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| At this point time becomes fuzzy for the rest of the night. A little disappointed, we headed out of the beer hall and back into the chaos of the "fair grounds" (as I like to call them). We decided to set a meeting place in case we got split up, or in case people wanted to do different things. We decided to meet back in the center of town at the Houffrahous (that name should ring a bell for some of you who traveled Europe ten years ago with me). After setting a destination point, my buddy Ian grabbed me and asked if I wanted to hang out and walk around where we were for a while before heading to the beer hall. I agreed and we took our time walking around the chaos enjoying all the Germans dressed in their traditional outfits, and enjoying all other nationalities of drunks. It was really fun just to people watch. We got some sausages and found a merry-go-round bar. Sounds dangerous - doesn't it?? We stayed on the merry go round for a few rounds (Ha, Ha), and then realized it was seven and we were supposed to meet everyone at the Houffrahous, so we quickly left. I "a little tipsy", claimed to know the location of the beer hall based upon my one visit there 10 years ago (where I was left/lost), so needless to say we walked for quite awhile before finding our way there. Once we arrived we had to wait for a line at the front door. We were so late and didn't see any of the other crew, so we assumed that they were already inside. We didn't have to wait too long and then we were in chaos again. The inside looked very familiar to what I had remembered only there were many more drunken people. In fact there were people everywhere, at the tables, dancing in the aisles- everywhere. Ian and I combed the place rather quickly and then discovered that there was an upstairs. Still not finding them upstairs, we then discovered that there was a large garden with even more tables and more drunk people. It was there that we found everyone. We quickly sat down and had two huge steins in front of us (remember those- Amy R. and Jenn V??). Ian and I decided to order some more food and split it. We got Wienersnitchal (no idea how to spell it) but it was really good. The night progresses through many, many more steins, and tons of fun. One thing that I did notice that night was how few women there were in comparison to men. I'm not complaining. I would have to say that I received more attention in that one evening from men then I even have before. I really have NO idea what it could have been other than alcohol. I thought it was pretty funny, especially considering I was sitting at a table with six other guys and three other girls but they would still come right up to the table. One guy, Paulo, from Spain couldn't speak and English so he had Lisa translate for about an hour so that he could talk to me. He was quite the character. Anyway, our boys left us at the beer hall after some time and so the ladies were on our own. We had managed to meet up with two guys (young guys, Ian and Matt), who were teachers in Western Germany for the year. It was just the two of them so they hung out with us. Tracy invited them back to our curb, and strangely enough, they came. We must have left the beer hall sometime after 2. We were some of the last ones to leave (they were putting chairs up on the tables). From the beer hall we walked around Munich looking for a McDonalds (scary isn't it??) and we found one. Lisa and Naoko got happy meals and I bought Ian and myself some ice cream sundaes. When we left McDonalds we walked around for awhile but I don't think we really knew where we were going. I don't know how long it took us to get back to the curb but I do know that it was raining out and we walked for a while. When we finally made it back to the curb it was still raining and so we tried to pitch our tent on the little piece of grass on the side of the curb. It was really dark out and of course we didn't have all our senses, but somehow we got it up. (Most of the credit should go to Lisa, Ian and Matt helped a little). Our boys who had left us hours ago had also pitched a tent but didn't help us out, they must have been sleeping pretty hard. Anyway, Lisa and Tracy ended up in the tent and I slept in the car with Naoko. It was pretty cold in the car but I did manage to get a few hours of sleep, and that ended our first full day in Munich. Morning came early as Ian and Matt got up and out first. I think they were going to try to catch a train, but maybe they were headed back to Oktoberfest. Naoko and I got up well before everyone else so we put on our shoes and made our way back to our urine scented bathroom in the subway station. It was a beautiful morning and the clouds had cleared. It was nice and quiet when we walked down so both of us stayed quiet not to wake others sleeping on the side of the road. When we returned from our little walk, Lisa and Tracy were up so we all got changed in the tent before we took it down. The boys were still fast asleep so we quietly got ready and then went on another search for coffee and some kind of breakfast. It was Sunday morning, so as usual in Europe, everything is pretty much closed. But we did luck out, only about six blocks down we found a little bakery. The other girls all ordered coffee and cinnamon rolls. For myself, I went with the croissant. And I picked up a loaf of bread for the boys. I thought that some of them would really need it. Ohh, speaking of that, considering the circumstances, I felt quite good. No headache or anything. I know I was lucky. What I hadn't realized was that the night before everyone had decided to leave Munich this morning. They wanted to pack everyone up (once we were all awake) and drive to Innsbruck, Austria. Good thing I was feeling good or the idea of that drive might not have settled so well. After coffee and rolls we headed back the our curb and found the boys up and starting to move. They seemed a bit quiet but I guess that is to be expected. It didn't take long to clean everything up and head out. We first drove to our favorite subway stop to pick up Jeff and Steve, who had stayed last night with their friend as well, and soon we were on the road. The beauty of the day disappeared quickly and clouds with rain soon came in. The weather made for slightly rougher driving, but I wasn't too worried about it. Our drive to Innsbruck was wonderful (despite the weather). We took the backcountry roads instead of the Autobahn so we were able to see much more of the countryside. We stopped once or twice along the way to take some pictures and use facilities. I think that everyone was really glad that we were able to see so much. We arrived in Innsbruck a little after three. We stopped at an information center right outside of town to make reservations at a hotel where we could all get a bed and a shower, (that of course was the main objective to leaving Munich). We ended up in this sweet little hotel in the center of town. Upon arrival our first stop was for some late lunch. Right around the corner from our hotel was a little India Restaurant so we headed there for some spicy curry. Everyone was starving so we ate tons and just relaxed a bit. It felt really good to kick back in a quiet place and eat a leisurely meal. After lunch we again decided to set a time to meet for dinner so that people could go do what they wanted. We decided on 8:30 to meet at the front of the hotel since we had such a late lunch, and then we would walk together to find a restaurant. At this point, many people, (including my new roommate Tracy) went back to the hotel for a shower and a nap. It was pouring outside so the idea of walking in the rain wasn't too exciting but a few of us decided that if we were going to see Innsbruck, it was going to be now. So we walked. I ended up browsing through what few tourist shops were open on Sundays with Naoko and Lisa. I picked up a few postcards but decided to hold back on more spending. Then we walked in the rain for a while and got ourselves a little lost. The city is quite beautiful although we were not quite sure what we were looking for, so we just walked. After about three hours of walking in the rain we finally made our way back to the hotel. I took a very long, hot shower and enjoyed every second of it. I even had time to lay down for about 45 minutes before it was time to meet for dinner. Dinner again was another lost/walking around situation. No one had found a restaurant during the afternoon so we just wandered for a while. Well our while turned into an hour until we found a spot everyone agreed on. What a spot it was too. A traditional Austrian restaurant with a huge table to seat all of us together. We didn't order until almost 10 so we ordered a lot. First wine for the table, then salads and soups. I had a huge salad that was delicious. Next came our entrees and I ordered a sirloin with funky potato things, it was delicious. We all finished off our meal with fabulous desserts, I had a crepe with chocolate and vanilla ice cream. YUM YUM. After our meal we all rolled our way back to the hotel and went right to bed. It was good day. Rising the next day was very early. We wanted to get on the road so that we could go through Leitchenstein to get stamps in our passports, plus the ride would be longer now since we were in Austria. We left around 8:00 and reached Leitchenstein around 1:00. We stopped just over the border for some lunch at a nice Italian restaurant. (Lack of delicious food was definitely not an issue during this trip). We were on the road again a little after 2:00. The ride home was smooth but a bit long. I was glad I was driving still. We returned the cars in Montreaux just before the six o'clock train to Aigle.Most of the group got on the first train (and had to because they had dorm duty at 7:00), but four of us just barely missed the train because of dealing with the rental cars. The last of us, Ian, Lisa, Brian and myself were in Aigle a little before 7:00 and got the cog up our mountain by quarter after. It was a great weekend. |