Sehr Gut

Sehr Gut! Ich bin ein blogger!

Recommendations: Down Right Stolen, Plagiarized and Copy & Pasted from a Team Member's Web Site

Thanks to our California Contingent for starting this list. I freely admit copyright violation and stealing it from his web site. I thought it was so appropriate, the entire world needed to be enlightened. If some of these don't make sense to you, then you now have a better idea of what you are missing. Please append your thoughts as well.........

• Get plenty of rest before you arrive. we go non stop.

• Go with the group. A laid back atmosphere is critical in Bavaria

• Eat a lot of food. It will provide a good base for the beer

• Try new things. Even if you have never had Haxen, and think it looks too much like a pig knuckle, try it anyway*.

• Sleep on the train. Just make sure there is someone awake to make sure you get off at the stop.

• Check out the German Rail Passes. They have 3 or 5 day passes that allow you to go on the DB and S-Bahn lines. In the US you can get these at AAA. The only issue is that the twin passes require you to travel together (i.e. you get one pass)

• Make sure you try the Gyros in the little shop near the Hotel Alfa. ask for them 'spicy'.

• Don't ask for wine at the Beer Tent

• Don't ride the upside down rides after eating a hendel, a bretzel, 2 sausages, a radish, and 4 Maß of Bier.

• For $50 they will let you lead the band.

• They don't serve ice like they do in the states. Even at Burger King. In fact, the Burger King doesn't make ice until after 11am. even then you get one cube for a big gulp.

• Try not to attend over the daylight savings time change. They get really confused, as do you. You may even show up early for your train.

• Wear comfortable waterproof clothes. between the rain and the beer, you need to keep dry. Many times we will leave the hotel early in the morning and return early the next day.

• Never, under any circumstances, look inside a sausage.

• Never sit at a table with a sign on it that says something scary in German

• Make sure you sit near the Aussies and Kiwis in the beer tents. Have your camera ready at all times.

• Don't complain.

• Have fun, enjoy seeing old friends, and remember, What goes on in Munich, stays in Munich.

*Note: This rule does not apply to Tuna fish pizza.

German Rail Passes

I checked on German Rail Passes and believe it or not, the prices have not changed. This may be an even better deal than before.

German rail 2nd class twin passes are $270 for 4 days. They are $180 for a 2nd class single pass. With the Euro so strong against the dollar, this is a great deal. You can check out the rate table here

I assume we will all be traveling second class?? These passes are available at AAA. If I remember correctly, they take a few days, so don't wait until the last minute.

For our Holland friends, I assume they have good deals for you as well. Is there a DAA? ;-)

As The Beatles said.... "Day Tripper, yeah ! !"

Well, almost. As I sit down to do one of my mid-terms today, I'm looking for any excuse to procrastinate. I thought I would start the topic pertaining to the second most important part of the trip.... our day trips. For the repeat offenders, you know what I mean. For the newbies, we take day trips during the day to various culturally significant spots (aka they serve beer), then return to Munich for frivolity in the evening. We typically try to limit our day trips to a maximum 2 hr. one way train ride. That gives us plenty of time to see the sights, and be able to be back late afternoon or early evening.

So, while we have three days for trips this time (Saturday, Sunday and Monday), there can certainly be more than three trips available. Everyone does not need to go to the same place, and we actually encourage that since some destinations offer things some of you may not enjoy.

Maybe like the barfatorium at Kloster Andechs...

Kloster Andechs is always our traditional destination on Sunday. It provides us our religious pilgrimage, while satisfying our thirst for freshly brewed beer from a the oldest Monkery we know of. Also, what's a Sunday without pork products as well.

Other recommendations for this year include a return to Neuschwanstein, a trip to Würzburg, for some wine tasting, maybe a trip to Dachau to see either the concentration camp or the beautiful city. Now's the time to start thinking about other alternatives as well. As I said, everyone does not need to go together, or to the same places. With this large crowd, we might even encourage that.

So..... what do you think? I'll chime back in later.

For You First Timers...

Everyone,

If you have never blogged before, there are two ways for you to participate. First, if you are a committed traveler to this year's event, you will have or will shortly receive an email describing how to sign-up. Basically you must ...

1) follow the link in the email, 2) at bottom of the screen click the Create Account link, 3) fill out the information, 4) click the Continue link, and 5) voila, you are in. You will then be able to create a new post or respond to an existing post.

To respond to an existing post, just bring up the blog at http://oktoberfestvisits.blogspot.com/ and click on the "comments" link of the topic. You will be given a form to put in your comment, and your sign-in information. Enter your information and click Login and Publish.

To post new topic, you need to go to http://www.blogger.com/start and be sure to sign-in. Select the Oktoberfest Visits blog name, and you will go to a screen that allows you to Post a new topic.

For the casual observer, just click "comments" on a topic and "follow-the yellow brick road".

Important Decisions

This year we will have a number of challenges we have not experienced in the past. The biggest one I see is the number of people in our party. In past years, any group over 5 people had a hard time getting seats in the tents, tables at the Beer Halls, but not problems in the gardens. We need to be tolerant of the inconveniences, and just split up when necessary.

The thing I liked about previous trips is that they were fairly random, with little planning, for maximum enjoyment. We basically did anything we wanted to, and pretty much the whole group would go along, as long as it involved Beer.

The organizing team is preparing INFORMATION for everyone to consider on DayTrips, etc., but it is by no means a recommendation. we can discuss on the Blog, but we shouldn't do too much decision making until we have adequate lubrication in our systems. ;-)

Rules of the Road for the Blog

As we finish up this first day in bloggus-sphere, just a few quick words on etiquette. There will be a core group of administrators to keep everyone honest. We don't expect any issues, but you never know. We reserve the right to edit or delete any posts that are too offensive, or not offensive enough.

For those members of this year's team of committed attendees, you will be able to create new posts, as well as respond to others. Should anyone else desire to be able to start a post, please let us know and we will consider your request.

As the days progress, we hope you will continue to provide your feedback to our ramblings. So, to start things off, a little bit about this year's trip........

Most of us arrive in Munich on 29 September, with the remainder of the group arriving on 30 September. If it wasn't for jobs and limits on Frequent Flyer tickets we would all be arriving together. We then all leave town on 4 October; hopefully leaving our hangovers behind. Since this is the final weekend of Oktoberfest, we are looking forward to a new approach to the festivities. We have been to opening weekend, as well as the middle weekends, but never in town for the end. I wonder if the beer still tastes as good...

Introduction

Hello everyone, and welcome to our Oktoberfest Blog. As the description says, this is dedicated to our many trips to Munich to visit Oktoberfest; this year being our next sojourn. There is a core group of us that have been traveling to this event for over 12 years, and we have officially anointed ourselves as 'experts.' We will use this forum for many purposes; describing our past events, planning our next event, providing helpful tips and insight, and just plain "bloggin' around". Much of what we hope to do is get you excited about considering a trip to Oktoberfest, and provide you with what we believe is the best way to do it; almost like your very own travel agent ! ! !.

Got a question, got some input, let us know. More importantly, let your friends know. Interested in other Blogs... check out http://www.popdex.com