Though I had talked about it for a while and tossed around the idea, it was a fairly last minute decision for me to actually attend the Bavarian Beer Fest.

I booked a flight that ended up being about twice as expensive as when I first searched, several months earlier, but it was still a cheap (and short)  flight from Warsaw. 

Our first day was spent primarily at Oktoberfest.  We had a table reserved for 2 hours, during which time we had 250€ to spend on food and drinks.  We had a few rounds of Weißbier, and some food.  At first our tent was mostly empty and pretty quiet, but by the time we left the band had started and people were beginning to sing along and toast strangers with a lively "Prost!".

Afterwards, we made our way around the fairgrounds, trying to make our way through several tents.  Our most successful venture was the Nymphenburg Sekt (which we quickly renamed to the Nympho Sex tent).  Most of the other tents required that you sit at a table in order to be served, however that tent had servers walking around with crates of beer to sell.  It was still outside the tent, in the beergarten, and you needed a table to eat, but it was more than we got at most other tents.

Everywhere we went were jolly groups of drinkers, reciting folk songs or chanting some more modern tunes.  I was surprised at the lack of hostility, but security was pretty serious, so I imagine most offenders were quickly dragged off to where they couldn’t ruin the atmosphere for others.

Later that evening we found a niche for ourselves at another tent.  I can’t recall exactly which one (by that point, things were getting a bit fuzzy), but we managed to share a table with one of the bartenders and his wife, which meant some great service, and entertaining stories.  At what felt like 2am, but was really only around 10pm (or earlier), we returned to our hotel to sleep it off and prepare for the next day.

To avoid a day long drinking marathon, my friend, John, had planned an excursion to visit Neuschwanstein castle and invited me along.  I thought this was a great idea, so in the morning we headed out to meet with our tour group.

After about a 2 hour bus ride, we arrived at the ski lodge near the castle.  There we rode the alpine slide, had a good lunch (passed on the beers, though), and our tour guide performed some close-up magic.  After lunch, and before heading up to the castle, he offered to teach some of his tricks.  Having always been enamored with magic, and at one point trying to practice some tricks, I couldn’t pass up.  Of course it ended up he was selling DVDs, and of course I ended up buying them.  They were overpriced, sure, but I was compelled.

After all of that, we began hiking up the gorge that led to the castle.  A few people took the bus, but the rest opted for the hike.  The gorge was, well, gorgeous.  Though not as impressive, having lived in Ithaca, but still very impressive nonetheless. 

It was a foggy day, and we couldn’t see the castle from down below, so as we came out from the woods, the castle loomed over us.  Inside was covered with some pretty amazing artwork – the king’s bedroom was particularly impressive, having taken 14 woodworkers 4 years to complete it.  Unfortunately, though, only a small fraction of the room were ever finished, so there wasn’t much to see.  But what we saw was pretty spectacular.

The exterior of the castle was equally impressive, and was used in several movies (including Spaceballs, which we watched on the busride back) and was the inspiration for the castle at Disney.  It has tall, smooth towers and was clearly built more for appearance than defence.  Considering it was built in the mid 1800s, the age of the castle was pretty much over anyways.

After our tour of the castle, the bus dropped us off near the Oktoberfest fair grounds, along the route that was more travelled by the locals.  We got back and attempted to meet up with the rest of our group, finding only a few of them left (the others had been there since 10am, and it was around 7pm at that point).  We grabbed some great sausages from a stand outside of the tents, then went to find a place.  Eventually, we were able to sneek into one of the tents (Augustina I believe) later that night.  The area was immense and the people were so friendly and happy.

Among the songs everyone was singing was a Bavarian toast to happiness and well being.  I wasn’t able to tell what was being said, and I thought at first that they were saying "I’m Homesick".  I also heard "I’m Frozen" and "I’m Prosting", the second being the closest.  But the actual lyrics are:

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit.

Translation:
A toast, A toast, To happiness

We decided in the end, that if we were to go back, we would have to be sure to reserve a table in one of the larger tents.  Going without reservations is all right, but not something I’d want to do twice.  Unless of course, I was going to spend more time in the carnival part, riding rides and whatnot.  I’d also like to go back and tour more of the city, and the Bavarian area in general.  What we saw was all very nice, and it seems like it would be a great place to spend some time.

My sister and cousin were taking an extended vacation in Greece, making their way through Athens and a few of the islands.  Being so close, I could hardly pass up an opportunity to meet up with then, if only for a weekend.  To make it more worthwhile, I planned for a 4-day weekend.

I flew out on Thursday, arriving in the early evening.  After a perilous cab ride through the winding streets, narrowly avoiding several pedestrians and scooters, I arrived at the hotel.  The hotel is situated just off of the beach.  At first glance, it wasn’t what I expected, but once I got inside, I could see it was much nicer than my first impression.  It took a few laps around before I was able to find the girls’ room, and I only got there moments before they were about to leave.

The first night, we walked down the beach and found a nice restaurant.  The food was so good.  Just like home, but a little better.  I’m not sure if it was because I hadn’t eaten like that in a while, or if it was a side effect of the long travel, but it was great.  Getting to see Laura and Kristen added to it, too!  We had a lot to talk about and stayed there for a while, enjoying the good food and view of the beach.

The next day we hung out on the beach by the hotel: Platis Gialos.  That evening we found another restaurant that was advertising Greek night, complete with dancing and plate breaking.  We had a great time there, but eventually had to leave.  After that we went downtown and out to the clubs.  At first it wasn’t very fun, but things picked up when we found a place with a little more room.  We danced under some napkin confetti, got some overpriced light sticks, then caught a cab (after, of course, Kristen made sure that we rode with the one who had been waiting the longest). 

The next day, we wanted to take an excursion, so we bought tickets on the ferry around the island to a secluded little beach called "Super".  When we first rounded the corner into this small, secluded cove, the view was amazing.  Like much of the rest of the island, it was rocky and mountainous, sharply descending to the clear, blue waters.  The beach was nearly empty when we arrived, but quickly filled up.  More secluded than the beach by our hotel, there were more people here who went completely nude.  It was a bit of a shock at first, but we quickly got over it.  Though we didn’t stop cracking jokes until we left.

After returning from "Super", we headed back into town for dinner and some wandering through the shops.  I wanted to get something for Jess, but it was all very expensive and nothing caught my eye.  We stopped in to a small little bar to have some drinks before heading home.

The next morning Kristen and Laura left, and I had lunch overlooking the beach.  I tried reaching Jess, but my phone had run out of money and it was a long, frustrating evening trying to reach her.  I was eventually able to send an email from an Internet cafe, and she got money on my phone and I was able to reach her.  I had a lot of time on my hands, so I decided to walk from the hotel into town.   There was some nice scenery along the way, but nothing too spectacular.  For the most part, it was very barren and rocky.

After I got into the town, I wandered among the shops for a bit, then stopped for some coffee at a cafe looking out over the bay.  Unfortunately I was too worried about trying to get a message out to really enjoy myself, so I had to go walk around some more and look for a way to get a message out to Jess.  Along the way, I stopped for a glass of wine, but again got too restless.  Once I finally got the message out, it was close enough to time to go to the airport, so I caught a cab and sat to read my book.  I had a long layover in Athens afterwards, and then I was home. 

By the time I got home I was very travel weary and happy to be back, but it was a great trip, and I’m looking forward to another visit to Greece in October!