After five days in Berlin, we hopped on a train headed for Munich where we would visit with friends and make trips down to Burghausen to spend time with Alex’s mom. It was nice to be back in Bavaria! We did a lot more in Munich than my photo library might suggest. Maybe because I had been there before, or we were just enjoying visiting friends and family so much that it didn’t cross my mind. Maybe I’m getting photo-fatigued? I don’t know. But it was a fun-filled, activity-packed destination!
We scheduled our dates in Munich to make sure we were there during the Oktoberfest. We had planned to visit during the festival in 2020, but it was cancelled, so it was a long-awaited trip! It was a bit unreal for me to be there, the Oktoberfest is so famous it almost seems unattainable to actually attend it (let alone just walk in with no ticket necessary). Our first visit to the “Wiesn,” as it is called in Germany, was to the “Oide Wiesn.” The Oide Wiesn is a more traditional area of the festival with older rides and more relaxed beer tents. This is the only area you actually have to pay to get into (like 4 euros) and it tends to be attended mostly by locals. I found it to be fabulously charming and the perfect intro to my first experience! We drank, enjoyed the band, and before we knew it we had all downed 2-3 liters of beer each – the Wiesn magic was upon us!
I also had a love affair with a bag of popcorn.
In between our Wiesn visits, we rode bikes through the city and out into the countryside, visited with friends, drank beers at the corner, played basketball, did lots of “urban-exploring,” and generally just enjoyed the city. I did make sure to take a photo of my favorite Munich building, the Town Hall. There is just something about it. We also strolled through a beautiful old cemetery at Alex’s request and ate at several old school Bavarian restaurants, indulging in some our favorite Bavarian dishes including Kasespaetzle, schweinebraten, and LOTS of dumplings.
While we allowed a few days of recovery after our first Wiesn visit, we couldn’t resist attending for a final farewell. We actually started early around 3pm, thinking we could have a liter or two and have an early night. Ha! Our afternoon started in the Haufbrauhas tent where we were squeezed into a packed table. The atmosphere was so lively! As we had a couple of beers, we chatted with the visitors that came and went around us. We met people from Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, the Czech Republic, and local Munich residents! There is something about the Wiesn magic that brings people together and makes everyone especially friendly and chatty. Maybe it’s the 2 liters of beer drank by 5pm. After a couple of hours at the HB tent, we satisfied our drunken hunger with some classic Oktoberfest treats – ochsensemmel, haxesemmel, roasted nuts, pretzels, and several other things I simpley don’t remember.
We had one (maybe two) more beer at the Augustiner tent then capped off the night with some classic festival rides. Most memorably, the ride with a giant rotating circle in the middle that spins until every contestant is flung off of it. And if you aren’t flung off, you get lassoed off or knocked off by a giant wrecking ball. I had never seen anything like it and it was absolutely hysterical. By the time we made our way out, it was past 11pm and we had spent over 7 hours at the festival. We had an absolute blast and decided the next day that we were Wiesned-out!
To balance out the debauchery of our days at the Oktoberfest, we decided to do something to sober ourselves up a bit. Well, maybe that wasn’t the initial intention, but it was quite the contrast. The concentration camp, Dachau, was about a 30-minute train ride outside of the city. I had never been to one and it felt like something I should see. The entrance was free and the museum was impressive and expansive. Much of the camp buildings were preserved and we were able to walk around the massive grounds and read the history of what happened there. Sobering and sad is an understatement. I learned a lot that I never learned in my limited education of WW2 and I’m glad we made the effort to go.
We enjoyed our time in Munich SO much. It helps that we have friends there that graciously let us crash with them, but the city just has a nice vibe and there is never a shortage of things to do. It’s nice to know that it will most certainly not be our last time there.
Wandering Between Meals 
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