So once we got to our hostel (which was really modern and nice, probably the nicest I’ve ever stayed in) we just passed out so we could get up at a decent time and explore the town, and that’s exactly what we did. We got some shopping done and tried some delicious pastries. We enjoyed a real cup of coffee, which is something we rarely are able to do here in Istanbul. We also, of course, got free samples of wine at a store similar to a Macys. They were giving out tasters and these old men worked there, one of which was pretty eager to use the little English he knew on us. So, after a good amount of “tasters”, which we were able to pour ourselves, we continued on our way checking out the shops and sights. We later grabbed our long-awaited sausages for some grub. That night we checked out an Irish pub and grabbed beers that were not Efes! Let me tell you, we had choices and therefore were in heaven! That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you live here and you order a beer, there is never a question as to what kind… because there is only one kind. So, we took advantage of having a variety of choices- including dark beers.
With one day down, the next would prove itself to be quite a different kind of day. We hurried and went back to pick up a few things we had debated buying before heading over to the Wasen, which is the Oktoberfest celebration. We grabbed some beers and a sausage before taking the tram over. This seemed to be a very common thing, seeing that dozens of people, old and young, were doing the same thing. We get to the fest and find that it is just a huge fair with rides and families walking around, but between those Ferris wheels and cotton candy stands are the huge beer houses. Each one is a specific brand of beer and our original intent was to hop from house to house… ha, that was a far-fetched idea. Well, before I get ahead of myself, we decided to go on a ride before we got caught up working on our beer bellies. It was really fun and we were able to get a good view of the town. It was absolutely gorgeous: green rolling hills with lush trees and a clean river separating us from a hillside covered in cute houses. It was such a contrast to the bleak sights and lack of greenery we see here in Istanbul.
Our first beer garden was not so crowded, but we found that getting a seat was a bit more difficult than it looked. The tables were reserved and so we squeezed in with a group of guys and grabbed our first huge beer of the trip. The evening turned very happy, very quick. We got along well with the group and found ourselves not drinking one and moving on, but rather a few and I even got sucked into taking a shot of jager… ughhh. I made friends with an elderly group a few tables behind us and found that I love Germany. The people are so friendly and just out to have a good time. We finally decided it was time to move on and pick another garden to enter. I am sure we grabbed a sausage between the two houses- (as you can probably already tell, our trip was full of sausages and beers). The next house we found a table full of guys, who looked like they would be fun, to sit with. They were a mix of ages, but for the most part a few years younger than us. I will say that finding girls to hang out with in these houses was very difficult; it seemed to just be full of guys guzzling giant beers. Anyway, they were a team of some sort and were fun to hang out with. We spent the night enjoying our brews and having a good time. We later made it back to our hostel, through the rain, and were surprised to find it full of people still hanging out and drinking. There must have been a huge group come in that day, because we had not seen many people at all before then. Anyway, chatted with a few cool people and then hit the sack. It was a long day and the next we were heading back to Munich for round two of beer garden hopping. We awoke early so that we wouldn’t get into Munich too late and grabbed the train over. Of course, at the station there were already people having their sausages and beer… it was so early for that, more like coffee and muffin time! Anyway, the train was crowded but we eventually found some seats. I dozed on and off, but not for long. In our cabin was a group of guys who were obviously going to the fest in Munich. They were drinking away, a few passed out and were really loud. It was entertaining for us, although for the rest of the people in the cabin, they were just annoyances. A guy yelled at them to be quiet, but that only shut their beer brains up for a short time.
After arriving back in Munich, we find our hostel and check in. There was such a difference between the two hostels, this one we couldn’t even tell which beds were clean and empty. We figured it would be a late night and we wouldn’t be sleeping for too long, as our flight was early the next day. We rid our arms of our bags and decided to go for a walk around the town before heading over to continue the debauchery. We eventually got on our way over to the fest, having no real idea of where to go, but were happily surprised to suddenly be caught up in a constant flow of people going to the fest, decked out and all. When we got to the gates, we knew we were in for an adventure. This was the real thing! We walked around a bit, knowing that once we went in a garden we wouldn’t reemerge to the rest of the world for a long time. We finally decided on a house and this thing was insane! It was jam-packed full of people and the building was massive! It was two-stories full with little room to spare. We fought our way through the crowd and were immediately grabbed by a wench and brought to a table where she threw down our beers and then off she went. She was a good business woman, because she was constantly bringing people over in our time there, giving herself some serious business. We hung around this place for a beer, again knowing that two would mean settling in for the night. This house was awesome; the music was very traditional and we got right in spirit joining in on the drinking songs and making new, short-lived friendships. The best was when Bruce Channel's song: "Hey Baby" would come on… EVERYONE knew and looooved it. It was hilarious, but so much fun to belt out the lyrics. With our giant glasses empty, we moved on and out. We decided to walk around a bit and hit up another house. By this time, they all were getting crowded and many had lines out the door. We decided on a smaller, more family style place and grabbed a beer. It began sprinkling a bit and so we decided that once we finished we would find a place we could sit inside. As we were walking, we saw a ride that caught our attention. We thought it only fair to go on a ride here too. As we were in line, we met a group of guys who were in Munich from London for a bachelor party. They were a real nice and fun group and so after the ride, we decided to all beer-garden-it-up together. It started sprinkling a bit again and we were having trouble finding a place without a line. They decided to try to find a little pub-style bar they had been at earlier that day, because there probably wouldn’t be a line. This proved to be more difficult than they thought, and the group split up… some of them leaving the fest to just go to a bar. A few stayed and we eventually found a place… but the seats were outside and well, by this time it was raining. We thought it only right to just continue our drinking and give honor to the fest, despite the undesirable conditions. The people who worked there brought out some ponchos for us and I got the great idea to try to make a tarp for us out of it. So, I got up on one of the guys shoulders and was trying to put this plastic piece above us… but that didn’t work out so well and before I could get it secured we were told to stop by the workers… oh well. After this, we decided to walk around a bit and I ran into a group of girls who were really friendly. I ended up hanging out with them as the group went on to play arcade games and go on some rides. This was probably a stupid idea, seeing as I had no way to get in touch with Kate. As the night went on, I ended up going back with them to their hostel and ran into the group of guys we had been hanging out with. We hung out outside the hostel with a large group of other people and continued our drinking. We decided that it was cold and we should go to a place we could hang out indoors. We found a random hole-in-the-wall-of-a-bar and hung out there. It was getting really late and so we eventually grabbed a cab and I got dropped off at my hostel. I probably slept for a looong 2 or 3 hours before we had to get up to make the trek back to the airport. We went back to the station, where we had to take a tram. We hopped on, only to find that after about 45 minutes (maybe less, I fell asleep- so wasn’t sure) we were going the wrong way. When we realized this we jumped off, ran across the tracks, and grabbed the next one back the other way. We finally arrived at the airport, with little time to spare and go through the checks. We find that with all we bought, we have to check our bags… well, duh! So we ran back to the luggage check in and then back through the other checks. Finally on the plane, we can relax. After our crazy few days full of beer, one would think the thought of alcohol would just be repulsive. No, of course not… Lufthansa offers free drinks with your meals and we took full advantage of this opportunity. I will justify it with the fact that Turkish wine is nasty, so we had to get our last tastes of something good/decent. Anyway, our journey back seemed to take forever and after the flight, train, tram and ferry rides, we decided to get a cab back to the apartment. Ahhhhh… we were finally back, wrecked and exhausted, but we were back.
We used the evening to clean ourselves up and then spent time reliving our trip through the pictures. From day one, we decided that we wouldn’t look at any of the pictures until we got home, that way we couldn’t delete anything and it would be a nice surprise. They were hilarious! Greg came over a little later and told us about his trip to Sofia in Bulgaria. We shared stories and pictures and just hung out. He brought us a nice bottle of Bulgarian wine, but we decided that we had enough alcohol for a month and the enjoyment of it would have to wait.
The next week was pretty rough, catching up on sleep and just recovering from a very eventful week. I ended up getting pretty sick over the next weekend. I thought it was food poisoning or something because it hit me all of a sudden at four in the morning and I had been fine the night before. I was unable to work the weekend and spent my days sleeping and recovering. It was nice to have some time to relax, but when is being sick ever relaxing?! Greg had even bought me a ticket to the Turkey football match at a seaside stadium over on the European side that I was so excited to go to, but I had to miss due to being ill. I was really bummed about that, but there was nothing I could do.
Next blog is about Mike's visit here... working on it right now. Pictures to come also!
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