What a whirlwind four months it has been.
It’s hard to believe that it has only been four months since we left New Zealand. On the one hand we miss you all so much that it feels like forever, but on the other time has just flown by and there has never been a dull moment. I can count on one hand the days we’ve spent lying around and to be perfectly honest, usually these days have been when we’ve been out and about to the early hours the night before!
Suffice to say we are loving life and the amazing experiences it has to offer right now, but we’re also finding the distance hard. We miss you all, particularly when there is so much going on at home. News of the Christchurch earthquake knocked us a little as we both have beloved family members there and were glad to hear that you are all okay. Even as I write this I’m getting a little teary, so at the risk of sobbing like a baby I just want you all to know we are thinking of you all every single day. Every time we experience something amazing I wish you were to experience it too – even if it’s something not too great, like the homeless man who whipped his glory out, took aim and tried to urinate on me! I really wish you were here at times like that – could have perhaps shielded me from some of the spray-back that hit my new winter boots!
Right that’s enough emo stuff as otherwise I’d be here all day! I’m relishing all things Kiwiana at present, whether it’s reminiscing about Squiggles and Moro Golds (something which I didn’t take full advantage of when in NZ) with my Kiwi colleagues, or seeing people wearing Aotearoa t-shirts and stopping them on the street to say hi. Bit mental, but being pissed on by a homeless person does crazy things to you!
Now on to our latest and most amazing adventure to date.... OKTOBERFEST! Moving forward I will only refer to OKTOBERFEST in capitals as a way of trying to communicate how awesome it was. Lowercase letters just doesn’t do it justice – OKTOBERFEST quite simply was one of the best times of my life (second only to the Christmas where I got a new bike AND roller-blades). Despite being a little apprehensive about how raucous it was going to be, we were blown away by it all. The atmosphere and camaraderie was second to none and it will definitely be a regular event on our annual travel plan – bruises, headaches and all!
After spending a lot of time working with Germans in my current role, I’ve become rather fond of them. They’re friendly, capable and super efficient – you could trust a German with your life. They are amazingly intelligent and manage to get everything right first time. The Scottish might be my favourite race over all, but those Germans are just so organised – my kind of people! That said, there were a few creeps but out of 40,000 people I only encountered one or two – one of whom looked like something out of the ‘Hills Have Eyes’. He also had alopecia and was screaming at random people passing by, and let me tell you, when a completely hairless man is screaming in German and snuffling away, it’s a scary sight to behold. He starting yelling at my friend about how he couldn’t speak German, I (having had one or two litres of Hoffbrau) turned to him and started spouting off German words I know – including counting to ten, thank you and ‘I love you’. That put him in his place and he narrowed his eyes (without eyelashes), snarled something in German and slunk off like some sort of hairless weasel. You might remember from my little run-in with a German man in Freibourg, I don’t take too kindly to random attacks from German men!
Anyway, so on to our trip debrief...
After an early start, we arrived in Munich mid-morning where we bumped into our good friend Cookie at the airport – classic! After making our way to the hostel we were then anxious as anything to meet up with Shady and Emily who have been touring around Europe for the past month in their van. We’d missed them terribly and so no time was wasted in running through the streets of Munich to catch up with them in Marienplatz – the beautiful town square. After my idea of a historical walking tour was shot down quicker than you can say Ein Prosit (German for ‘cheers’), we were on our way to the Chinese Beer Garden – Europe’s largest beer garden. Thankfully we walked past all the main sites and I managed to get a glimpse of some beautiful Bavarian magic!
We rubbed the three lions for luck, took some photos of one of the oldest churches in Germany, saw Bavarian parliament and my favourite site so far... a surf spot on the river! Basically there’s a spot in the English gardens where locals and surfers from around the world can surf up a storm. It’s the only river surfing spot in the world and has to be seen to be believed. Because I knew you wouldn’t believe me, I’ve included a few photos and a link below to a trailer for a movie which was made about it. It’s crazy but amazing!
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/keep-surfing/trailer
Next stop was the Chinese beer gardens where a few quiets turned into a large night for the lads beside us. After trying to avoid associating ourselves with the table of drunken Kiwis, when one of the lads fell of his table onto ours it was futile to carry on ignoring them. Three days later and we were all the best of friends and have plans for this weekend to catch up! It was here that we had our first German meal – while I went for half a chicken, Brad opted for a pork knuckle. Needless to say it’s a wonder Germans aren’t morbidly obese. The amount of delicious food we ate and the quantity is just outstanding!
The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to get ready and begin the dreaded line-up to get into the most popular tent, Hoffbrau. While we waited we were kept entertained with stories from the famous ‘Van Tour 100 club’ which was held the night prior. Renowned for being an absolutely disgusting display of the biggest meatheads of the Australian and Kiwi population, this year proved to be no exception. I won’t go into too many details on account of it actually making me reech, other than to say that the previous year someone caught hepatitis c after eating human faeces and dog spew. It’s hard to believe this actually happened, but sadly it is 100 per cent true. Needless to say it wasn’t on our top 10 of sights to see!
The wait for the tent was over before we knew it and they opened the doors relatively early, meaning we secured an excellent table in a great location – virtually unheard of. As soon as the doors opened there was a stampede for the door, meaning everyone was getting completely squished, but the carnage was necessary – 40,000 people trying to fit into a select number of tents – shoving was the least of it all. Despite my initial concerns we ended up with three tables amongst us as we all split up and just ran in different directions! Shady and Emily managed to grab the best table though so we parked ourselves there for the entire day. Our new friend John came in handy here as he was standing on a table in the middle of the room, directing us to where Shady and Em were located.
After the mayor came on to officially ‘tap the keg’ for what is the 200th anniversary of OKTOBERFEST (how’s that for timing!?) the beer officially started flowing. The wenches came out carrying 10-12 steins each and with each stein weighing in at a couple of kg this was no mean feat! We were soon standing on the tables singing along with the Oompah band. The atmosphere was epic – beyond belief really.
The only down side to the festival was the huge line for toilets. After leaving Hoffbrau on account of trying to find a smaller toilet queue, I saw a grown woman wet herself in the queue in front of me. Her bladder actually just gave way and she completely wet herself in jeans nonetheless. I was shocked! Thankfully I always started to queue before I was at that point, which was vital really as the queue was ridiculous. More often than not everyone would just push trying to fit through the door... When one girl started bawling beside me on account of being so busting, I let her in ahead of me – no way was I risking another public urinating experience (especially with memories of the homeless man so fresh in my mind!).
After feeling a little worse for wear later in the evening, I soon perked up after Brad brought me another half-chicken. It worked out quite well as when he was worse for wear the next day, I returned the favour by getting him a pretzel that was almost as big as a golden retriever!
Despite having a big day on Saturday, Sunday was even better and Brad and I kicked off the day by exploring all the other tents. We’d been trusted with the task of finding a new spot for us all and while the others slept and recovered, Brad and I hit the tents yet again. We were happy to have the responsibility on our shoulders and after checking out a number of different tents we settled on Lowenbrau – what Stuff.co.nz describes as the best of all the tents. We considered heading to Hacker which is notorious as the German party tent and after checking it out for a few minutes it was easy to see how it got its name. Upon stepping into the tent we were almost knocked down by a poor German lad who was running to the bathroom... Unfortunately he didn’t quite make it and ended up power chucking in the tent – all at 9am! We saw a number of other people standing up on their tables and sculling a stein while everyone else cheered and clapped. Poor guys – imagine having 8000 people screaming at you to ‘get it down’ – no room for error when the entire tent’s eyes are on you!
Lowenbrau proved to be a great bet and we had a great day, establishing an awesome base for all of our friends that were there – many of whom we didn’t realise were at OKTOBERFEST until we smacked right into them. Perfect! Well almost perfect, Brad had to have a cat nap for a few hours after trying to play with the Germans. It seems he’s not as equipped to sculling steins as the locals and a few hours rest at the hostel was called for. Not to worry as he made it back with bells on and this time everyone else had caught up with him!
We had the perfect spot, right next to the stage, so it was only natural that the Lederhosen and Oompah band noticed my sweet dancing skills and invited me up on stage to dance with the band. Morgs, Jess and I spent a good 10 minutes dancing with the Lederhosen before they tired of us and threw us off stage. It was a great couple of songs though and we were Bavarian rockstars for a good few minutes there!
After such an adrenaline buzz from our stage debut, we headed outside to soak up some of the atmosphere – i.e. stuffing our faces with currywurst sausages, gingerbread then paying an arm and a leg to go on the rides. Worth it though as Morgs and I went on what has to be the coolest rollercoaster in the world!
On our way home that night we were stopped by a bunch of Americans who wanted to know where we were from. It could have been the massive gingerbread love heart hanging around my neck, or the fact that we are both ridiculously good looking, but they insisted on having a wee chat to us. When they found out we were Kiwis, one of the lads turns to us with a smug smirk on his face and says “all you Kiwis are good c**nts!” It turns out every Kiwi he’s encountered has used this phrase in conversation – classic! Of course that set me off and what is possibly the worst word in the English language, kept slipping out of my mouth all weekend... Only when using this phrase of course! Not to worry Dad, I’ve implemented a ‘c-word’ jar so as to nip this behaviour in the bud immediately!
Before we knew it was sadly time to come home... Although we were looking forward to sleep, we’re already counting down until OKTOBERFEST 2011!
Bit of a lengthy update that doesn’t even begin to capture the fun and craziness of the weekend. If you ever get the chance to go, you simply have to leap at it – it’s amazing and there’s something there for everyone... Even if you don’t like beer, like one of our new friends who couldn’t have even one drink on account of having Coeliac disease!
Love to all and will write again soon! We have a lot planned over the next month, including a trip to Bruges, Belgium, followed by Barcelona, then Prague and Berlin with Cara! Let the good times roll!
xxx
