**post from 10/6

Ironically, I don’t think I could have had a drier experience at Oktoberfest. Yes, I mean alcohol-wise. You’ll see.

I woke up on Saturday morning around 5:30 before catching my 7:00 bus to Munich (or Munchen, whichever you prefer). Julie, being crazy, went to Oktoberfest on Friday and took the midnight bus back to Prague. She actually arrived home just as I was inhaling a quick cup of coffee. It’s about a 5 hour ride on a cheap, but surprising unsketchy bus. I ended up sitting near a bunch of American students studying in Prague through another program, and we talked for a little while. Apparently we drove on the Autobahn (I never saw any sign evidence of this, but then, I also can’t read a word of German). The German countryside is beautiful, by the way.

I met my parents at the airport and we attempted to conquer the crazy ticketing system for the metro so we could get to the hotel (success, on account of a special ticket-buying assistant). Being terribly jetlagged, my family more or less collapsed at the hotel. We had a questionable dinner at the hotel bar and went to bed at like, 8:30.

Post breakfast, my parents, grandparents, younger brother, and I decided to give Oktoberfest hell, and followed the steady stream of Germans in the metro. I honestly thought that Oktoberfest was going to be some capitalist, tourist trap, but it really wasn’t too bad. Sure, there were terribly over priced carnival rides and a bunch of trashy souvenirs, but it was just full of German families, decked out in traditional costumes. I’ve never seen anything like it, just tons and tons of people in lederhosen and beer maiden (?) dresses. It kind of made me realize how the US lacks a cultural background. We have the whole “arriving off the boat and raising yourself up by your bootstraps” kind of history, but nothing like a nationality/ethnicity in common like the Germans, Czech, etc. I guess it’s something obvious that I just never really thought about before. But that’s another conversation.

We wandered around for an hour or so, went on the giant ferris wheel, ate some chocolate covered fruit, and tried to hit up the beer tents. They were RIDICULOUSLY crowded. Full of German families in costume and drunk tourists – apparently you either needed to make a reservation a year in advance or arrive to the beer halls very early in the morning and wait for a table. We gave up after an hour or so of looking for a table and went back into Munich, towards our hotel. We ended up getting a nice early dinner in Marianplatz Square, a traditional-seeming German meal, and a beer or two.

This morning, after failing at using the Metro ticket machine once again, I headed back to the bus station and waited around for the bus which ended up being almost an hour late. I talked with a Czech student for awhile, she was in Munich for an annual meeting of some old friends from her study abroad program in the US two years ago. For now though, I’m relaxing on my long ride back to Prague, before I finally get to check my email and realize all I’ve missed over the weekend!