On the train to Munich, I spent the six hour train ride talking to an American Spaten beer rep who was on his way to work at their beer tent but was taking a backpacking vacation beforehand.  There was also an English guy in my compartment so the time passed quickly with the company.

Once we arrived at the main train station, I took a long walk with a heavy pack on a hot day to the A&O hostel.  Their directions indicated to take the S-Bahn one stop and walk.  It looked a lot closer on the map so I decided to walk the whole distance.  Better directions would have been to take the tram since there was a stop right by the hostel.  There are two A&O hostels in Munich so you have to make sure you go to the correct one.  I was in a 6 bed room with a private bathroom and soap supplied (very nice).   Only downside was that there were no lockers and they charged extra for sheets and towels.   I bought a 3 day transit pass (€10? expires 6am after 3rd day) and boarded the tram to the train station where I then walked to Marienplatz looking for food.  I found the market just south of Marienplatz to get myself a €2.50 bratwurst on the bun that I had been craving since Berlin.

I found a brochure that verified the New Munich pub crawl was on 7 days a week and not just Fri/Sat as shown on their website so I headed back to the hostel to get changed before meeting for the pub crawl (€10).  There were at least three competing pub crawls all meeting around the same location since they were trying to poach each other's customers.

On the pub crawl, I met some American guys that I first met at the Flying Pig in Amsterdam and some Canadian and Aussie girls.  After a long night out, it was a night tram back to the hostel.  I should've checked the schedule beforehand since the tram only ran once an hour during the week.

Day 23 - Thu Sep 14

I woke up early for the free walking tour at 10:45am not knowing there was another one at 11:45am so I could've slept in for a bit.  There was a small group there from the pub crawl the night before.  The main sites in Munich are fairly close together so there wasn't much walking required.  After the tour, a few of us headed over to the English Garden to watch the surfing and then headed back to Marienplatz to go up the Peterskirche tower (€2?) to take a look.  That night, I did a second pub crawl (€15), which was a beer garden themed one and included all the cheap beer you could drink the first hour and a couple of Jager shots.  I left the last bar at 1:30am knowing the schedule for the night tram but not feeling too well.

Day 24 - Fri Sep 15

There was a cute Aussie girl (working in London) in my room, Lauren, and I convinced her to come out on the bike tour with me.  There were €6 discount coupons in our hostel so it would only be €18 for the day.  When we got to the meeting point, it started to rain, so our first stop was to a beer hall to wait out the rain a bit.  With a second beer garden stop near the end, it was a long day and we didn't get back til 6pm though some on the tour headed straight to the Hofbrauhaus right after.  At night, I joined Lauren and her friends that just arrived from London to go to the Augustiner-Keller outdoor beer garden close to the hostel.  I had been to this beer garden the previous night on the pub crawl and it was fairly lively on the Thursday night.  I was told the garden had a 8,000 seat capacity.  The girls were on a tour package from London that had prebooked rooms at the hostel.  That night, the beer garden was full of rowdy, drunk Aussies so I ended up leaving a bit early since I had to check out at 6am and meet up with Lynn the next day.  She lived close to both the main train station and the fairgrounds so it would be a short walk to both.

Day 25 - Sat Sep 16

I woke up early and taxied over to Lynn's place so we could leave by 7am.  I thought we had to be early to get a good table and it was actually to get ANY table since they filled up quickly opening day. The beer tent we went to, Schutzen Festzelt, was smaller and mainly frequented by locals which meant no Aussies.  Almost all girls wore dirndls (traditional dresses with aprons) and low cut blouses showing cleavage if they had it.  Guys wore their lederhosen and traditional shirts.  After almost 3 hours in a crushing lineup (doors didn't open til 10am and we were near the front), we raced to find a table (see video below).  Luckily, we got a single table for about 12 of us.  I'm not sure how groups got tables before cell phones - they probably couldn't use the divide and conquer strategy.   It would then be another 2 hour wait for the official tapping of the first keg before the beer halls could serve.  The wait only happens on opening day because beer couldn't be served until the mayor tapped the first keg at noon.  Everybody was prepared by bringing reading material, food for a picnic, or cards. Once it was announced the official keg was tapped, it could've been another long wait to get your first beer but luckily our waitress dropped ten heavy glasses on our table first.  Beers were €7.60 and you had to trip fairly well early if you wanted the waitress to come back. Then it was 10 1/2 hours of singing, drinking, and partying standing on our cramped benches.  With over 4,000 people in the tent and a sunny day, it got pretty hot inside and you can imagine what the bathroom line ups were like.  The song list from the live bands included some John Denver, Summer of 69, Hey Baby, I Will Survive and Living Next Door To Alice.  I was told the German songs were Bavarian drinking songs played every year but the newest song was the German World Cup fight song and Ein Prosit (a short cheer song) was intermittently sprinkled in the rotation.  I had 3 to 4 beers, though I bought more and gave a couple away.  Worst part of the night was putting down your new cold beer, going to the bathroom, coming back, picking up a random beer on the table and finding a warm one or worse yet, a Radler (beer mixed with lemonade).  At the end of the night, Lynn wanted to go to the bar so I tagged along for a bit till I got too tired and walked back.

Here's the videos I shot with my camera.
 

Day 26 - Sun Sep 17

I headed out to meet at noon for a tour to Dachau Concentration Camp since it was closed Mondays.  I needed to purchase an XXL day pass (€6.50) to get there.  I was going to go with a separate organized tour (€19) but there weren't enough people.  It was easy enough to get there on your own on the S-Bahn and then bus.  The camp provided organized English guided tours for €3 which I signed up for.  Dachau, like Sachsenhausen, was a labour camp but much larger.  The crematoriums and prison blocks were also intact and original.  The tour ended a bit early so we could watch the movie in the auditorium.  Once I got back to Munich, I walked through the fairgrounds (very crowded)  to check out some of the other tents including the Augustiner tent (older crowd) and the Hofbrau tent (Aussie/English hangout).  At 4pm in the afternoon, they were relatively quiet.  In the evening, I took Lynn and Sarah out for a quiet dinner though in hindsight, we should've went for a ride on the roller coaster.

Day 27 - Mon Sep 18

For my last day in Munich, I did some shopping and found a €1.50 schnitzel on a bun stand in the undergound mall at Karlsplatz.  I also visited Schloss Nymphemburg on Lynn's suggestion.  The palace was famous for it's gallery of beauties inside (sort of like a 19th century Maxim Hot 100) and had quite the expansive gardens in both the front and the back.  Heading back,  I found that the church tower with a view of the fairgrounds opened at 3pm (€2 to climb up) so I took some pics before heading off to the airport.

Munich Notes

Though I didn't want to miss any attractions, I did miss the Neuschwanstein castle (inspiration for the Disney castle) and the Kloster Brauerei Andechs monastery (the birthplace for beer).  If I were on my own, I would've probably had to join up with a tour group which would've meant my Oktoberfest experience would've been totally different partying with Aussies and English instead of local Bavarians.  Some tour groups operating out of the UK (mainly catering to Aussies living there) include www.backpacker.co.uk, www.thefanatics.com or www.pptravel.com

Washrooms were not pre-pay but tipping optional.  In restaurants, as in Amsterdam, tips were not expected but appreciated though it was customary to round up your bill and tip a bit (10%).

If I was better prepared, I should've got an outfit or at least a traditional shirt for Oktoberfest (didn't know everyone dressed up).  I could've reused the outfit for Halloween.

*** New pics added Oct 4 2006 ***

Back to Part 3: Prague