EA Radio Episode # 6 - Our Oktoberfest Experience with Laura

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Our Oktoberfest Experience with Laura (Show Transcript)

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guten tag Freunde und willkommen this is Scott from extraordinary adventures and you're listening to the sixth episode of EA radio we are joined again today by the extraordinary Laura say hi Laura you might have guessed by my intro today we go to Deutschland and I thought it would be good to bring Lauren again for this first of a two-part series all about the Oktoberfest celebration in Munich after all she is my traveling companion and the light of my life so let's dive in hon okay let's start so when did we go when did we go we went in September of 2017 we went and flew I think it's like  September 11th we got a cheap flight because it was like it's happen the same when we went to England people get  afraid with those superstitions and then prices go down so yeah we take advantage of that yeah okay so then we flew over Hong whenever that day was and we landed in Berlin correct that was our first stop we went to Berlin where our friend rich picked us up at the airport and took us back to the hotel that he owns  that we were staying at and we got situated we spent a few days in Berlin correct we went and he took us up to Hamburg you could jump in here yeah so give the overview okay well we a great time in Berlin so lots of different stuff than we actually from Berlin flew down to Munich but then we took a bus and we automatically went to garmisch-partenkirchen we did not stop and Munich we landed a Munich and then took a bus to garnish garnish is a great stop to see the goodness pizza which is the highest point of the Alps in German correct and it was also a great place for us to do a day trip to  uh neuschwanstein castle which is the Cinderella or Snow Beauty its what  Disney based the Sleeping Beauty's  castle off of then we did a tour of that with the great tour guide and our now  friend Jake Jake Dodi of all things  garmisch who we also definitely use as  with for our clients when they he go when they go there we met him then and we just had a great time with him so much so that at the end of the day he said hey guys are you going to Oktoberfest I said of course we've already been we're gonna go again tomorrow he's like oh you going again tomorrow well won't  you come join us I'm like you know I was friendly with the I'm like I don't really know the guy I feel like I'm imposing right and I'm not just him the next day and we wanted that punk hanging out with him for a while and got us into one of the tents and because it was part of his tour he he offered a tour for people to do oktoberfest for the day he teaches them about how fast he gets them it's a seat in one of the tents he gets them all the booze and food they can eat and drink and he just invited us to it completely for free he just was very gracious and generous and we had a great time yeah and we to this day are now friends with him and even if he hadn't done that I would still refer to business then because he was a phenomenal tour grab one of our one of the most educated about his subject it seems like the well never runs dry of information that the man has about the Varia and Germany so anyway I digress No so after we did that and by the way I  highly do you also recommend going to the zoo it was you know I talked in one of the previous episodes about how I really loved Stonehenge in England and I think that just seeing the Alps from that height was just so inspiring it was breathtaking and it's something I've never seen before and I totally recommend doing it there's two different ways that you can get up there  one is like the tram take the cable car pick like a cable car thing and the one's a little like train thing that you can go up yeah there's there's two different ways and you can actually get up the the German side or you can travel over to Austria and take the Austrian lift up which remember of course because  everything's at you yeah you go in a different country but it's you know it's no border crossing there's no nothing you usually go to either spot whatever spot makes sense to you based on your hotels and wherever you're gonna be that day correct yes when we went actually the German lift was undergoing reservations so it was close so we actually had to take a day trip to over to Austria and go up on the Austrian side and it was very beautiful but it is now the German side is now complete so if you do go to Germany now you can go up to the top of the it's from the German side yes so you didn't hear us I digress team here sorry figured I'd throw that in there cuz it was really awesome no it was really good and like you said your love of nature and all that you know it was the closest I felt to the power of the sea was being that high up and looking at the mountains the Alps are so inspiring breathtaking jaw-dropping whatever the word is you want to use that it if it wasn't so darn cold up there I would love to be up there he was very you think a 20 year New Yorker would not be cold in it wasn't even zero it was like 20 30 degrees  in that cold but I was freezing my you-know-what off and had to get the heck out of there I mean I was drinking there there gluhwein which is a hot spiced red wine the face serve in Germany and I was having hot sausages up there and none of it could do anything the warm meal it was a good time Ben ain't going after the suits piece we went back and there's wine cellar then we went back to Munich can you Nick correct yep so before we touch on Munich though because we're gonna be coming back to Munich after meuk we then went to was a tree here there is the largest and or maybe was the capital of ancient Rome in Germany so there's a lot of great ancient Roman artifacts and just like  when I was in bath any country I go to if there's Roman ancient stuff there to see I go see it so we did d'etre our thing and I was really amazing I'm really liked Trier I really live in a Roman like Colosseum and it was just that was so cool and also it was really on the backdrop of like German wine vineyards so like you got to see this old Roman Colosseum with these beautiful beautiful caramel vines it was really really pretty yeah yeah ok so then after tree air we went up to the Mosul in Ryan area took a Mosul boat tour and drank some some recently where Laura learned that she doesn't  not like Riesling she just doesn't like  sweet Riesling yeah well in the United States all Riesling is generally pretty  sweet but in Germany they don't necessarily drink sweet Riesling Riesling is Trumpkin which means dry and it was really good I actually really liked it so then after the most on the ride we went up to Cologne where we our last day so we just did one day there kind of check things out and then off we went back to America so that was our  basic overview of our tour Berlin garmisch Munich dry air Cologne I'm starting to already forget everywhere we went okay so then back to Munich so now Munich McNicholas the a little gym in  our our our story there we both came back thinking we like Berlin we liked other places but Munich I don't know if it's just cuz that's how Americans are raised because that was where the American occupation was down there it was it was it was the stories that were brought back here was of the the own balloon foot bands and the later hosen and the drink dirndl and the pretzels and the beer and all that all those  things you think of that are quote unquote stereotypical German they're not German they're Bavarian  and when we went there we kind of felt more at home there than we did anywhere else in the country it was a great place to be one of the great things about Bavaria is that you can basically have Oktoberfest all year round they drink beer any pretzels and have oompa loompa bands in like the hofbraeuhaus the famous place all the time now it's incredibly packed during  Oktoberfest and so maybe it's better if  you're not gonna go to Oktoberfest to go to these places at some other time of the year well yeah we just had some clients who came back from Germany and  they happen to be travelling on what was called the German Father's Day so everyone was dressed in the traditional ritterman garb and so one of the Oktoberfest but they still  got to experience all of the traditional German Garban festivities  that is traditional Bavarian and they went to our house and they were able to get a seat at half price as opposed to trying to squish him with other people which to be honest is also part of the fun this question when we met some friends who today we're still friends with just by squishing into a table with them because it turned out they were Americans from Chicago or somewhere in somewhere in America so that was fun well what else what else we very we did a lot of touring around him of course the everythings churches and Kirsch's is the german word for it it a lot of great food they really do have great beer in Germany and at some point we made our way  over to the Oktoberfest yeah I remember the first day we went on opening day we did yes and it was early in the morning we got up like early for us like I guess we were heading over there by 4:00 opening I was opening at  9:00 or 10:00 in the morning yeah there for the opening we were there for the parade that actually happened before proceeded to go yeah purse easy opening I think they topped the keg it like noon so we were there probably like around 10  fish and of course I started today by going to like their 7-eleven that their version of a 7-eleven and get a beer cuz in Germany you can walk the streets sure  you get a beer  you can I went up to a police officer in a subway tunnel area I had a beer anyway uncomfortable I'm talking to him and he couldn't care less that I had a beer in  my hand while we were chatting yeah very very strange so we walked over and we watched the parade now a drinking my beer and then everybody's getting ready cuz the gates are about to open right  and then a cop says hey you can't come in with that and that leads to some points that we're gonna make in the next episode but I finished my beer we took our photo which if you look at  the YouTube video is that's the photo that we took our very first day there and then we went people literally were running running running it was crazy it was just people were everywhere it was busy it was fun I would say but it was not like chaotic Running of the Bulls kind of stuff because everybody wants to get because the mayor taps the first keg and he opens up the Oktoberfest celebration  so everybody wants to be in the tent  where the mayor is going to be because you cannot drink in Oktoberfest until the mayor tops the first keg so they want to see that they all want to  celebrate and then well then there's the other thing is that the tents don't have reserved seating in the morning so everybody wants to go and get a seat until the reservations kick in three  o'clock or whatever time they kick in so we're talking about you know a million people and thirteen seats it's not that bad but the point is that there's not enough seats to go around for the amount of people that are there so the people who've been there year after year know to run to go to the tent that they want to go to whether that's Hofbrau paul on her loan about whatever they want to go they go and they get a seat so and then they don't move there but all until they're thrown out for the reservations right because the rule is that you need to have a seat in order for to be serviced them to give you a beer if  you're standing they won't give you a beer so which is again another odd rule  because you can just go to any convenience store and buy a beer and walk around but in the oktoberfest tent  itself you actually have to have a seat in order for them to serve you a beer but those seats that I was learning about are reserved in the evening you can sit outside they have a bunch of  those typical German looking benches and chairs where people the many call bjergaard beer it looks like a beer run right but it's outside and then they have heat lamps because it can get  chilly and then that's also considered seating sitting so you can get served to beer outside correct so you can get a beer I mean we we never had a problem getting a beer correct but you have to be sitting at a table together mm-hmm  except for one exception Hofbrau Apollinaire yes the rule there is they have a floor area like the pin like the pit right and they have some tables there and as long as you are at one of those tables you can be served correct if you have a finger on one of the tables you can be served because there are no chairs in the pit because let's be honest the server don't really care they want they want to get their tip they want to sell the beer so if you can kind of say oh yeah I'm at this table they're gonna serve you correct and  another interesting thing that I will point out in Oktoberfest is it looks like everyone is snorting cocaine but they are snorting cocaine it is peppermint powder that they sell inlittle vial and this story and they  snort it I don't get it I tried it and I don't get it and it's just it's it's very commonplace does it we looked at like what's going on so we start by asking you around then that really knows Viper peppermint powder and it's  supposed to like keep you up and not like yeah but a nice refreshing snort yes so that wasn't the only spray that's funny though and I completely forgot about that but there the other thing is you go in there and one thing that I think most Americans don't appreciate is that the Oktoberfest celebration is predominately still Germans correct there you go and then we are joining  them it's not like we go to Disney and it's a touristy thing blah blah that we try to avoid you know during season because all the foreigners are there nothis is this is their event that we're  being invited to and everybody speaking German yes in Germany it's one of the very good countries to do for for an American first starting to travel because honestly most Germans speak at least  some English and many of them speak English very very well but they generally speaking will be speaking in their native language so they were walking around singing German thing that's speaking German doing all things in German and then you get inside the tent and they're playing the loop of music and and blah blah blah is having a good time Prost cheering the beers and then the  song changes and it's Neil Diamond and it's sweet Caroline and suddenly every single German in there is singing in English Sweet Caroline or the other one is country roads take me home and  they're all swinging it's the funniest thing ever and then it goes back don't put them to music yeah probably now my so my favorite boss because they just remind me of the good times that I had  when I was in Germany so ah so what else about Oktoberfest make sure that you walk around outside don't just get stuck in a tent all day cuz there are tons of rides games there's a lot of food and  and stuff to buy like a little those sugar cookies like yeah they're heart-shaped they're not very good to eat with different messages on them and there weren't as a necklace but they're like can be very small it could be no bigger wow they can fit across your entire chest and so go figure why people wear them is a necklace but it is the thing to do yeah yeah yeah and if you  ever see once you get back and you see like jokey pictures about a coverfest those are always included yeah it's so quintessential yeah the pretzels are better there so we don't have good pretzels in America no make sure you at the frickin nails and make sure you get the the schnitzels and make sure get like Laura liked I don't tend to  heat things on the bone but they had the  pork not snuggle ox knuckle which is a lot like our pot roast or something when the meat falls off the bone they cook it like for a long time but the food is great drinks were great like so there's lots of rides there's a scary tent like  yeah it's very family friendly like way more family friendly than you would ever expect from a drinking party right yeah because it it's actually it feels more like a fare or a carnival and then there  are tents that can go in and drink but it's more of a carnival atmosphere but like the biggest carnival I've ever seen in my entire life yeah and then they also like if you get too drunk there's a-- the visa n-- when you go up on that on the hill and you throw up and pass out on hill you pass out and you start  to roll down the hill it sounds funny but we're not  idding this happens yeah  but i also say like it's really safe a lot of people may be afraid to go and not bring their family baby but it is so safe safety in two different ways it's safe in terms of that petty crime stuff  muggings and pickpockets because there are cops everywhere but also because it is Europe and it is Germany and it is a major event there's also SWAT National Guard I mean they bring out all the  force there will not be in an event like this I say I can't guarantee it but that you know that bomber with a with the Olympic bomber that kind of stuff these guys are everywhere there's sniffing the  dogs or sniffing it is you you you go in there you're like you're something if something happens they're gonna handle it immediate right they actually don't really even allow bags like so don't  bring a purse in to Oktoberfest like they don't allow babsy in really I mean no like you have to be inspected like they really don't want you to bring a bag in they also don't want you to bring any bottles of  water you're not allowed to bring a bottle of water in which I found interesting you can buy one once you get into the well you can walk onto the grounds the guy made you before you  walked into the tent correct you actually left it on and you thought maybe you get it on the way out and I did did you okay done like a Ledge somewhere yeah so anyway yeah so  tne last thing I  want to say about tents when I see the word tent I don't want you to think like when people have a wedding here outside in America and they put up that clothtype tent this tent is like the mall  it's like the size of Walmart and it's like a physical structure that they take a couple months to put up so when they call it a tent it's not that it's a building right and they're all calling it yeah and they're decorated by all the  different beer manufacturers they're pullin or Lowenbrau Hofbrau Packer sure if there's I forget there are six and those are the only six breweries that are allowed in Oktoberfest and for the  longest time you can only have Oktoberfest beer but somewhere along the way I forget where they now have also included most a wheat beer called yes slice of ice beer advice anyway they  included the wheat beer bit beer they also now have some wine yeah they've a long time yeah so it's not just beer but you know it's mostly beer I know we're forgetting stuff yeah this you could go  on all day it's a great time and then getting back to the hotel you're like you just stumble out with everyone else and there's a game cops that line all the streets so and they  know that you're drunk so there's like literally signs that point you to the subway station so you just follow the crowd you get down on the subway you get off and I feel like at that point like  you're out of their hair so then all that ends there's there's no cops yeah it was very safe getting around it was it was fun the language barrier was not a problem and it really oh the other  thing it wasn't expensive I mean the exchange rate right now is $1 here to about $1 10 there and the the beers that  are called I mas which is a measure and a Krug is a mug everyone calls it a Stein but Stein just means stone and  oftentimes the Krug's are made of Stein but your crew your big leader of beer was about 12 or 13 euro so 13 or 14 dollars but that's like three beers so you thought about three to four dollars  per meter right for going out prices that's pretty good right I will also tell you expect to pay for toilets they're not free true they're not free there no no no I don't knocked over fast  talk fast you just walked in sure you may have had to tip the girls but maybe in the tents but outside the tents I walked into that the picture I have of the big wall of metal urinal thing I  think there were people out there wanting tips I don't think you had to pay okay I'd be wrong parent but I do know in all throughout Europe they're all the toilet so I pay for and stuff sighs you're not wrong about that but I  will say like in Munich there are no public toilets they made this rule yeah yeah yeah where there are no public toilets so if you're like walking around Munich you're like man I really go to  the bathroom where do I go to the bathroom there are no public toilets they made a rule where any but she says rule they codified in law like it's illegal not to do what she's about right so any like restaurant or public building has to let you use their bathroom their toilet so there are no fees there then nothing for those no but all around the rest of Europe yeah well but no not you say Europe because when  we went to London we went to the  Starbucks we couldn't go to the bathroom correct or wherever that was London well anyway so but in MunichI remember that these I remember in  Berlin I couldn't find a toilet for my life and I was very upset like so talk about toilet so fluid going out andwater going in or - very hard thing in Germany they do the water is harder to come by and is more expensive than  the beer correct so I was thirsty like all the time yeah go by the water and everything there is also always fizzy water spa gamete Chicago on a Chicago  with bubbles or without bubbles okay so before we ramble on for hours because this is already running like super long we're gonna touch on a lot more stuff inthe next episode which part two of this  two-part series so I guess that is all for today so until next time this is Scott with his wife Laura from extraordinary adventures thank you for tuning in reminding you to share his show on Facebook and Twitter and please  give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our YouTube channel we strive to offer valuable information that everyone can benefit from so please spread the word  and don't forget to email the show with your questions or travel stories maybe you've been to Oktoberfest maybe you want to go to Oktoberfest write to us let's talk about it and if you want help planning your trip it's one place we know very very well so time permitting though if you want to have us read your email on the show you give me your first name and where you're from and we'll be  happy to do that give you a little shout out but for now for this episode I think I'm gonna call it quits there correct yes okay then we'll catch you on the next episode of EA radio stay tuned bye everybody  auf wiedersehen tschuss!

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