München - Oktoberfest

Prost!

One of John's requests when he and Erin started planning their trip to Germany was a visit to the legendary Oktoberfest in München. Thunder, lightning, and downpour the night before lifted as we woke up Saturday morning to breakfast in Siegertsbrunn before joining the thousands of trachten-clad people headed to the Wies'n.

Enjoying my morning coffee

Our hotel, Gästehaus Guggenberger, put on a wonderful breakfast spread. Coffee, yogurts, croissants, rolls, three types of honey, homemade jams, meats, cheeses. We left "home" well fueled for a day of walking. Erin braided my hair on the S-Bahn as we rode in to Mariasplatz  into town.

(all photo credits for this post go to Erin and John!)

Our first order of business was a short walking tour of downtown. It was raining lightly again, but not hard enough to drive away the tourists, especially not the northwesterners! I dragged everyone through the Dom (cathedral) Frauenkirche, around Neuhauser Straße, through Viktualienmarkt, and finally to Sendlinger Tor. 

Erin in her Dirndle from Anne!

I'm not sure if we head right or left here,
but I know we're going in the wrong direction. 

Explaining the devil's footprint in the Dom. Are you bored yet? 

This way to Milka World! 

Love these two :)

Viktualienmarkt

Christmas Ornaments!

Yum!

City Museum in the old city arsenal and stables

Sendlinger Tor, old city gate. Blue sky!

Erin braded Anne's hair, too

We must be getting close to the Wies'n!

We finally arrived at Theresienwiese, Theresa's Meadow, just after lunchtime. As a wedding present in 1810, Prince Ludwig gave Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen a meadow in München where horse races were held to celebrate the wedding. The entire city was invited, and everyone had so much fun they decided to repeat the festival the next year, but to include an agricultural fair. It grew from there.
As we arrived on the historic spot, our stomachs started growling. We went in search of Käsespätzle, a sort of southern German mac n' cheese comfort food. With so many people in such a large area, it took us a while to find any!

These horses were so sweet.

One of the major brewer's tents

Schupfnudeln and Spätzle, somebody had to finish them! 

Lederhosen everywhere!

The main bier tents were all packed to the gills and roped off by the time we showed up, so instead we went to the "Oide Wiesn," which had smaller traditional tents, the traditional fair, a museum tent, kids' rides, and a much cozier atmosphere. We found a bench in the Velodrome tent and sat down to enjoy a Hofbräuhaus Maß (much to John's delight, I think), traditional music, and funny bicycles. 

Prost!

Lining up for the bicycle race

What a hat!

the view from our table, and our new friends from Niedersachsen

She likes her Maß

If you're going to drink bier, drink good bier with great friends. We left the tent a few hours later and wandered through the agricultural fair before going through the carnival part of the fair. John, Erin, and Anne went on a couple of carnival rides, I held bags. Except for roller coasters, I really don't enjoy seats that spin me in circles.

Steam tractor!

We U-Bahned and walked back to Odeonsplatz, then worked our way back through town to the S-Bahn. Anne took us to an amazing cafè near the Neues Rathaus. She and Erin picked out chocolates while John and I stared slack jawed at the selection of marzipan, meats, breads, cheeses... yum.

Byrische Nationaltheater

Picking out bonbons at Dallmayr

Neues Rathaus

Brezel for dinner?

Pumpkin Spice Lattes - Fall is here!

In the evening we rode the S-Bahn back to the car in Siegertsbrunn. Anne drove a sleepy car-full of happy Americans to Stuttgart, where we collapsed into bed as another thunderstorm rolled in. 

Tschüß, München! It's been fun!