The Maintenance Building and the Victim's Memorial. Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial.
September 27
It was still raining when we got our 6 a.m. wakeup call. We quickly got ready, because we needed to be in the breakfast room when it opened at 7 a.m. so that we would have enough time to both eat breakfast and catch our train to Munich. Kelly, Denise, and Julia were enjoying some well deserved sleep, so we made our way to the breakfast room by ourselves. It was only us and a Japanese couple in the room at that hour. But, the lack of company was made up by the fact that we had all the food to ourselves. We ate another great breakfast and left to catch our train.
As I mentioned earlier, it was only a five minute walk to the train station. Since we had our tickets in hand, we were ready to board the train when it arrived. The train pulled up promptly at 7:30 a.m. I expected just a few stragglers exiting the train when it arrived. But, I was surprised to find the train full of school children, who had taken the morning train into Garmisch to attend class. I hadn’t expected the train to act as a school bus. But, the large number of children told me that German parents in the Garmisch area had found the train to be the most efficient way to get their children to class on time.
After the children disembarked, we got on the train and departed for Munich. I looked at Dianne and realized that we were now traveling in a manner that we had been accustomed to traveling: just us, our backpacks, and a mode of transportation different from that which we were accustomed. While I had enjoyed the previous day’s travels with Kelly and family, I was beginning to savor the freedom that our form of travel brought to us.
The train took us through the Alpine foothills, past Lake Starnberg, and into downtown Munich. The hour and a half trip was smooth and uneventful: two traits I noted, because we were planning to do a lot more train traveling before the trip was over. Upon arrival, we quickly located the offices of Radius Tours, who were offering a Dachau tour beginning at 9:15 a.m. We bought our tickets for the tour, and waited for it to begin. Promptly at 9:15 (I began to see why Germans were famous for being punctual), our guide appeared to begin our tour. The tour began with another train ride to Dachau town, and then a bus ride to the Concentration Camp Memorial. We spent about three hours touring the Memorial.
Another bus ride, and train ride brought us back to Munich’s main train station. It didn’t take us long to find Kelly, Denise, and Julia. They told us that they had just had lunch at one of the station’s many restaurants. We told them we were a bit hungry ourselves, to which they said they’d wait while we grabbed a bite to eat. We found a fast food stand that appeared to have appetizing food and ordered. Fortunately, the food was as good as it looked.
With stomachs full, we were now ready to tackle Oktoberfest. We initially thought we’d take the subway to the Oktoberfest grounds. But, a gentleman we met in at the ticket booth said that it was easier and cheaper to walk to the Theresienweise (the park where the Oktoberfest is held). So, we decided to walk the one mile to the park. As our friendly helper indicated, it didn’t take us long to get to the Theresienweise.
Now, my image of Oktoberfest has been shaped by pictures of buxom, German frauleins serving large glasses of beer to crowds that are singing and dancing on top of tables. So, I was surprised to see that most of Oktoberfest is equivalent to a county fair here in the States. There were amusement park rides (Ferris wheels, roller coasters, etc.), games of chance, food booths, and a kids area. It actually seemed to be more family friendly that I had though it would be.
That being said, the heart of Oktoberfest is centered around 13 beer tents. All the stereotypes that surround Oktoberfest are realized in these tents (which would more accurately be called barns, because they are that large). We walked into the Lowenbrau tent to get our first experience of this quintessential Oktoberfest experience. Sure enough; the women, the beer, and the singing were all present in the tent. What those pictures left out was just how loud it was inside the tent. While the band wasn’t particularly loud, the combination of the talking crowd and the band made the place deafening. Still, the sound didn’t dampen anyone’s sense of fun.
“Well,” I thought to myself, “I’m here. I should have a beer.” I motioned to Kelly that I was hoping to sit down and have a beer. He and I moved over to the table area, where several hosts/hostesses were standing. We asked them if we could sit at a table. They asked if we had a reservation. We said we didn’t. They then said we couldn’t sit at a table because all of them were reserved. However, we could sit outside in the rain and have a beer at one of the exterior tables. We went to two other tents (the Wein Zelt and the Winzerer Fähndl) and heard the same story. It seemed that the tents’ operators wanted to prevent being overrun by people who wanted out of the rain. So, we never made it into a tent for a beer. I did get a giant pretzel at one of the outside food stands. But, that’s as close as I got to the Oktoberfest experience. Our time there taught me one big lesson: if you want to experience Oktoberfest inside a beer tent, then reservations are a must!
After about an hour and a half at Oktoberfest, we walked back to the train station. During the walk, we considered stopping at St. Peter’s Church near the Theresienweise. While the exterior was magnificent, it wasn’t enough to entice us out of the rain. We continued on and made it to our car. Unfortunately, Kelly had some trouble with the automatic parking payment machine. So, we had to make two trips up to the parking garage’s administrative office (which was, of course, on the top floor of the 10 story garage…Kelly was parked on story #1) before sorting the whole mess out.
Our parking problems solved, we made our way back to Garmisch. By now, it was about 7:30 p.m., and everyone was feeling hungry. I still wanted to experience a real German meal (along with some real German beer). A quick check of the Lonely Planet revealed that just such an establishment call Bräustüberl. It took us a while to find it, but it ended up being worth the hunt. With its wooden tables and large fireplace, the restaurant has a real homey feel. Also adding to that homey feel was the great food. I had a steak smothered in onions for €14.95. Dianne had schnitzel with potato salad for €13.95. Kelly and Denise’s dishes were similarly priced. While nothing fancy, the food was very good. And, I got to drink a beer brewed specifically for the Oktoberfest. The beer was very good, but I wish I had enjoyed it in a beer tent. Despite my self-imposed disappointment and the now-standard German standoffishness, I thought Bräustüberl was a great place for dinner.
After our great meal, we headed back to Reindl’s. We went to bed early, because we’d be on the road the next day. The plan was for us to head back to Kaiserslautern, with a one night stop in Meersburg along the way. While it wasn’t a lot of travel, it promised to be full of places to visit and sights to see. My only hope was that the rain wouldn’t interfere with the trip as it did at Oktoberfest. Thus, it was relief that I drifted off to sleep just as the rain stopped falling.
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