My Vacation Part III - Munich

Well folks, this is the final installment of my vacation.   I hope you enjoyed sharing my journey with me.

I woke up at 6:00 on Friday, September 21 to get ready and meet my brother and sister-in-law (SIL) for breakfast at 7:00 before heading back to the Innsbruck train station.  The hotel was inexpensive so we got separate rooms.   My room was nice but I thought the location was a little creepy.   And the fact that I had to lug my suitcase and bags up and down more steps did not thrill me either.  From the lobby I had to go down a few stairs and back up a few more, go outside to a little courtyard to get to my room.  

 I was disappointed we didn’t get to see Innsbruck other than the walk to and from the station since we got in late the night before.   We would have a few hours to see the city if our train hadn’t been delayed out of Rome.  From what I saw, I was impressed.   The city was clean and the mountains beautiful.   I will go back some day.

Our train to Augsburg was at 8:24, we got to the station a little before 8:00.  I was glad for extra time to be able to view the mountains that surrounded us.  

We went first class and had a cabin all to ourselves.  The others who would be using the cabin didn’t get on the train until after we got to Augsburg.   We arrived in Augsburg around 11:30. We took a street car to a street a couple blocks from our hotel, checked in and headed out the door again.   The train station wasn’t too far from the hotel so we walked to and from it each day. 

We arrived in Munich early afternoon and walked through Marienplatz to get to the Beer and Oktoberfest Museum.    

The museum contained several levels highlighting the history of, you guessed it, beer and Oktoberfest.  

It was fun museum with surprises behind every door.  

They also played a short video of history of beer making.  We decided to have a beer in the bar on the bottom floor of the museum.  A couple from Melbourne Australia came in for a drink.  So they sat with us and we hit it off.   The five of us walked over to the Haufbrauhaus for another drink.  They were flying out that night so they couldn’t stay long.    My brother and I ordered ein mas which is one liter of beer.  That’s a lot of beer.  The mugs were very heavy.  I couldn’t finish it but I gave it the old college try. 

We were going to stay for dinner but decided to go to the Hard Rock Café across the street instead.  We had a great waiter who was from Ireland.   

Saturday, September 22 was the first day of Oktoberfest and we were there.   We took the train to Munich after breakfast and headed toward the fair grounds.  The festivities didn’t officially begin until noon but we arrived in time to watch the parade which had floats sponsored by the breweries that had the major tents set up.  There were 14 major tents and several small ones.  At the end of the parade, right at noon, the mayor of Munich tapped the first keg and the party began.  

We walked to the fairgrounds with thousands of other people and got in line for one of the major tents.   We waited for awhile, it was hot plus the tent was right next to a food vendor selling fish – not the best smell in the world to me.   We waited about a half an hour or so and they weren’t letting anyone it.   We got out of line and walked around the grounds.   We stopped and got something to eat.  

We found a smaller tent and waited maybe 15 minutes before we got in.  We sat at a table with a nice older couple, he was German and she was Austrian.  I wasn’t quite ready for ein mas so I had a veisin which was only a half a liter.   The gentleman corrected me on my ‘cheers’ move.  You don’t clink the glass at the top, you clink it at the bottom.  When I mastered it, he proclaimed me as being Bavarian.  It was a proud moment in my life.    We finished our beers and back out to the festivities.  

We bought a few souvenirs and got in line for another tent.  This one we stood in line a little longer – 2 hours before we got it.   Once inside, we did two laps around the tent before finding a table to sit at.  The place was wall to wall people.  Our table mates were a lot of fun.   We drank beer, danced on the benches, drank more beer and danced a little more too.  The band played a variety of songs switching from German songs to American (and all types of music).    The Germans do like John Denver’s Country Road.  We heard it several times while walking through the fairgrounds.   We kept waiting for it in the tent.  They finally played it when we were getting ready to leave so we stayed and sang as loud as we could.  We changed a few words – Punxsutawney Pennsylvania fits quite nicely in the lyrics.

On Sunday, we did a complete 180 with our tourist plans from the day before.  We visited Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.   Dachau is about a 20 minute train ride from Munich.  Once there, we took the bus to the site.  We arrived around 11:30 and bought tickets for the 12:00 guided tour.     Dachau was the first camp set up by the Nazis and was used for training.  The tour guide works with a lot of the survivors and told us stories she has heard over the years.  The first building we went in to was the barracks which were re-creations.  The original barracks were torn down.  I was ok at first because I knew it wasn’t real.  Then we went to the prison building and that’s when it hit me.  I knew going in it was going to be emotional.  I expected to cry.  I was so emotionally overwhelmed, I couldn’t cry.   The most interesting thing I found about the camp was they never used the gas chamber.  They had one; we walked through it during the tour.  They were never given the orders to use it.  The tour guide’s theory is because so many people died of hunger and disease, they didn’t need to use it.   The tour ended and as we walked back to the museum we stopped at the various memorials set up – Catholic memorial, Jewish memorial.  They were beautiful.    My brother and SIL wanted to see the rest of the museum.  I was done.  I told my brother were I would be and left.   I needed the time by myself.   I think this picture says it all about how the world feels about this time in history.

They came out a half an hour later and we made our way back to Munich for dinner and then back to the hotel in Augsburg.

Monday morning it was time to change hotels again.   We moved to a hotel in Munich close to the airport as we were flying out the next day.   After checking into the hotel and having lunch, we went to Olympic Park where the 1972 summer games were held.   We first stopped at the BMW Museum.   It was a temporary museum (only 2 rooms).  The regular museum is being renovated.  They had some great cars there.  

After leaving the museum, we went to the top of Olympic Tower – what a view! 

We went back to Marienplatz in search of Schnapps to bring home.  After a successful search, we had our last dinner in Europe together.    We ate the Ratskeller restaurant in the courtyard.   The building that surrounded us was incredible.   I wish I took a few pictures of the outside.  I did get this one inside the restaurant.  Yep, that’s me with the lion.

Back to the hotel we went.

We woke up Tuesday morning to rain.  We planned on leaving the hotel at 8:30 as we weren’t sure what time the train stopped to go to the airport.  My brother and I were ready first and went to a pastry shop nearby for coffee and to get something to eat.   By the time we checked out it was pouring.  We were soaked by the time we got to the train stop.   The train finally arrived and we were at the airport a little after 9:00.  I was flying back to the states and my brother and SIL were heading to London.  Our flights were in different terminals, so we said our goodbyes and parted ways.  

Thank you everyone for your kind comments on Part I (Paris) and Part II (Rome).