join the johnson journey: September 2015

After an interesting trip from Salzburg over the border to Traunstein, we boarded a train to Munich. After getting there we got dressed up in our outfits [traditional lederhosen and dirndl of course] and headed to meet up with our other Hamburg pals that were there for Oktoberfest. We decided to do the traditional Oktoberfest tent on Friday which you have to pay €3 for. It was awesome! We ate some traditional German food [lots of sausage...well Nick ate it haha] and had our first maß [1L of German beer - the only way they'll serve it!] of our Oktoberfest. It was so fun to have a more chill night and start out our weekend! We went on to another tent and saw a hilarious bike riding competition and sang some great songs. Afterwards, Nick & Jason [another American] got into an intense swinging competition with our British friends [Rick & Matt]. I won't lie, it was pretty funny. Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel to grab a few hours of sleep before having to wake up super early for Saturday's activities!

our friend Jason in his traditional get-up

heading into Oktoberfest....anticipation was killing me!

someone had Oktoberfested too hard

our pal Matt taking selfies....

the first of many a Maß of German beer!

we are wayyyyy too into this

crazy biking !

the first sausage and maß of our Oktoberfest

the Americans dominating the Brits in swinging haha

On Saturday we woke up at 5:30am and headed to meet up with the group. We got in line around 7am even though the tent doesn't open until 9am. The amount of people was insane! The tent we went to [Schottenhamel] holds 6,000 people inside and 4,000 outside. We finally got in a few minutes after 9am and headed to grab a table. It was like a stampede in there! We got our first maß of the day and got a pretzel. YUM! Nick got haxe which is a traditional German dish and I got spaetzle. Oktoberfest was so great! We got to sing traditional German songs and hang out with some French people and local Germans. I would highly suggest if you can make it to Oktoberfest to GO! The beers are €10 and the food can range from €5 - €25 depending on the dish but it is totally worth the experience to go at least once. We had to vacate our table around 3pm since another group had reserved it but 6 hours was definitely enough at Oktoberfest !

waiting in line to get into Oktoberfest on Saturday morning at 7am!!!

sooooo intense! the number of people was insane...6000 people inside

nick is in heaven!

just hanging with my pretzel

nick's traditional German dish....haxe

why so serious?

After an awesome day of Oktoberfest, Nick and I decided to check out some of Munich. The first stop was an amazing breakfast. Then we met up with some of our friends to see the surfing that happens RIGHT in the city. It is very cool ! There is a manmade wave right in the middle of Munich, haha! We walked through the English gardens for awhile and made our way to the New Rathaus with Glockenspiel. We decided to do the Sandeman's walking tour through Munich. Per usual, it was quite informative. We saw Hofbräuhaus, a few churches, the Munich Residenz, and where Hitler almost was killed by the Bavarian police in the late 1920's. His bodyguard was shot 11 times in the back protecting him.... my how history would have been changed. We wrapped up the tour by seeing Glockenspiel & it was so hilarious to see the little figures just dancing around. After the tour, Nick & I climbed St. Peter's Church to get a view of the city as the sun went down. It was a great view and the cloud coverage were phenomenal! We had a late overnight train back to Hamburg so for the few hours before we walked around a bit more, grabbed a great Italian dinner, and watched a quarter of NFL football at an Irish bar. The overnight train was crazy! I actually slept a good amount which shocked me. Nick and I got lucky and got a room with two twin bunk beds and a sink so we were alone at least :)! The room was SOO small! At least we can now say we have official ridden an overnight train in Europe!