Germany Day 3: Oktoberfest

Rise and Shine!
On Saturday morning we woke up at 5am to get ready for the day. We got up, dressed and something to eat within the next hour and were out the hotel doors by 6am. We then proceeded down the street to get on the S-Bahn and headed towards the Oktoberfest festival.

As we got off our train stop we were a little nervous because we did not know quite where we were going.  However, the swarms of people in lederhosen and dirndl's moving in one direction was a quite obvious arrow as to where to go.

Carnival was hopping already at 7am 

We were at the festival just before 7 and were waiting "in line" by 7am. We chose to go to the Hofbrau tent because it is one of the most famous and previous friends studying abroad have told us it is a lot of fun.  The reason "in line" is in quotation marks is because there was no line, just a mass of people waiting outside the door. The place was completely full shortly after we arrived, and luckily I snagged this picture the second we got there because if I had waited any longer you could not have moved far enough away to get all of us in. 

Waiting: Me, Caitlin, Clare, Betsy, Nicole 

The outside of the Hofbrau Tent

Once the doors open there was a mad rush of people to get inside and grab a table.  The tent holds over 10,000 people but the day is much more enjoyable if you and your friends can all have a place to sit and convene at.  Luckily the Holy Cross students were fast and we snagged a great table! There were at least fifteen of us at the beginning and more joined us later. It was a lot of fun to have some Holy Cross pride again, even if we were in Germany.  

This is us VERY excited after we grabbed our table. Everyone who managed to get one was dancing and rejoicing, it was a lot of fun. 

Betsy, Clare, Me, Caitlin 

The inside of the tent at 9:01am 

Within minutes one of the waitresses was over with beers and seconds after that a man with a basket of pretzels came by, and we were ready to go! It is amazing how the waitresses can carry 10 steins with them at one time, maneuvering through a crowd this big all the while holding the steins which are incredibly heavy.  

Caitlin and Me holding the most delicious pretzel I have ever eaten in my life

In case you could not tell how large the pretzels are here is a reference point, it is 2x the size of my face! 

My HB Beer

After a long day the group decided we had had enough (food, beer and excitement) at 3pm and we all headed in separate directions.  My group went back to the hotel to decompress a little bit.  However, at around 7pm we decided to go back to the festival and explore what else it has to offer outside the beer tents.  

Round 2: Oktoberfest at night

We walked up and down the massive strip lined with everything you could think of from games, to gingerbread, to gelato and much more.  I grabbed a bratwurst and some roasted nuts coated in vanilla. Honestly I think I bought them because they looked like muddy buddies and although they did not taste like them, they were good. 

We ate and walked and eventually we made it down to the end of the road where all the rides were.  We decided to go on the Ferris Wheel to get a better view of the festival, and retrospectively that was a great idea.  

Inside the box (almost like a ski chalet) of the ferris wheel 

View of the carnival all lit up at night, beautiful! 

All in all it was the most exhausting day of my life, but a lot of fun! I don't think I could ever do it again but I am so glad that I got to experience the infamous Oktoberfest at least once.  I will forever be dreaming of those pretzels and I doubt I will ever eat one as good again, but that is a small price to pay for such a great weekend.  

Germany Day 2: Dachau and Hofbrauhaus

After a long day of travel on Thursday we were all ready to get up and going on Friday.  Caitlin, Nicole and I were staying in a hotel with our friend Clare from Galway and Betsey from Scotland.  The five of grabbed a hefty morning meal from the free continental breakfast offered at the hotel to stock up for the big day ahead of us.

We then met up with Sarah, and Kate who are studying in Spain, and Patrick who is in Dublin.  It was SO fun seeing more Holy Cross students! The eight of us headed out to Dachau, one of the concentration camps during World War II. Later in the day we ran into two more HC students, Brad and Dan and the ten of us explored the city of Munich.

Part 1: Dachau 

While I would not classify this experience as fun, I am definitely glad that I was able to see it.  It is an incredible piece of history, and it was almost surreal that I could see for myself something that I have learned so much about throughout my years of schooling. We got audio guides which are telephone-like devices that you hold up to your ears to have a narrator explain what you are seeing as you move around the grounds.

Entrance

Main Area, this is where they would have had roll call and all the prisoners would have been expected to stand here 

Inside the museum they had posters illustrating the timeline of events of the course of the 12 years of the war. In addition to the historical facts, these boards were loaded with propaganda from the time, quotes from survivors, and pictures from when the camp was in use

 This room is inside the museum but it is where all the prisoners would have come through when they first arrived to be shaved, stamped and striped of their clothes 

Memorabilia left behind 

Catalogue of the prisoners 

 Inside one of the barracks; the camp was built for 6,000 people but at the end of the war there was over 32,000 people living there.  

 This entire space on the left used to be barracks that held prisoners but have since been destroyed by the Germans. To the right is the barbed wire that encircled the whole camp.  

Dachau was one of the first concentration camps to be built and is the only one to have been used throughout the entire duration of the war.  

Part 2: Munich City Center and Hofbrauhaus

After the concentration camp we made our way to the City Center (called Marienplatz) around noon.  Immediately upon arriving we came upon one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.  We walked by it numerous times throughout the weekend and it never ceased to amaze me.  

The Rathaus-Glockenspiel building

Very hard to get good photos of the building because it was so big, wish I had mom's nice camera with her wide angle lens! 

Vitkatulen Markets in town square 

After grabbing some food, pretzels and beer we headed to the Hofbrauhaus! It is one of the city's most famous beer halls.  They serve you beer in one litre quantities and is delicious!  Note the HB on the side of the stein.

Clare and Me

 Part of the larger HC gang: Caitlin, Betsy, Patrick, Nicole, Me, Clare and Dan

Missing: Kate, Brad and Sarah

Later that night, I treated myself to chocolate gelato because of course I had to try it in Germany! 

Germany Day 1: Travel Day

Last Thursday I left for Munich, Germany for the weekend. Here is a run-down of day one. 

Itinerary:

11:15am - Walk from my apartment to the bus station

12:00pm- Board bus from Cork to Dublin airport

3:15pm- Arrive at Dublin airport

5:40pm- Board the plane for Munich

9:00pm- Arrive in Munich (it was only a 2 hour flight but Germany is one hour ahead of Ireland)

9:40pm- Hop on the S-Bahm train (Germany's subway system) from the airport to our hotel

10:30pm- Arrive at our hotel in Munich!! 

As you can see Thursday was a very long day of just traveling.  However, it was exhilarating arriving in the Munich airport not only because we were so excited to have finally arrived but because it was our first trip to another country! It is a great feeling the amount of freedom that I have to be able to hop on a plane to visit another country for the weekend; causal, I know. 

Overall, the weekend was a huge success, I had a wonderful experience.  However, I am exhausted from this weekend's events so I will fill you in on the rest in the next couple of days!

Nicole, Caitlin and Me leaving Cork

Countdown to Country #1

I leave for Germany tomorrow and I am unbelievably excited! This is going to be my first trip to another country abroad and while I have been loving getting to know Ireland I am very ready to start exploring more of Europe.  

To calm my nerves and prepare myself for a long, busy weekend I went for a long run today on a new path along a different river.  

Can't wait until I am back next week with all the details from my trip!