:32:19 -0700

We arrived in Budapest yesterday evening. Once we got to our hotel and checked in we went for a walk and dinner. I had goulash and wine and Curt had goulash soup and beer. It was very good and quite filling.

This afternoon we had lunch at a cafe. After that we headed to the Budapest Public Market, which you will see videos of. After the market we went for a walk along the Danube and stopped at a cafe for a beer, we also have video of that.
This evening we had Hungarian food for dinner at a restaurant called Rustico.

Our options were Italian or Hungarian. We both had very filling pork dinners. Curt had paprika potatoes and I had polenta. And there was so skimping on the polenta.

Tomorrow we will visit the castle and head back to the market for some special purchases.

Munich plans finalized

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 11:26:50 -0700

We got our Oktoberfest package finalized this week. Through a booking agency (Extratours GmbH) we get two nights in a three-star hotel, two seating reservations in a big beer tent, plus food & drink vouchers good for two liters of beer and half a chicken each. All this for a fairly reasonable rate.

I originally booked in the Spring. I communicated a couple times with Extratours asking if I could select which beer tent we get. They said not really, but they’d do their best to honor any specific requests. So I sent a special request after I picked out a couple traditional Bavarian tents (as well as and a couple tents we didn’t want to be in).

For those of you who don’t know, the highlight of Oktoberfest revolves around the 12 big Bavarian breweries. Each has a giant structure - or ‘tent’ - where they serve their beers and each some traditional foods. These tents hold up 10,000 people, with another couple thousand corralled in patio seating. Yet despite the huge capacity, you still need to reserve space for either a lunch or dinner-time seating. Otherwise you’ll be standing in line with thousands of unprepared backpackers waiting for a seat to open up.

Last week we got our beer-tent booking details. We got an evening seating (4:30-10:30) in our first-choice tent: Hacker-Festzelt. PERFECT!

The only problem was that I work with a German fellow, and he arranged conflicting plans. He called up some of his old pals at IDG Germany and managed to score me a couple tickets to the Bayern Munich football match that same night. Gah!

I wrote a (very carefully worded) note to Extratours asking if they could re-jigger my beer-tent booking. No problem, they said. Although they couldn’t get us an afternoon seating, they could just move our reservation up one night. So we’ll be in the exact same beer tent for the evening seating one night earlier than previously arranged. Then the next night, my German buddy Martin and I will take in the splendor a wonderful soccer game from the IDG Germany luxury suite. Food and drink provided. I think that sounds like a damn fine way to celebrate 40 years of walking the earth.

So many, many thanks to the very nice customer support folks at Extratours. They were very understanding and did a very capable job of juggling my crazy requests. If we ever happen to re-visit Oktoberfest, you can bet we’ll be return customers.

And many thanks to Stephan Scherzer for scoring the soccer tickets. This will be my second time seeing Bayern Munich play, but my first at their spectacular new Allianz Arena. Can’t wait.

Preparing to go

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:59:17 -0700

So we haven’t started packing yet, but we’re getting prepared nonetheless. Glad we didn’t have to buy new luggage for this one. Our rolled duffles have held out pretty well. Ann got a new one before our UK trip, and mine has held up to abuse ever since our World Cup trip back in 2006. Good luggage is key.

One of the biggest investments we’ve made so far is a camcorder. We bought a Flip UltraHD pocket camcorder, and it’s so cool. Above is a short example clip of Joey watching footage of himself. I plan to post a video each day of our trip. So please let me know if you have any trouble watching that video. It’s on Vimeo instead of YouTube, meaning it uses flash to encode. But it’s a much slicker presentation. Let me know what you think.