a Hexalitre of beer at Oktoberfest!

First, I will write that I did not attend Oktoberfest. I know, I know, it's a tragedy that we planned our honeymoon at the end of September and timed our visit to Munich so that we could go to Oktoberfest, and I didn't get to go. I guess I'm not a hardcore drinker because I had a cold (yes, I caught a cold after my tonsilitis!) and I really didn't want to stand outside a tent in the cold rainy weather waiting to get inside along with 1000s of other people....but at least J got to go!!!

In Munich, we visit our friends C and S. Unfortunately...or fortunately?...C also had a cold, so we decided to be booger-best-friends and spend the day together blowing our noses, eating noodles, and watching TV. J and S met near the main train station and made their way to Theresienweise, the location of Oktoberfest in Munich.

(before I go on, please youtube 'Killertitten Das Supertalent' and you'll get a glimpse of what C and I saw on TV at one point during the day)

From what J told me (or rather, slurred to me) 11 hours later, this place is full of these huge open air tents. There's one per brand of beer, and unless you get there super-early, you have a bit to wait until you can get into one. In the tent, you have the lovely ladies dressed up in Dirndl carrying 3 litres of beer in each hand.

Girls that attend Oktoberfest usually wear dirndls, and boys wear lederhosen. As J didn't have access to any lederhosen, he wore the typical shirt that most men wear with their lederhosen. It's a small checked shirt in either blue, purple, red or green. He chose blue and C and S bought it for him ahead of time. Also, girls have a way of tying something on their dresses that says whether they are single or not, so it's almost like a huge single's mixer. Fun!

J told me (slurred to me) that there were people from all over the world there. However, being so focussed on the consumption of beer, he only met one guy from Switzerland. Otherwise, he spent the day with S and his cousins. 6 litres of beer, one half chicken, a pretzel, singing and dancing later, J and S (and his cousins) were stumbling home at 11pm. You see, Oktoberfest ends relatively early so that they can set up for the next day of festivites.

So that's all I can really say about Oktoberfest as I haven't been there myself. We plan to go back to Europe next year with the little one and perhaps we will plan our trip for September so that C and I can go while the boys babysit. I sure would like to have my own stories to tell instead of J's slurred ones...

1+1 = 3!

The big news is that J and I are expecting at the end of October!

I am 4 months along, we have a bit to go before we find out whether it's a boy or girl, but I anticipate that this blog will soon turn into a travelling/baby blog.

No worries, it won't be all about babies, but I've heard it's harder to travel with an infant, so what else will I have to post about? :)

We already have plans to go to a few places: Gananoque this weekend to celebrate our first anniversary, New Brunswick in the summer, and Europe next year....maybe some camping inbetween?

Anyways, I have been patiently waiting for J to send me his one photo from Oktoberfest so that I could write about it, and I just got it today. Expect my Oktoberfest post soon!

Unique Munich Part 3 of 4!

That morning, we got ourselves up early and made it to the meeting point for our bus trip. We had bought tickets for a day trip to see the Linderhof and Neuschwanstein Castles. The meeting point was near the main train station Hauptbahnhof and the tour was in English. We got on the bus, chose our seats, and settled in for the ride to Linderhof. The website is http://www.stadtrundfahrten-muenchen.de/ . After a little while, we arrived at the Linderhof estate. Beautiful gardens, fountains, forests, and mountain peaks were the setting and the house was amazing. Apparently it was modelled after Versailles.Mad King Ludwig II, who wasn't really mad at all, liked to live alone and pretend that he lived in another time. So he had these castles/houses made to his liking so that he could make the older times a reality. Although no pictures could be taken inside, we guarantee you that the inside of the house was gorgeous. Paintings, gold-leaf, rich fabrics....straight out of a fairy tale. Careful for the swans, though! They hiss and bite!
Next stop? Oberammagau, where we had a short souvenir shopping break. Oberammagau is famous for it's Passion of the Christ play that the town puts on every 10 years. They start playing in May and stop playing in October....but even with so many shows, it's still hard to get tickets. Apparently they even choose one person to bring the cross to the top of one of the mountain peaks that surround Oberammagau. It's a big honour to be chosen to do this. Can you see the cross on top of the mountain?
After we bought a few Christmas ornaments of people in traditional Bavarian get-up, we hopped back on the bus to get to Neuschwanstein. When we got to Nauschwanstein, we stopped for lunch and then made the 30 minute trek up into the hills. It was an easy hike as the road was paved enough for people to get their horse and carriage ride, if they wanted to pay for it. We opted for the walk. The scenery was amazing!!!

Neuschwanstein is the basis of Disney's Cinderella castle...and once we hiked up there, we could see why!

Unique Munich Part 2 (out of 4??)

(after writing this post, I realized that I couldn't just have 2 posts about Munich....they went on much too long and had to split them up. So, this is 2 of 4!)

So...we managed to do 3 out of the 4 must-see things in Munich during our first trip there in 2008. The only one left to do was Oktoberfest, so we planned our honeymoon so that it would end in Germany in late September. Yes, Oktoberfest is mostly in September!

If you'd like to go to Oktoberfest, make sure you book your hotel wayyyy in advance. Also, don't be afraid to spend a little money on the hotel because you will get what you pay for. We paid 80 Euros and, well, although the place was clean it just wasn't what we thought we'd get. More explanation to come!

We flew from Prague to Munich and bought all our public transit tickets at the airport before we caught the train into Munich. The train takes about 45 minutes to get into the heart of the city and it isn't too bad as long as you get a seat.

In the city, we made our way to Noor Jahan Pension (a bed and breakfast above an indian restaurant) and checked in. The owners brought us up to our room at the top of the building and we were thankful to be able to put down our huge daypacks. The ceiling was vaulted so our room was pretty much half of a room, but it had a bed, it was clean and we were ok with it. C and S found us in our room and promptly pointed out "Where is your bathroom?" and we looked around and realized, there is no room off of our bedroom so where is the bathroom?? On our way down to the beer garden, we asked the owners to show us the bathroom after we were done with our beers. (note: this picture was taken during our 2008 trip, but it's a beer garden nonetheless! After being in Italy and taking so many pictures, we kind of got lazy in Prague and Munich.)

Post-beer, the owners followed us back upstairs and showed us the room with the toilet, just outside of our bedroom. Then he said "The shower is in here" and he walked into what looked like a living room and....there was an old man sitting on the couch! In german, the owner told the man that he shouldn't be in there and the man left. But HELLO! The shower was RIGHT THERE! We asked the owner "Is this our private shower?" and he said yes. Then we asked "Well can we lock the door to upstairs?" and he said, "You can close this door here [leading to the upstairs area], but you cannot lock it" and we were thinking Okaaaaay, what have we gotten ourselves into? So that night, we got ready for bed, went into our bedroom and locked the door. We were both scared of that old man coming back and breaking into our room, but atleast our bedroom door was locked. Through out the night, the light outside our bedroom was turned off and on a few times and in the morning, we realized that there was a small storage area in that living room that the owner used to store the table linens from the beer garden. That's why we couldn't lock the door! It's a good thing we didn't try to move the armoire in front of the door like we wanted to!!! (note: I typed in "crazy Old Man" into google and this is what I got!)

So the next morning, while one of us showered, the other kept guard by sitting on the couch and watching the door at the top of the stairs. After our relaxing showers, we went down to the breakfast room to see what there was to eat. The day before, they showed us the breakfast room and where the food was, but told us we had to make it ourselves. No problem! Actually, the only problem was the mold in both of the apple juice and orange juice bottles, the stale bread, the white filth in the coffee maker, and the smushed piece of chicken on the floor. Ugh, it was an easy decision to go get a croissant and coffee at a cafe near the train station on our way to our bus trip.

So that was the worst of the hotel. After that we made sure we always kept guard when we showered, and went out for breakfast. Quite manageable!

Next post? Lindenhof and Neuschwanstein!

Has it already been a month?

I can't believe my last post was a month ago. That's ridiculous. I'm going to lose the two followers I have!

And yet, you'll have to wait a bit longer.

This new house is really taking up our time. Little things like caulking, minor repairs, putting up shelves, organizing, cleaning, laundry, sleeping....there's just not enough time for everything!

I'm also postponing my Unique Munich Part 2 because after that, I'm really not sure what to write about. We did, however, book plane tickets to New Brunswick in July. We are finally able to go when the weather is nice and hot. Also, we're going to see Anne and Gilbert in Charlottetown. I am so freakin' excited to see the sequel to the Anne of Green Gables musical that I think I will have to invest in a red wig with braids. Maybe.

Therefore, I apologize for going AWOL lately...you work, work, work during the week, are so exhausted when you get home. Friday comes around and you are so freakin' excited that the weekend is here that you stay up late. Then your clock is off for the entire weekend, you fill it with little chores and before you know it, the work week starts again. I make it sound like we don't have much of a life, but to be honest, I love spending time with J and no matter what we're doing, I'm having a good time.

So to summarize, you'll just have to wait a bit longer. In the meantime, I'd love to take suggestions for weekend getaways (around Ottawa). Okayyyyyy, go!

Tuscany On A Cloudy Day

I know, Unique Munich Part 2 was supposed to be next, but I had to put a brief entry about something else travel related.

My friend Kelly, who I mentioned in my first ever blog post, has a blog. It's crafty, it's outdoorsy, it's creative, it's awesome. http://www.done-well.blogspot.com/ is the place to go and I personally recommend it.

Kelly loves to sew and a long time ago she started making these things called Birdie Slings. The original design is by Amy Butler (http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/patterns_display.php?id=37) and Kelly has gone really creative with crazy fabrics and cool themes.

Also a long time ago, I asked Kelly to make me one. I had been looking for a bag with the same type of design for a while and when J and I were on our honeymoon, I paid 8 euros for something similar.....it promptly fell apart the more we travelled and I never use it anymore.

About a month ago, Kelly finally told me she was going to make me one and I was so excited! She had some questions, though, like what colours did I want and how 'loud' did I want it. I told her that I wanted a Tuscany themed bag, with deep reds and browns and oranges. Well, Kelly happened to see a picture of Sorano (in Tuscany, Italy) by Roland Gerth (http://www.corbisimages.com/Search#pg=Roland+Gerth&ri=42-15405430&rin=15405430) and it was this amazing photo with a cloudy sky. The colours involved deep greys, a touch of rust, and grey-browns...hence the new theme "Tuscany on a cloudy day".

I had also asked her to make the inside a bit crazier, since I love it when things like coats and purses have a crazy inner fabric. It's like a surprise everytime you open it. To make the inside crazy, she went with a wine bottle print. The outcome? Amazing!

Thanks, Kelly!!! It's bagtastic and slingsational!!!

Unique Munich Part 1

DAS BOOT! I know, it doesn't mean "The Boot!" like I always thought it did, but it's the only thing I think of when I see the above picture. Ever seen Beerfest? Rent it sometime.

In 2008, J and I went to Europe together for the first time and started our trip off with a visit with my friends C and S in Munich. Neither one of us had ever been to Germany and we were excited! So excited that the jet-lag took over and we overslept, missing our reservation for the walking tour of Munich. Quickly, we checked the internet for another tour, but alas, couldn't find where the meeting point was at the train station and ended up missing that one too. Helen likes to plan. Helen like to know where she is going, especially day one in a new country. Also, Helen gets grumpy when she is tired. J saved the day! J paid attention when C was talking about various things we could see in Munich. You see, Helen was having a hard time staying awake and missed most of the conversation.

After walking a bit aimlessly, a bit culture shocked since we didn't really know any of the language, we decided to sit down for coffee at the San Francisco Coffee Company. San Francisco Coffee Company? They have to know English. But no, it's just a name after all. No worries, Cappucino is the same in many languages, as is Croissant! We sat down, opened the map and looked at where we were. Then J says all of a sudden "The Residenz! We can go there!" and then I said "What are you talking about? How do you know about this place??" and he said "Remember? C said it's an old palace...". And off we went! And am I ever glad that J had paid attention the day before. This place was amazing! Chandeliers, gold-plating, paintings, the typical historic things you want to see when you go to Europe. We spent about 2.5 hours there and it passed by like that! (imagine me snapping).

The Glockenspiel in Marienplatz is also one of those must see things in Munich. Much like Orloj, it gathers a crowd when it strikes a certain hour and it's a fantastic site day or night.

At some point in our visit, S mentioned that there are 4 things that you have to do when you visit Munich: see Allianz Arena, visit the Hofbrauhaus, go to Marienplatz and attend Oktoberfest. Unfortunately, Oktoberfest is in September/October, so naturally we'd just have to come back!

After our day of wandering around and seeing the city on foot, we went to....wait for it....the HOFBRAUHAUS! I had no idea what to expect, but what I saw and what I experienced, I LOVED. This place was a true beer hall. There were these huge picnic tables and you sat where there was room. People were singing, it was loud, the food was great, and we ended up meeting two people that I knew by 2 degrees of separation!

Don't tell the authorities, but we now have one of those huge glasses in our cupboard at home. Brings back the memories of great beer and bruised index finger knuckle from holding it all night. A drunken stumble home, involving green licorice, a tram, and a camera, and we all fell asleep exhausted.

J's favourite soccer team is Bayern Munchen and he had to take a tour of Allianz Arena, so off we went. An hour tour and we got to sit in the bleachers, go down to the field, see the 100 sq.m. big screen and then visit the gift shop where J got himself a scarf, a shot glass and a fridge magnet/bottle opener. Awesome!!!

The sun came out and eventhough it wasn't the warmest weather, off we went to a biergarten! Outdoors, sitting at picnic tables, eating huge pretzels....what a great time. We need to have those in Canada. Somehow, sitting on a patio just isn't the same. At one point, C went off to get the drinks and when she came back, our jaws dropped....how on earth was she carrying three litres of beer without even breaking a sweat???? Must be the extra muscle tone you develop after living in Munich for a few years!!

Unique Munich...they barely rhyme in the English pronounciation, but if you are corrected in the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and are told to say "Moo-nique", then they do rhyme.

It's old like Prague, a city that I've seen a dozen times, but it feels special somehow. Some things were lost during WWII and it's had quite the past, but there is a really great atmosphere and we definitely want to go back. No, we have to go back. And we did, 2 years later....for Oktoberfest! Stay tuned for Part 2!