Wonderful Wasen

Want to know what's better than Oktoberfest? The Stuttgart Beerfest, or as it is otherwise known, the Wasen (pronounced vah-zin). After allowing ourselves a couple of days to recover from the debauchery of the previous weekend, we attended the local Wasen. Our area is very residential, but across the river is an area called Bad Cannstatt which is more commercial. Grocery stores, a mall, restaurants, and the Mercedes-Benz Arena provided the backdrop for a greatly impressive festival.

An illuminated view from the bridge.

Tom's company had a table reserved in one of the restaurant buildings, we had the building name but I was unable to find the location online before we left. This left us wandering around in the dark, walking slowly and leering at each place we passed. I am sure we were quite a suspicious site. We were eventually successful, naturally it was one of the last places we looked at the back of the festival. I was expecting a smaller, but decent crowd inside, especially on a Tuesday evening. Imagine my surprise when we walked into a room overflowing with people, every table packed with standing participants a la Oktoberfest. 

Tables are numbered and signs are hung in plain sight on each aisle to aid in navigating the chaotic scene, we knew our table number and located Tom's coworkers. After joining them on their bench, I was able to gain a better view of the area. Some patrons dressed in traditional lederhosen and dirndl, but the majority were in everyday clothes. A stage was set up against the main wall and a series of bands provided live entertainment for the night.

At Oktoberfest, we were there with friends and coworkers from back home so I was able to talk easily to everyone, a real novelty for me lately. Initially, I felt worried about not being able to understand anyone, but fortunately Tom works in a very international office. This means they all speak English in order to be able to converse with one another. I caught a lucky break on that one and enjoyed conversations with people from Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece. You don't get that kind of opportunity every Tuesday night!

 This gent was one of the singers for the evening.

Music was playing constantly and everyone there was having so much fun, not just because of the beer either. There was a sing along where words were displayed across the big screen, in German, I did not do well at that part! The second band to come on did amazing medleys of pop songs (in English!) like "I've Gotta Feelin'" and some Britney. The true high point was when "I Will Survive" came on. Oh. My. Gosh. I was in heaven. Sometimes men can be fickle and try to act too cool to sing along. Oh no, not these fellows. I was surrounded by hundreds of people, men and women alike, belting out some Gloria Gaynor at the top of their lungs. I've included a brief vocalization piece below: 

The Wasen was such a blast. It is going on through Sunday and we are going to venture over, even if it is to just pick up some treats. I have been so pleasantly surprised with how many festivals and city events are held throughout each area. Attending things like this makes it easy to soak up a great deal of German culture without being too overwhelmed. At one point, one of Tom's coworkers leaned over and told me: "This is German culture right here." gesturing to the room full of singing, laughing, drinking, and dancing people. If that is true German culture, we picked the perfect place to be for the next five months.

Rise and Shine, it's Oktoberfest Time

Oktoberfest is portrayed as the Beerfest superior to all other festivals of beer. We woke up at 6 am the last Saturday in September and took two trains to Munich to see if that was, in fact, true.

Lederhosen and a dirndl are the traditional garb for Oktoberfest, but we decided to do our own recreation of German wear. Arriving at 10:30, the grounds were busy, but relatively empty for such a notorious event. More than just beer stands filled the area, rides were set up in the back and off to one side. There were also food stands of all kinds, restaurants, and games. We made our way through the buildings to a tent where Toms coworkers grabbed at table at 7 in the morning. I made it about five steps into the area with my precious bottle of water before it was swiftly ripped away from me by a very enthusiastic security guard.

Every table was maxed out with people, there were benches for sitting but it was standing room only. People at the table behind us also tried to creep over in our space. This led to some very awkward booty bumps and a struggle for more room. A stage set up in the middle of the room enabled bands to set up and sing for entertainment. Trumpet and saxophone players accompanied the performers. Classy. People watching made for easy entertainment and on occasion I would recognize a song being played! I felt so cultured!

Beer was served by the liter, and the waitstaff would bring them by the armful. I was so nervous they would drop all the glasses or slip! I definitely did not finish my entire beer, but it was quite good! Vendors brought around treats, rolls, and pretzels bigger than I've ever seen.

We were forced out of our table at noon when it was reserved by another party. Trying to peruse and wait out groups for another table, five of us got separated from the rest. This lead to us standing in the aisle ways with huge wooden trays of food flying overhead until we migrated to relative safety next to a sectioned off area. Some locals standing nearby engaged us in what can only be described as an incredibly interesting conversation about world history and politics. Nearly an hour later, and after surviving a very long bathroom line, we moved on in an attempt to reconnect with the rest of our group.

The outside was a completely different world from when we last saw it that morning. Crowds were everywhere and those liters of beer were beginning to do people in. Families with small children were in attendance, not something I'm so sure I would have done myself, and couples of all ages were forcing their way through the lines. I found an almond stand and got my favorite cinnamon almonds for a snack as we wound our way around.

Before leaving, we picked up a souvenir and located some water! We encountered one more member of our group, but abandoned the rest as we went in search of a pub and, for me, some healthier food.

All of our trains were departing at different times, (we took a day trip as hotels were probably booked up months in advance) so we settled on a local restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was a "multimedia cafe" which essentially meant their salads were named after James Bond films and their desserts after Harry Potter books. It was awesome.

We didn't have a reliable lay of the land, but were able to navigate our way back to the main station by following the crowds of people.

While waiting on our train, something across the platform caught the eye of one of our friends. Mind you, there were people who needed to take a rest before boarding a moving object, but this guy took the cake. Sadly, two passerby stole his hat just after we snapped this picture.

Oktoberfest was an event we both really wanted to experience. The beer was good, the singing was fun, and the entertainment was undoubtedly one of a kind.

Prost!

Amsterdam Adventures 2: Red Light District and Rijksmuseum

Our weekend in Amsterdam kicked off with some cheese and a canal tour. To recuperate after spending the morning in such an adventurous manner, we needed something to eat. Utilizing one of my travel books, I looked up restaurant possibilities and their addresses beforehand. For a late lunch, we ate at Latei. It was a simple, somewhat bohemian restaurant that is reminiscent of your mom's kitchen circa 1950. The food was very good, I had a hummus and vegetable sandwich, but the portions were small. Each sandwich was open faced, containing a single slice of bread. We left the restaurant around three after splitting a slice of cheesecake, and it was probably for the best we had a light lunch as we would be doing dinner in a few hours anyway.

Amsterdam is a city of many museums: Van Gogh, Rembrant, and Hermitage to name a few. For our Saturday afternoon entertainment, we ventured to the Erotic Museum. The displays were exactly as the name suggests and can spark the debate of what is "erotic" in the mind of some is profane to another, or completely bland and boring to yet another. Admission was seven euro, and rather steep for the half hour of entertainment it provided. One floor was devoted to risque celebrity paintings up for purchase, but the gift shop was a blast with squeezable breast shaped everything and many entertaining items up for grabs.

Most of our day was spent in the heart of the Red Light District. While walking down side streets glass doors let you see in on provocatively dressed women attempting to entice passerby to join them for a twenty minute stint. To add an element of class to our evening, we walked a few minutes out to Amsterdam Centraal and took some pictures of the amazing buildings in the area, train station included.

Once again referencing my handy list of restaurants, we tried out a place called Skek. They were featuring a Japanese burger with wasabi mayonnaise, which nearly all of us chose for dinner. The burger, sauce, and fries were amazing. Although the bun nearly overtook my plate and the term salad wasn't really done justice by the small pile of greens provided on the side. All in all, Skek was a great choice.

The foot traffic through the area greatly increased as the evening progressed, we walked along the roads and canals taking it all in. After ice cream and some beers, Tom and I ended up more or less stranded downtown. The trains and buses stopped running around midnight, a fact we didn't realize until nearly one in the morning. There was a taxi stand nearby and we grabbed a cab back to the hotel.

Some of the guys found a breakfast place they absolutely raved about, so we all gave it a try the following morning. We packed everything into our backpacks before taking a train downtown as we knew we wouldn't have time to go back to the hotel before leaving the city.

An interpretation of the Amsterdam flag alongside a building.

We walked about forty minutes and had to maneuver our way around some construction but we finally made it to breakfast!

I've never had a Dutch pancake prior to this trip but they are very much like a large crepe with sweet or savory items baked directly into the batter. Tom had two (did I mention they were huge???) bacon pancakes and I had a cinnamon apple and nut pancake. At least we were well nourished for the day ahead.

Post-pancake glow, we walked to the Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam is a bicycle heavy city, some people even say there are more bikes than people, so seven of us walking from one side of the city to another with our belongings in tow was quite the undertaking. The views were worth it though.

Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum contains a history of Amsterdam and was crazy interesting. Our backpacks were not allowed inside, we had to leave them at a baggage desk, but I was glad to be free of it for a few hours! There were amazing paintings, sculptures, scale model ships, and intense displays. I had two favorite paintings. One was of Mary and a very buff baby Jesus, and another by Ferdinand Bol displaying a father who ordered his son to be beheaded for not following orders. Parenting gone old school. Honestly though, being able to walk through each wing and get an in depth look at the culture and details of each time period was very moving.

Self portrait by Van Gogh

After picking up our bags, we headed for the train station. The train originated from Amsterdam, meaning we were able to swoop in and find open seats. Amsterdam made for such a relaxing and fun weekend. I would go back in a heart beat, I could spend days sitting by those canals drinking coffee and enjoying the rich history at every corner.

Amsterdam Adventures 1: Canals and Cheese

Traveling to Amsterdam was our first cross country train experience on the ICE (Inter-City Express). We departed Friday afternoon from Stuttgart, transferred just before Frankfort, and arrived in Amsterdam that night. The weather was overcast and we were fortunate enough to make it to the main station before the rain began.

When purchasing a train ticket, you have the option to reserve a seat or do a first come first serve basis. We decided to forego the seat reservation as it was an extra fee and we figured how crowded could it possibly be? Huge mistake. Our first train was smaller and there were two seats together, no problem. After our transfer to a larger train, we were not as lucky and spent half an hour standing between train cars with nearly a dozen other people waiting for spots to clear out. Two stops later, we found seats together and the rest of the ride was much more enjoyable. We even ventured down to the food car with some friends to get some dinner.

The ICE pulled into the main station in Amsterdam, Amsterdam Centraal, just after ten. Tom would have been up for going out but I wanted to get to our hotel since we had an early morning the next day.

The commute was super easy as the Metro we took left from the main station and our stop was just across from the hotel. We stayed at the Hampton by Hilton, it was a twenty minute train ride from the center of the city. The hotel was really nice and built only a year ago. We checked in and relaxed with a Heineken and some of my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I brought along before heading upstairs. I'm like a mom. I always bring treats. Remember how I said hotel room booking could get weird (or that we just don't understand it)? Well, we ended up with I Love Lucy style beds, two twin beds separated by the nightstand. They were super comfortable though.

Arriving downtown just after nine, we wandered the streets for while to get a lay of the land, as we didn't know exactly where we were going. The itinerary for the day wasn't set in stone, but we did have some places we really wanted to go. While waiting on some friends to finish up at the Anne Frank House, we explored the nearby area. I found the Amsterdam Tulip Museum and the Cheese Museum. Although, I think the word "museum" was overkill. The Tulip Museum was a gift shop with a history of tulips along the walls and the Cheese Museum had an endless amount of free cheese samples on the first floor and a history of cheese in the basement. We bought an award winning goat cheese (so good) and entertained ourselves with their photo prop area.

A beautiful church outside the Anne Frank House.

We met up with another couple and had drinks down by a canal; beers for the guys, coffee with Baileys for the ladies. Our view of the canal was great, we were by a bridge and got to see near collisions of boats, families of ducks swimming by, and people pedal boating their way through. All of us were interested in doing a canal tour so we checked out a nearby ticket center. The wait for the next tour wasn't too long, maybe fifteen minutes, so we got in line and waited for the boat to arrive.

Amsterdam is known for their liberal, open ways, but one thing I never realized was the breathtaking beauty of the city.

Amsterdam is a densely populated city where houses line the streets, in some cases up to the water. Some people opt to live on house boats rather than live further away. I could never survive on a house boat, but after seeing the city I certainly understand why people very much want to stay.

One Night in Fussen

While figuring out our trip to Neuschwanstein, we could have easily made it a day trip. This would have meant driving two and a half hours, touring the castle, and then driving two and a half hours home. However, nearby Fussen offered a variety of hotels, restaurants, and shops. Ultimately, we made the choice to stay and take advantage of the opportunity to explore. Staying the night also meant we could go back to Neuschwanstein the next day and hike the surrounding woods.

Hotels have been a real adventure so far, even if you book for two people they will put you in a twin or double size room if you aren't careful. After arriving we rearranged our room plan and ended up in what turned out to be a very nice suite.

Neither of us were familiar with the area, so we dropped our things by the room and wandered around downtown. First on our priority list was to scout out a restaurant. We strolled through the pedestrian friendly streets and looked at menus on our way. While contemplating our decision, we stopped into a gift shop. One item we are interested in purchasing while we're here is a really cool cuckoo clock, and this store had a wall full of them. The Black Forest area is famous for theirs and there are some crazy intricate ones out there. We didn't end up purchasing one that night, but made a mental note so we have a point of reference.

Dinner was at a small restaurant down one of the side streets, so small I asked for a Pinot Grigio and was informed they don't offer such a wide variety. Tom ordered sauerbraten with a beer and I had some sort of spatzle, beef, and vegetable dish with a chardonnay. Apparently chardonnay is more universal... For dessert we grabbed ice cream and explored some more before heading back to the hotel. One store also had gigantic fried dough chunks available in every flavor imaginable. They looked and smelled amazing, but we resisted.

Our hotel did have wifi, but you had to pay which wasn't worth it for the 12 hours we would be there. On the hotel's computer, we attempted to look up some hiking routes for the next morning as we didn't have a reliable map of the area. After half an hour of searching, we weren't any better off than when we started. One thing that did catch our eye was the hotel bar just around the corner.

We were the only ones there when we arrived, which was a welcome change of the overly crowded day. My cosmopolitan came with apple slices, and they were a great snack after I finished my drink. The decor was mountain cabin meets art pop, we loved it. 

The following day of hiking was successful and made the overnight stay absolutely worthwhile.

Hiking in Bavaria

One quintessential tourist must see in Germany is Neuschwanstein, or sometimes known as "The Disney Castle" as Walt Disney clearly borrowed from Neuschwanstein for inspiration. This was our first venture since arriving. We drove and left early Saturday morning. The castle was only two and half hours from us, but we did encounter minor delays with construction. 

The weather was less than ideal when we arrived. There was a patchy fog and a light, but constant, rain. As we approached the castle, we pulled off to take a picture from afar. You cannot drive directly there unless you take a tour bus so we parked in a lot, picked up our tickets for the Neuschwanstein tour, and began the estimated 40 minute trek uphill. 

Forty minutes was clearly a very conservative time frame. There were horses pulling carriages and groups of people walking up, but those diversions aside we still reached the castle in about thirty minutes, arriving around noon.

Our tour wasn't until 1:55 leaving us plenty of time to wander the perimeter. There was still a drizzle of rain so we walked five minutes down the path to a restaurant for lunch. We were fortunate to get the next to last table as I many other visitors had the same idea as us!

Things had greatly cleared up by the time we exited. We took some pictures of the grounds while waiting for our tour.

Pictures were not allowed inside which was a bummer, but there was a balcony to take pictures from afterwards. From here you can see Hohenschwangau (Ludwig II's childhood home) and Lake Alpsee. 

The history of the castle was fascinating. King Ludwig II of Bavaria began building Neuschwanstein in 1869 and it was never completed. Throughout the tour, there were ornately carved wooden structres, such as his bed frame and sink basin, and hand painted walls and ceilings, plus a pretty sweet throne hall. Each room had an immense amount of detail. The king was obsessed with swans, which show up frequently throughout the castle, and the composer Richard Wagner. Ludwig II's bedroom had the tale of Tristan and Isolde along the walls, an interestingly depressing choice for bedroom artwork in my opinion. Ludwig II was found dead under mysterious circumstances in 1886 and while certain aspects of the castle were expanded on, it was never finished in the manner Ludwig II had planned. Essentially, Ludwig seemed to be a bit crazy and obsessive, but his obsession and meticulousness lead to a beautiful, majestic creation we stand to enjoy for years to come. In a time where Chicago was beginning to create skyscrapers, Ludwig II was bringing back palaces.

We stayed overnight in nearby Fussen and returned the next morning to explore Hohenschwangau and hike the Tegelberg trail, one of the numerous paths in the area.

View of Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau

Lake Alpsee

The infamous view from Marienbrücke (Marie's Bridge). Ludwig II named the bridge after his mother.

We climbed up to Hohenschwangau, and took a back path to Neuschwanstein and Marienbrücke. Of course, we arrived at the bridge just as a bus full of tourists was pulling up. There's nothing like being suspended hundreds of feet above rocks and water on an overly crowded bridge while you have a fear of heights. We took a few pictures and headed off on our hike.

The path wasn't overly steep as a whole, but there were points when Tom turned around and I was a good distance behind.

Some perspective on how high up we climbed, and this was about half way through.

While the majority of the area was a cleared path through trees, as we approached the top the space became slightly more precarious. At one point as you climbed around a mountains edge, there were ropes to hold on to should you lose footing and go straight down. The view from all sides was breathtaking. Once reaching the end, we ate some snacks we brought with, pistachios, pringles, apples, and water. The trip down was easier, although we encountered a large group of hikers at the narrowest point in the path. I just sort of climbed on the side of a rock and didn't budge until everyone made it around me.

Neuschwanstein is absolutely cliche when it comes to places to visit in Germany. However, I learned a lot about the castle and we got an awesome hike in, too. The views were unlike anything I would have imagined and the crisp, clean air along the trail was refreshing.