Munich (Munchen)

It was onward from Lille, back on the train, this time to Munich. This was one of the longest train ride taken in the daytime. The other was taken overnight from Budapest to Zurich. From Lille we took the TGV to Strasbourg, a 4 hour trip, spend 2 hours in Strasbourg, then it was another 4 and 1/2 hours to Munich. This trip took us to Munich, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Zurich, Strasbourg (again) and then back to London where we flew home from. We arrived in Munich at 9.30 pm on a Friday night to huge crowds hanging out at the main train station. We didn't know what was going on, people were dressed in Lederhosens and dirndls and there was a lot of merry making. We found out, it was the start of Ocktoberfest. I had no clue when I planned the trip that we would arrive in time for Oktoberfest. I hadn't made any reservations for a room. There were a few hotels in front of the train station. I made inquiry at one of them, they did have a room we can have, so we stayed. I've been asked so many time if I've been to Germany, the answer up to that day was 'no'. Each time I wondered, when will I go. I just checked my 'Let's Go' guidebook, the section on Munich is pretty pithy, that was the reason why I waited till so long to visit Munich, even so, this was just a side trip, we're on our way to Eastern Europe.

The next morning we joined a free walking tour of the city. We waited at the train station but no one came. We later learned the guy forgot that he was working that day. He probably had too much beer the night before. So we hurried over to Marienplatz, the next meeting place where we met up with the rest of our group. The tour guide was kid from Australia. There was to be a parade in town also but we missed that, we saw the tail end when they were cleaning the streets, getting rid of the horse shit. I must say this was a wonderful introduction to Munich. Everyone was coming from the villages to be in town for the celebration of the start of Oktoberfest.

I must say this is a beautiful city, very stately. The Bavarians are very beautiful people. We walked around the city for a few hours, met up with other tourists and basically had a great time. It was Saturday and most of the shops were closed. We didn't get a chance to shop at all but that was alright. We didn't have money for shopping anywhere.