Posts Tagged With: oktoberfest

Day 8 – Munich (Oktoberfest)

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Mel

What a day! Up at 7am and into Munich so some of us could go on a bike ride. I am most definitely NOT a bike person so we explored on foot and did a looooot of shopping…mainly for cute Oktoberfest clothes! Now I had already made the executive decision that there would be no dress buying on my behalf as they cost in excess of €100 and I’d rather use that for beer! I bought ab adorable hat that you can see in some of the photos instead. I did sneakily try one outfit on and take a photo (which you are expressly not allowed to do):

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After outfit trying on time and bicycle riding time we were off! The coach dropped us nearby and we split off Ito smaller groups. We wandered into a beer hall to start with and drank a stein each (a litre of beer) whilst signing German songs. I had a pork knuckle and it was DELICIOUS! The beer went down okay for someone like me who really hates beer.

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As you can tell I was a bit red in the face by the end of that. It was a big effort! We then went on some rides (I screamed my lungs out on another rollercoaster) before finding a different beer hall and spending the rest of the night there. We swapped groups quite a few times but it was still a great day. Emma ate ad drank everyone under the table haha we may have to make her an honorary male 🙂 Percy had some great adventures and I drank more beer as well as eating some amazing food. Gingerbread cookies mmmm. We headed back to the bus in a very mellow, relaxed mood to discover just about everyone else was WASTED drunk. I am looking forward to seeing them cope with our 7am start to Venice tomorrow…

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Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

Day 7 – Prague to Dachau to Munich

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Mel

Today was certainly a big one. We left Prague at 9am and travelled towards Munich, the only services stop (to pee and buy food) was in the Czech Republic so we could waste the rest of our currency…I failed there and ended up with bags of lollies but still close to 300 kronor! Bloody useless money. Then back on the bus for a three hour drive to Dachau concentration camp. I’m still very fluey (hacking cough, trouble breathing, congested like you wouldn’t believe and a nasty headache) so I slept on and off while we drove as I haven’t been sleeping well at night.

Dachau was amazing. We watched a documentary in English on arrival and the images are some of the most stark and confronting I have ever seen. Lots of stills and videos of the liberation and the survivors, as well as pics of those who didn’t survive. I wanted to buy the film but we would never get approval to show our students in Australia, it was way too graphic. The camp itself has been rebuilt (it was razed to the ground after the war) and is very much a tourist destination. Regardless of the hordes of tourists, It was still very disturbing to think this happened in the not so distant past. We could go into the sheds they slept in, eating halls, gas chambers (which were never used at Dachau) and see the layout of the camp. The piece of artwork to memorialise the suffering of the prisoners is very powerful:

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After Dachau, the bus ride into Munich was very quiet. We had a quick “check in and change” at the hotel and then headed into the city centre for dinner. We wandered around a bit and saw the glockenspiel, a famous plaza where Hitler spoke to the masses and some amazing buildings. After dinner at a local restaurant some people went back to the hotel and some decided to head to Oktoberfest for a few hours – we decided to head out! Hooray for German cold and flu tablets haha.

As we only had a couple of hours at Oktoberfest tonight (10pm bus pickup and I voted a big NO WAY to staying later and trying to navigate the trains and buses) we opted not to go into the beer halls but to enjoy the atmosphere and the rides! I went on an INSANE roller coaster with FIVE loops and screamed the whole way around, Emma just laughed. Cow.

We also bought some souvenirs (Emma got a stein, I got a drinking boot and Percy got his own baby stein – see pic below) because we figured buying glass things sober was a good plan. Tomorrow however…tomorrow is beer hall day!! YAY! Our tour buddies Amelia and Claire are going on a bike ride around Munich in the morning (as Emma said “we Smith girls just don’t do bikes”) so instead we are going to shop in the city. We’re both considering buying pretty German beer girl outfits but geez they are pricey!

From lunchtime we will be experiencing the joys of Oktoberfest late into the evening…

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Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Contiki!

Posted on August 27, 2012 by Mel

Most asked question: how did it happen that I, the part time teacher who enjoys being a homebody, decided to bugger off overseas for a month?
Answer: A combination of impulse, good timing and family influence!

On Christmas Day 2011 my cousin Emma and I were chilling with some other family members under a tree in the backyard. Our Aunt Brenda was telling us all about her and her husband’s adventures overseas and in particular, to Oktoberfest in Germany. She was telling us that we MUST make the effort to travel!

Me: I’d like to and I have the flexible schedule for it but everyone I know has a morgtage or kids.

Emma (cousin): I’d like to but everyone I know is studying, has a morgtage or kids.

Both of us: WAIT A MINUTE….

….and two days later we booked Contiki!

The tour we decided to do was http://www.contiki.com/destinations/europe/tours/120-european-inspiration and the link gives you quite a bit of info on where we are going, I have also included the cities we visit at the bottom of this post. As well as the Contiki tour, we will be visiting family in Potters Bar (UK) for two days and spending four days exploring London.

So far, my impression of Contiki has been great. I am not a huge party animal and when you say “I am doing contiki” everyone gives you a knowing *you’re gonna get wasted and hook up with randoms* look. My friends were all quite surprised I had decided on it! There were a few reasons why and these have all been backed up by my interactions with the company so far.

  1. No planning required. They do it all. Easy peasy!
  2. Cheap. For 19 days of transport, tours, accommodation and at least one meal a day it was $3k.
  3. Organised. They do this for a living and I’m a noob traveller. Just the meeting centre alone (you can log on and chat to people going on your tour up to 8 weeks before you leave) has been fantastic.
  4. We chose a time out tour so it is all twin share hotel rooms with our own bathroom (hooray!) and the demographic of people on the tour is a little more balanced and a little less *giggly insane drunken 18yo* which would have led to me getting arrested for homicide.
  5. They cover all the main touristy things and you get spare time for extra stuff.

We leave Perth on September 22nd and the countdown is on!

The countries and cities we will visit

Country City
Australia Perth ->; Doha
Doha ->; UK Doha ->; London
UK ->; Netherlands London ->; Amsterdam
Netherlands Amsterdam
Netherlands ->; Germany Amsterdam ->; Berlin
Germany Berlin
Germany ->; Czech Republic Berlin ->; Prague
Czech Republic Prague
Czech Republic ->; Germany Prague ->; Munich
Germany Munich
Germany ->; Italy Munich ->; Venice
Italy Venice
Italy Venice ->; Rome
Italy Rome
Italy Rome ->; Florence
Italy Florence
Italy ->; Switzerland Florence ->; Lucerne
Switzerland Lucerne
Switzerland ->; France Lucerne ->; Paris
France Paris
France ->; UK Paris ->; London
UK London ->; Potters Bar
UK Potters Bar ->; London
UK London
UK London
UK/Doha London ->; Doha
Doha/Australia Doha ->; Perth

A photo of our Contiki documents (which arrived today!)

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Categories: Europe 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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