Octoberfest

Three of us seperated from the group and headed to Munich from Hiedleberg. The rest spent the day around Hiedleberg and Speyer. We hopped aboard a train for a 3 hour trip. Upon arrival, we went to Mike's Bike Tours and joined the 4 hour tour of the city. I highly recommend this if you have a short time to spend in a city. We saw a lot of the city and drank beer along the way. The city of Munich is beautiful. We went to a couple platzs. Platzs are squares. The first was one dedicated to the ruler who started Octoberfest. Octoberfest is actually a marriage anniversary celebration rather than a harvest celebration. The second was the square where Hiler held many of the rallies and speeches. It was kind of surreal being there. The history that you have read about can now be brought to like. The building that impressed me the most was the white church. It is a huge church constructed out of white marble. Words nor picture can describe this. We saw the Hofbrauhaus. This is the largest beer hall in Germany. It holds 2000 inside and 700 outside. Hiltler held rallies here as well. Even though he didn't drink beer. Other places that were included on this tour were the English garden, the nude park, and the Chinese beer garden, the memorial to the white rose, the former war ministry, and an art museum that bears some of the only visible nazi symbols in the country.

Octoberest is nothing like you can imagine. I liken it to a state fair on massive doses of steriods. It is beer tents, food, and carnival rides. The tents aren't tents but buildings that hold 1000's of people. The Lowenbrau tent is by far the rowdiest tent of all. So, that was the one we hit. People inside are drinking, dancing, and singing. IT. WAS. AWESOME. The band played mostly older American pop/rock tunes. And, everyone sang to every song. We closed that tent down but were not ready to go back to our room. A lady who were chatting with told us the wine tent stayed open much later. So, off to the wine tent we went. Again, it was packed. More singing. And, definitely more drinking. We think our beverage total for the day was 4.5-5 liters. Yes, you read that right. 4.5-5 Liters