In pouring rain, Dennis & I made our way down the Leopoldstrasse to the post office. I sent my first batch of postcards, and then we went to an internet cafe. The cafe was small but trendy, set up with Macs & nonMacs. At first we tried one of the Macs, but soon we found out the settings for the keyboard could not be easily changed, and the staff didn’t know how to do it. So, we switched to another machine, and then we clumsily figured out how to change the settings. Dennis was quite frustrated at the whole experience, but eventually we took care of business just fine. Reading email in German was just beyond us, so I’m happy we figured it out!
As 1pm approached, we rushed down to the Marionplatz. We had a meeting with George at the Glockenspiel (which was being repaired). Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the clock in all it’s glory! We decided we’d do some shopping and then head down to the Farmers’ Market. I had my eye on these very accentric Berkenstocks, so I was hoping to stumble across them in a store. After about 20 minutes of walking around, I spotted them in a store window. White clogs with Flowers on them, very cute! And, for 50 Euro’s, what a deal!
At the market, we tried lots of fresh food, from Spreewald Pickles to Locally made Sausage it was all delish! George also introduced us to a traditional kiesh, made with egg & onion normally consumed with a glass of barely fermented apple wine. Very yummy!
It would be a sin to visit Munich during Oktoberfest and NOT sit outside at a Beer booth. So, we all went over to one and the guys downed some very large mugs of beer. I was having a hard time sitting there because 1. I dislike the smell of beer and 2. Everybody around us was smoking! Why the Germans feel they have to pollute the air around them in this fashion is insane. Literally NONSTOP smoking, I’ve never seen a society who smokes as much. It was like being back in Kentucky! The aggrevating thing is that they DON’T smoke the whole cigi. They puff a little, then chat for a little, then another puff. It’s almost like the cigarette is an accessory (like a purse or a scarf). Oh, well!
We didn’t get enough smoke & beer, so we thought we’d head over to the Ultimate Smoke & Beer experience: OKTOBERFEST!
Oktoberfest is the LARGEST block party I have ever seen (coming from a gal who went to Chico State-this is a big statement!). The drunken debauchery starts at 9am and goes until ??? There are carnival rides, enormous beer halls, and girls running around in traditionally revealing frocks. It is really a family affair, there are pint sized kids running around with their pint wielding parents.
We hung out there from 4 to 7pm, but we couldn’t get in any of the beer halls (no reservation). I was very hungry by this time. Not having embibed, and having snacked on freshly roasted hazlenuts & gelatto, made me thirsty as well. Off to the Odienplatz-we found a charming restaurant and sat outside for dinner.
Our server was Croatian, her name was Cordalia, and she was wearing said frockery. George found her alluring, and was just a tad flirty. I ordered tomato soup, Kasespatzle & hot tea, Dennis got the spaghetti, and George ordered a salad & some fish/rice dish with a mushroom sauce. We really enjoyed the meal (even the drunkards next to us didn’t bother us much), and we ordered liquer for after dinner. It was a late night, being midnight by the time we got back to our hotel.