Tea Time Travels

In October we got to check off another bucket list item… Going to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany! We had planned this trip for months with family members and were so excited that we were finally all together again. Together, we were able to navigate through fields of people drinking beer, eating pretzels, and singing classic German songs.

We arrived on Saturday and had the most beautiful weather for a perfect weekend in Bavaria. We got all dressed up in our lederhosen and dirndls. Luckily I had a friend who let me borrow her authentic dirndl, and we found a costume Lederhosen for Clay online.

We made our way to grab our first German bier. We went into a beer tent but it was packed and could not find a seat. After wandering around a couple of other places, we finally stumbled upon a beer garden where we could sit outside. Perfect! We could enjoy the sunshine. We spent the afternoon and evening drinking beer, trying to make sense of the menu, and basking in the amazing energy of Oktoberfest.

Once it turned dark we wandered around the grounds briefly, and decided to head to downtown for dinner. After another traditional German meal, we headed back to rest up for the next day.

Our second day of Oktoberfest we explored the festival a bit more. It was really nice seeing how it offered something for everyone. Oktoberfest is basically a huge carnival with fun activities for all age groups. You can go on rides, play games, buy trinkets and souvenirs, and of course…. Cheers with some beers! I loved seeing families dressed in traditional Bavarian attire, and admired how intricate some of the outfits were. Most authentic dirndl/lederhosen will cost about $250!

We rode the Ferris wheel which offered an amazing view of the entire festival. We made our way through the grounds and decided to go on some bumper cars… Something I haven’t done in years!

We headed into one of the beer tents to try our luck getting a seat, and luckily today we were able to find one much more easily. We had lunch while being serenaded by a traditional German band, and smiled as we watched people stand on their table and sing along.

After a couple of hours in the beer tent we were ready to explore downtown a bit more. We headed to the famous Marienplatz to admire the beautiful town square. We ended with one final Bavarian dinner before we sent our family off to go fly to their next portion of their trip in Norway. Luckily, Clay and I still had two more days in Germany to explore.

The next day we navigated our way outside of the city and into the countryside. We wanted to see Neuschwanstein Castle, which was about 1.5 hours south of Munich. We got to drive on the autobahn (weee) as we drove past lush green Bavarian hills.

Unfortunately, the entrance to the castle was sold out when we arrived. However, the castle was just as impressive to admire from the outside. We walked to a viewpoint of the castle and admired its picturesque architecture from afar.

We headed back to our rental car and started our journey back to Munich. I had lived in Munich for a summer in college, and the place I had worked/lived was very close to our Airbnb. We stopped at the beer garden I used to go to and reflected on how much had changed over the past 8 years.

Our final day we wanted to explore Munich before our flight that evening. We started off in Marienplatz again to watch the glockenspiel, which plays twice daily and has life size figures reenacting pieces of Munich’s history.

We headed to Hofbrauhaus, which is a massive beer hall dating back to the 16th century. We got to listen to more live music and of course… drink more beer!

We made our way to one of Munich’s most beautiful parks, the Englischer Garten. We watched in awe as people surfed on a continuous wave within the park’s river. We strolled through the park and soaked in the sun on a beautiful 80 degree October day.

We headed to another beer garden and enjoyed one final stein before heading to the airport. Oktoberfest was an incredible experience and we would love to come back for another Prosit!!!