MUNICH, GERMANY: HOME OF THE ORIGINAL OKTOBERFEST
- #wanderwahine
- Sep 20, 2016
- 2 min read
After our included breakfast we jumped on the coach and crawled toward Munich, Germany (there was tons on traffic) - Home of THE ORIGINAL Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is the biggest beer festival in the world. Oddly, it starts in mid-September and lasts until the first week of October. We weren't even thinking of Oktoberfest when we planned our trip. It was a nice surprise!
As soon as we got into Munich we checked into our hotel (the NH Munich OST Conference Centre) to get ready for our Bike Tour of the city. This was one of my favorite accommodations. It was clean; the design was sleek and modern. The beds were full size and comfortable. The bedding and pillows were like clouds. Most importantly, it had one of the best free WiFi connections thus far. I was able to FINALLY FaceTime with my loved ones without any issues. I would compare this place to a Marriott hotel. It also seemed like a hotel for business travelers.
Went on a tour of Munich with Mike's Bikes. Honestly, I was a bit nervous about this activity at first because I have not rode a bike in YEARS. I got paired with an adorable teal cruiser. Took me about five minutes to get the hang of it until I was on my way. I felt like I was ten again. I had an absolute BLAST biking around beautiful Munich and learning about all its history in the cold rain (thank goodness for my North Face rain jacket). One of the highlights of the Bike Tour was riding through the Englischer Garten (park) and stumbling across a bunch of crazy German dudes surfing with helmets and full body wetsuits in the Eisbach river. Later I found out that it's an actual "thing" called Munich River Surfing.
Right after the Bike Tour we went straight to Oktoberfest. It was like a carnival on steroids lined with beer halls. Lots of food, rides and vendors. Everyone dresses up. The weather was very cold and rainy.
Got a seat in one of the packed beer halls. It was crazy - there was loads of beer, a live band playing the most hilarious cover songs, people standing on tables dancing and delicious food everywhere. Our Trip Manager told us to tip the waitress before the service and she will keep coming back. Best advice ever! Our waitress was so good to us that she wouldn't let anyone else sit on our table. Food and drinks came out right away! Got the pretzel and pork knuckle. Washed it down with some refreshing non-carbonated beer. AMAZING!
One of my favorite things about Oktoberfest was the sweets. The desserts the vendors were selling there just blew me away. I had white chocolate covered strawberries on stick and bought this huge gingerbread cookie which would become my snack whilst in Austria.
Comments