Oktoberfest, Munich
2nd October 2007Off to Oktoberfest (Beer Festival) in Munich, Germany.
Ashika decided to take me to Munich and Oktoberfest (2 week beer festival) for my birthday.
Day 1
Having caught the 8am flight from Luton airport (in Northern London), we arrived at our hotel (Hotel Daniel) around midday. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the hotel area Karl Platz and all the way down to Marien Platz. After that, we went to Oktoberfest in the afternoon just to check it out.
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| Relaxing in the hotel room before setting out on the walk | This is Karl Platz |
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| From Karl Platz towards Marien Platz | |
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| Entering Oktoberfest, it was BUSY!! | |
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| This merry-go-round was over 20 metres in the air!! | Ashika in front of the Augustiner beer cart |
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| Hofbrau beer cart | The beer carts has decorated horses |
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| Augustiner Brau beer 'tent' | |
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| Lawenbaru beer tent | The Lowenbrau lion |
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| Ashika standing in front of a 'Mr Potato-Head' stand |
Day 2
We did a walking tour through Munich on day 2, not doing too much else.
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| Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) | Devils footprint within Frauenkirche (google it) |
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| Aluminum statue of Maximilian Joseph... -> | |
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| English gardens | |
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| Government house, apparently the glass roof is meant to signify the openess of the government (yeah right!) | |
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| Surfers at a man-made wave pool on the River Isa | It's quite dangerous and many people have died surfing and swimming in the river Isa |
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| The Hofbrau House beer hall | |
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Day 3
We decided to do a free bicycle tour though Munich, and went to Oktoberfest in the evening.
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| Lenny, our bike tour guide - can chug a stein of beer in under 2 seconds (we saw it happen) - Link | Marien Platz |
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| The world's largest cookoo clock, the figures actually move at 10am and 11am | Its easy, like... riding a bike |
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| I had the hang of it straight away | Ashika had to think about how to balance. Well, you've got to understand, she cant drive a manual car =) |
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| Sitting down to eat and drink at the Chinese tower | |
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| This is why it's called the Chinese tower | Yes, that's a full stein |
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| The chicken after Ashika and I had finished. Would have taken a pic before, but the chicken was too delicious | Ashika also had a half pint |
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| The River Isa isn't actually that clean | |
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| We went for cocktails after the bike tour, a large cocktail for 5 Euro!! Soo cheap. | |
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| There was a LOT of alcohol behind the bar | hat's all Ashika could drink |
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| Roast fish, German style. Back at Oktoberfest at night | |
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| Beer tents are well decorated, but even more impressive at night | |
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| Inside the beer tents (especially at night) you have to be careful not to get thrown up on... Seriously!! | |
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| It is really packed inside the beer tents | |
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| Chocolate coated fruit | Dodge-Em cars |
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| Was all too much for Ashika | |
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| Nutella and banana crepe | |
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| Hofbrau lion at night |
Day 4
My Birthday!! Well, it was planned to do a day tour out to Mad Ludwig's castle and then come back into Munich for a romantic dinner. That was the plan, but Munich's rail staff decided to strike on the day, so having got to the rail station by 8am, we left at 10am, had to change trains (waiting an hour in between) at a random German country town, and not returning to Munich until 10.30pm!! Was a good day out though... All props to Ashika for organising it.
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| The early start killed me | Markoberdorf... random country town we spend just over an hour changing trains |
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| Mad Ludwig's castle from a far | |
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| We actually had a 45 min hike up to the castle. One of the girls vomited on the way up, it was a tough hike actually | |
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| Had good views on the hike up | |
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| We walked to a bridge near the castle, remember this bridge, we'll see how far it actually is from the ground | View from the bridge, we saw quite a few waterfall, more later on |
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| Ashika looking for make up, again!! | |
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| Well, at least she looks nice =) | |
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| Wood carved map of where we walked | |
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| Entrance | Bust of Mad Ludwig, no pics were actually allowed inside the castle |
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| The is the bridge I mentioned earlier, over 100 metres over the water | |
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| Discovered the 'Sepia' setting on the camera | |
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| Had some nice scenery on the hike (different route) down from the castle | |
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| When we got back down from the castle, around 4pm, mist was starting to come in | |
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| Day 4 | |
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| The train to the airport, on the way back | Last pic before leaving Munich |
The Verdict
Munich is a very beautiful city, well setup for walking and biking (dedicated bike lanes etc). There is a lot of history in Munich, especially around Hitler and the Nazi's. It all started n Munich. Well worth a visit, especially around Oktoberfest time. Having visited Munich (Germany's 3rd largest city), we really want to visit Berlin.