Oktoberfest

Unfortunately I had less than a month of time to spend in Africa, so I didn’t get to go to many of the places that I would like to visit. Oh well, guess I will have to plan another trip there some day. But I needed to leave Egypt and backtrack into Europe again. The 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest was something that could not be missed.
Even though several of my previous new travel friends were also going to visit this festival, I was not able to line up timing with any of them, since it covers a three week period. So I just had to make some new friends.
The festival was pretty much what I expected. The festival grounds were enormous, with streets lined with vendor stands and carnival rides. The ‘beer tents’ were actually giant banquet hall type buildings that were packed to capacity all day with joyous people drinking, eating, singing and dancing on top of the benches and tables. All whilst the entire city was speckled with lads in lederhosen and busty women in dirndls.
I met a couple the first day from Russia, who I shared many beers and a couple of tours with over the next few days. I also met what I can only assume is one of the few true German Rock-abilly girls. Not to mention two really funny guys from Colorado, and not surprisingly, countless Australians at this beer fest.
What I was surprised about was how interesting and beautiful Munich is as a city. I forced myself to get up early one morning and take a walking tour of the city. The history and culture were fascinating. I also took two day trips outside the city. One was to Neuschwanstein Castle. It, and the surrounding mountains, are breathtaking. I can see why Walt Disney used it as the basis for the Sleeping Beauty Castle design. Then I traveled to the medieval town of Rothenburg. It was the quintessential Bavarian charm you would think of Hansel and Gretel living in. It would probably be a boring town to grow up in; but boy could you just loose yourself there for a couple of months. To sum it up, I had a great time in Bavaria.