Austria and Germany

Oktoberfest in Munich.

Joe had a meeting in Frankfurt, Germany in October 2017.  What does one think of when they hear October and Germany?  Oktoberfest!

Oktoberfest is the celebration of the wedding of Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on 12 October 1810, making it the longest running wedding celebration of all time. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates, which were (and still are) named Theresienwiese (“Theresa’s meadow”) in honor of the Princess.   Today, Oktoberfest runs from 9am to 11:30pm for 16 consecutive days.  There are 14 big tents (seating between 5,000 and 10,000 people each) and another 21 smaller tents.  More than six million people attend Oktoberfest each year and drink over seven million liters of beer, enough to fill three Olympic-sized swimming pools. 

Stella and Peter packed their bags and joined Joe for the trip to Germany.  It was our first family trip without Spiro.  He was busy at school at Indiana University and so unfortunately could not join us. The plan was to fly to Frankfurt and then take a three hour train down to Munich for Oktoberfest.  The flight from Hong Kong to Frankfurt is about 12 hours.  When we arrived at the airport in Hong Kong, we were told that our flight had been oversold and our seats were not available.  We were very disappointed until they asked us if we would be willing to fly directly to Munich instead! 

Salzburg, Austria

Upon arrival in Munich on Sunday morning, we took a train to Salzburg, Austria.  Salzburg is the birthplace of Mozart and the Red Bull Energy Drink.  It is a beautiful town of about 150,000 in the foothills of the Alps where everything is a short walk.  Once we settled into our hotel, we walked around town.  Since it was a Sunday, all of the shops were closed, but it was a lovely walk.  We wandered into the Salzburg history museum and learned that Salzburg had been an important trading post for the Roman Empire and that for 500 years ending in the early 1800s Salzburg was independent of both Austria and Bavaria.  Salzburg was financed by the most profitable salt mine in Europe and run by Catholic Archbishops.  After all that walking, we stopped into an underground Irish pub to rest and had a beer (or three) with our outstanding Irish bartender.  When we walked out of the pub onto the street, we were photobombed by a group of young Austrian lads in Lederhosen who had just returned from Oktoberfest.  In the evening, we walked to Augustiner Brewery, a brewery and beer hall run by monks since 1621.  We had beer, pretzels and sausage for dinner.  After dinner, we started to walk home but found that a mountain had appeared between us and our hotel!  Luckily, there was a tunnel and we were able to make it back.

Friendly young Austrian lads in Lederhosen who had just returned from Oktoberfest.

Joe and Peter on a bridge in Salzburg, Austria.

Tunnel back to our hotel.

We always seem to find an Irish pub.

The next day, we took an official tour of Salzburg.  Our tour guide seemed to know everyone in town and, it turned out, she has a daughter living in Hong Kong.  Small world.  Our tour included a visit to Petersfriedhof, a beautiful Baroque cemetery dating from the year 700, and the Hohensalzburg Fortress, which is at the top of a mountain in the middle of town.  The fortress was built in 1077 and offered spectacular views of the town below.  After the tour, we took the train back to Munich.

Joe and Peter at Petersfriedhof, a beautiful Baroque cemetery dating from the year 700.

Views of Salzburg from the Hohensalzburg Fortress.

Peter in the Hohensalzburg Fortress.

Peter and Stella in Salzburg.

The Augustiner Brewery. 

A typical store sign in Salzburg.

A typical food vender at Oktoberfest in Munich.

Munich is a much larger city than Salzburg.  It’s population is approximately 1.4 million.  After settling into our hotel, we decided to walk to Oktoberfest for dinner.  Oktoberfest was easy to find.  We just looked for the drunk people staggering towards us wearing dirndls (St. Pauli Girl beer dresses) and lederhosen (leather shorts with suspenders) and walked where they were coming from.  In a few minutes, we were there.  Due to poor planning, we had not gotten tickets to get into any of the tents, so we found a place at the Spaten outdoor beer garden and had a beer.  Beers at Oktoberfest come in one size—one liter!  We met a nice older couple from Munich and talked to them for a while.  After that we wandered over to the Lowenbrau outdoor beer garden, which at least had a wooden floor.  We found a table next to some young partiers and drank some beer and sang some songs with them.  It began to rain, at which point the wooden deck became a slipping hazard.  Stella took a tumble on her way to the bathroom, but appeared unharmed upon her return.  After Peter and Joe won Stella a plastic rose with our BB gun prowess, we all ate sausage, steak sandwiches and pretzels on our way back to our hotel.  Upon our return to Hong Kong, our helper, Merlyn, displayed the plastic rose in a vase in our living room.

The next morning in Munich, Stella woke up with an extremely sore left arm.  I guess we now know what side she tumbled on.   After breakfast, we went to the Marienplatz and checked out the New Town Hall.  The rain continued to fall so we took a bus tour around the city.  In the late afternoon, the rain cleared and we went to Hofbrauhaus, a brewery and beer hall opened in 1589.  There was a band with a bunch of tubas playing, and more beer and sausage.  After warming up at the Hofbrauhaus, we headed back to Oktoberfest.  At this point we decided we loved Hofbrau, so we headed to the Hofbrau Oktoberfest tent and snuck in one-by-one.  In the middle, there was a live band.  There were seven thousand people in the tent sitting on benches at long tables drinking beer and singing along with the band.  We found a spot on a bench next to a couple from Munich.  During the first beer, we had a nice conversation.  By the third beer, we were standing on our bench with Helmut and his wife singing Guns-N-Roses songs at the top of our lungs. 

Sightseeing at Marienplatz in Munich before going to Oktoberfest.

Hofbrauhaus brewery and beer hall opened in 1589. 

Lunch at the Hofbrauhaus beer hall.

German pretzel girl at the Hofbrauhaus beer hall.

Hofbrauhaus brewery and beer.

PROST (cheers) to our new Munich friends.

The next morning Joe took the 4:49am train to Frankfurt for work, while Stella and Peter stayed in Munich, got up at a decent hour and did another bus tour.  The family was reunited in Frankfurt in the evening.  Joe went to work again the next day, while Stella and Peter took a bus tour around Frankfurt.  The last day, we all walked around Frankfurt, visiting the Imperial Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew in the Old Town.  We walked up a narrow winding staircase to the top of the spire and enjoyed nice views of Frankfurt.  After our long walk up and down the spire, we decided to have a beer and some pretzels at a local pub.  After that, we walked across the river to the Stadel Museum and saw some beautiful art, including a Matisse exhibit.  Our flight home left Frankfurt at 10pm and we were in Hong Kong the next day at 3:30pm.  It was a great trip, although Spiro was missed (especially by Peter). Our next trip to New Zealand and Australia will be during Spiro's winter break, so the whole family will be reunited for that one!    

Opera house in Frankfurt.

The view from the top of the Imperial Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew in the Old Town.

The Imperial Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew.

PROST!!!