Back in the USA

Hey kids, it's been a while since my last post. Michelle and I made it back to the US on Sunday, after a great time in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, and Dubrovnik(Dubrovnik post to arrive later, with pics). I must say, even though I had a great time in Germany, it is great to be back in the US of A. Our flight back from Frankfurt was about 9.5 hours. I don't know why it takes longer on the way back, I guess the pilot flies slower or something. So, I am back to work now. Baseball playoffs are going on. Football is in full swing. Atlanta weather is great.

Oktoberfest Part II

For those that didn't know our itinerary, we left Berlin on Sunday and traveled by train to Munich, ditching Joe's big bag of cloths in Frankfurt on the way. Today/Monday we went to the official Munich Oktoberfest celebration. Oktoberfest runs the last two weeks of September (I guest to celebrate the coming of October), and we are catching it on the last two days. Today (and maybe tomorrow) was a holiday in Germany, celebrating the Reunification of the country in 1990. The holiday meant there were a ton of locals and other germans who didn't have to skive work to hang out in the tents. We also saw that they start them young on Oktoberfest- there were kids with their families and even some school field trips (ok, maybe they were there for the rollercoasters and other rides, but we did see one school field trip peeking into the Lowenbrau tent). Of course, we also saw what everyone thinks of when they think Oktoberfest- incredibly strong women carrying too many large steins of bier! Note there is NOT a tray under all that beer our waitress above has in one hand!


Joe also made friends with the table of teens behind us- they really liked sharing their snuff with him. Every hour or so they would appear demanding that Joe snort some of the eucalyptus-smelling stuff up a nostril. His first attempt mostly landed on his face and lip, which made one passerby laugh and call Joe Hitler (it was really dark stuff, on his upper lip in a think clump). The American would've never said that, but it was apt. Joe finally learned to say "later, later" on future demands of nose abuse (though he said it in German- he really has learned a lot of German in his time living here).

Even with all the liters of beer and the stuff up Joe's schnoz, I promise we didn't look like these guys at the end of the day (Joe waited to sack out until he was near his own bed!).

Oktoberfest!

We were advised that we should get to Oktoberfest early- so we were wandering the fairgrounds-like fest by 9:30 a.m. We checked out various tents, and Joe humored me by doubling back for a seat in the prettiest beer "tent." We maybe should've been on the hunt for a seat earlier, b/c it was a bit hard to find a spot, even for just the two of us, at 10:15 a.m.! Luckily a table of very nice Germans adopted us- see Joe and our new friends (and very large beers). I have tent in quotes above as these structures were more like beer barns, complete with wood fronts, walls, floors and huge chandeliers. Our new friends told us these mammouth things get taken down after each fest, and then put back up the next year. You can also see that the yellow ribbon banners on the ceiling were very attractive:) Joe's blog is getting girly because he is now semi-conscious on the bed after imbibing too many liters (literally) of beer.

One thing we hadn't realized is how many locals dress up in the traditional Bavarian folk outfits, it was pretty cool. I also didn't realize that leiderhosen are usually suede- I'm going to kick butt on that trivia question some day (and now dear reader so can you!). The guys also sometimes wear these things like legwarmers- short sweaters for the calves. And it was really all ages that were wearing the outfits. The big structure behind all these people above was our beer "tent." We were in the Pschorr-BrauRosl tent- very tasty and smooth beer.

While the beer was flowing at 10, the music didn't get going until noon. When the real German band cranked up, so did the singing and dancing on the table benches (I'm trying to hold onto my new friends so I don't fall off the table). The german band brought back some high school memories... Joe got more of the lyrics than I did- but I did manage to yell out "Oy Oy Oy" at the right times. There was also a puzzling rendition of Glory - for a second I thought I was at a UGA football game. I really wish I knew what the lyrics to that one translated into.