Sept 22nd Munich/Dachau AND Oktoberfest!

Well my internet connection is slow---so I cannot post pics right now. I've tried twice to no avail.
This morning I woke up refreshed, happy, and with all of my gear intact.
My stay with Wombat Hostel was a great success.
In fact it's 6:30pm and I'm back and enjoying a 2euro pint (which I asked to half size because it's cheaper than a small beer---happy hour you know---Claude you'd roll your eyes out here!!!!!).

I had a fabULOUS day! First of all, let me say that I chose to come to Munich to see Dachau---one of the concentration camps here in Germany---I saw the brochure at the airport and I knew this would be the one thing I'd want to see.

So this morning, I was ready and waiting by the train station for my tour group. My history of the concentration camps is limited and I wanted to get a better picture of it by being with a knowledgeable guide. I certainly lucked out because my guide was passionate, interesting, and compassionate---he made the tour something special and very educational.

Before we even boarded the train to get to our destination I met another fellow tourer, a cop named Grant who works in New Zealand along with his co worker (a dog) named Butch.

The information I received from Gordon, our tour guide, was powerful and eye opening. There is so much I want to say and yet there are no words I feel I wish to spit out. This is a place you need to digest for yourself. The sun was shining and the birds were singing, and this is something I had to accept; when the 75000 prisoners were held here, the weather would of gone on as it always did, blue skies, grey days, cold days, hot days---and it always ended the same way---days trapped here.

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After Dachau, Grant and I spoke Germany. He asked me if I went to Oktoberfest. I said no. He said, well you gotta go. Well I said, I'm leaving tonight (I made a mistake the other day, I said I was leaving on the 23rd but I'm leaving tonight at 9pm and will be in Rome tomorrow morning at 0900 on the 23rd). So he said, should I take you to Oktoberfest? You need to see it. So I said, why not?

Oh dear---what a place! There are dozens of beer huts and these huts are building really, huge and capable of hosting hundreds of drunken folks! The building I went in happen to be THE building in which all hell breaks loose on Sept 20th at 1200 when some high ranking German guy bangs the gun and everybody starts drinking until October 4th!
In this particular place there is this blown up figure hanging from the ceiling---looks like Mario brothers riding a pig---and if you're in the ring below you apparently have to throw your underwear up onto it. If your underwear land up high on the thing, the crowd cheers madly. IF you are caught inside this ring WITH your underear ON you can get them ripped off (literally). We did not sit in the ring!

When you get your monster size beer, you are expected to stand up on the bench and smack your mugs together (and you have to look at the person IN the EYE or you get 6 years of bad luck). Hopefully you don't shatter your mug (this happens usually after your fourth mug). So Grant and I stood up and yelled out "PROST" and smacked our mugs together and took a frothy sip of beer---OH CLaude!!!! Germany is waiting for you! The waitresses are able to carry armfuls of beer and serve them to their country folk with a twinkle in their eyes. The atmosphere here is festive and the message is simple, drink until you can't drink no more. Needless to say, we only had ONE beer and went on our way---but I can see how fun this place would be all dressed up and hanging out with friends.

Grant showed me the fair grounds, a place where we'd stop and laugh at the poor kids twirling around madly up in the air. It's like the Saanich fair grounds with costumes to boot. The eyes are filled with colors from all of the people dressed up!

In the minute that it took for me to stop to look at a four year old picking his nose while his mother was trying to take his picture I lost my buddy. YUP, it was a typical movie scene, the lonely girl in the center of a crowd at the crossroads branching into five different directions---which way does she go? Does he come back and find her?
At first I looked around me like a lost person---then I figured---head back to where you came from---you had fun and now go home---and I found the last memorable marker and made my way up the familiar lane. A few minutes later, I felt a tug on my backpack and Grant was back.
We had a bite to eat and went back towards the train station to part ways.
We shook hands and I came back here to collect my locked up suitcase and to spend a minute writing up my blog---I have a few good pictures but the small eternity it takes to post them has convinced me to skip it---really it could take all night for some reason! But oh heck, I'll try one more time and if it works it works! If not, then I'll be a day late.

Dd

Claude I read your message and I couldn't believe your day! All day today I kept thinking you would so enjoy this tour and to boot you'd of loved the beer fest!!!!
Likewise my brother, this trip is sorely missing your presence now. I'll be chatting with you before you know it and we'll be laughing at all the crazy things that made us roll our eyes (hang on---I think we did laugh at those too!)