Thoughts on Oktoberfest

 The Board of Directors of Oktoberfest Visits had a phone conference this afternoon, to do some early planning.  We are getting to the point where we need to have a loosely planned itinerary, as we may be beer addled once on the ground in Munich. This year we will have 8 attendees,  2 of whom will be newbies.

We want to balance new things, with traditional favorites, and obligatory amazing events.  Our biggest concern is dealing with the tents.  We don't have tickets yet, but know we can get in during the day, and with good planning stay a looong time.

In the planning stages,  Andechs, Oktoberfest grounds and tents, Englischer gardens, Hofbrauhaus, some Benedictine place Henk took us to, Shakespeare's, Nuremberg.  We took Weltenburg, Dachau, and Tegernsee off the table.    So the trip is shaping up. 

The final points were made during a discussion of The Beer Drinkers Guide to Munich, published by our Bavarian Sensei, Larry Hawthorne. It has been 11 years since the seventh edition was published, yet it still offers insight into Munich's finest establishments.  We left the discussion with an assignment to review the book, find places that sound great and verify the details.  Put it on our list for the trip.

The only thing settled is a trip to the great monastery of Kloster Andechs on Sunday after our intrepid team is all together.

Looking forwarded to this years trip as I will be newly retired.

Upcoming Oktoberfest Thoughts

Guten Tag fellow Oktoberfestians.

Here are some thoughts as we approach this year's 33-year anniversary trip, Die Zwei Dreien excursion.

In only 46 days everyone will be in München and we will celebrate several milestones. First, of course, is the 33-year anniversary of our visits to celebrate the Golden Nectar and free-flowing sausages. We have partied hard, consumed countless litres of bier, and met lots of good and interesting people. No one is more important than our favorite hotelier, Anton at The Hotel Alfa. Save for one trip, we have stayed there for all of our visits.

The next celebration... Congrats to BarleyMan and Paulaner Girl on their retirements. Now they have no excuse for not joining us on other world-class trips.

Finally, hopefully we will celebrate Chugger's survival of what is now known as The Athens Experience. As Chugger evolves from using the walker to the cane for getting around, there are still challenges. Two things will drive Chugger's attendance: 1. the ability to routinely move around with the cane, and 2. the endurance of walking long distances. I do not feel like #1 will be an issue, but #2 is suspect. There are just over 6 weeks to continue building the strength in my leg for long-distance walking. I have an evaluation session with the physical therapist in two days and a follow-up visit with my surgeon in one week. Hopefully, we can put together a plan to continue building my strength. If I had to decide today, I would not be going. Looking forward, I think it might only be a 60/40 chance I travel. I will work hard to change that outlook. One interesting item that will drive my rehabilitation, I need to maintain my perfect attendance record. Since the start of our visits, I am the only Oktoberfestian to attend every visit!

Prost !!!