OKTOBERFEST 2004!!!!
1st - 3rd Oct
Hotel Royal Munich
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I have had the BEST time in Munich!! I have seen 2 of the things that I have wanted to see for SO long and im ecstatic! Oktoberfest was one of them and the Neuschwanstein Castle was the other, both these dreams have now been fulfilled...

Munich we arrived a bit messy because it was an overnighter, never again, we were put in 2nd class even though we had paid for 1st, not good...arrived at 6am or something like that and went to our hotel, we had to check in at 12pm so we decided to go to the Oktoberfest and walk around, no one was there yet and they hadnt opened the tents yet and it was a bit too early for beer anyway! 8am, i would never unless i had a semiautomatic weapon pointed at me...*gulp* then i guess id take a swig or 2

The Oktoberfest began around 1810 to celebrate the marriage of King Ludwig of Bavaria to some princess or something. It initially went the duration of october but then they were enjoying themselves so much that they extended it and it now is in the month of september as well due to the fact that it is better weather conditions then and people can vomit on dry crisp ground, basically, the Germans (or Bavarians) come to this oktoberfest every year and stumble back home somehow, i dont think they are sure how as well)

We walked towards the Bavarian Statue, a huge statue of a lady with a lion and saw a lonely figure sitting at the bottom of it...walked towards it and sat down for a while rested our heads and this young boy came up and started talking to us, his name was Ben, a 21 year old student on holidays from Hannover. He ended up being our german translator for the next 3 hrs and we met up again with him and 3 of his italian freinds that night for the best time at the oktoberfest!

The first night we went back and slept a bit after walking around with Ben and laughing, he was a bit of a character, a cute very tall german boy with gorgeous blue eyes, typical german look, he was very fluent at english which was good for us! We met up with him at the Bavarian statue again and there were 3 italians which he had met on travels, they were staying in a tent somewhere and were there for 3 days, we walked around trying to find a tent to sit and have a beer but no luck!! eventually we found a seat outside one of the big tents and ordered a beer, talked, laughed and had a merry old time, here I am again, being the only girl and they were all picking on me too! do I have a sign on my head which says "please pick on me" I think it might be on my back actually...

We met another German boy called Marcus, he had ordered beers and the lady came and put it on our table and as a joke we said 'thanks!' and he saw that we were smartasses and started talking to us, straight away he started making fun of me and the boys, hehe, he was such a character really, so funny and he cracked us all up (well, not Ben or the Italians) one of the italians was so fair, he looked like a scottish, blonde hair and eyebrows and Marcus looks at him and says 'youre italian??' and he goes, 'well, why not' HAHHA!! made so much fun of him being so bonde and kept cheersing him and saying 'to the italian!!' hahah!! the italian didnt like it at all though, thats what made it funnier to me though and i had tears down my eyes...

Munich city wasnt really that much to see if u ask me, just another city really, we walked to the main city centre and there was an amazing Church and beautiful buildings but only in this area really...a lot of shops, not bad prices, I bought my fav perfume and we had something to eat , walked and looked at the views and shops...Sam bought more clothes the geek, like he looks good in them anyway, what a waste..hahah!

We decided to go to Neuswanstein Castle, I have wanted to go for ever! we caught the train up instead of doing a tour, the tours cost so much, and worked out cheaper if we did it ourselves. The train ride took 2 hrs, we listened to music along the way which was good cos we were all getting bored...Sam starts annoying people when he gets bored and all I hear is "hasmik...Hasmik...Hasmik" get over it already will ya! lol

Well, it was definatley well worth it! we went to the castle and my mouth was left hanging open. Only a 1/3 of the castle was actually finished, Prince Ludwig died before it actually finished but the rooms that were finished were AMAZING! i have never been inside a castle so beautiful and with so much detail in every room, the walls were all painted with Biblical scenes and there was even an indoor cave with plants, beautiful...we were all in owe...
Daniel and I strted climbing up to a lookout bridge just behind the Castle, it was a steep climb and Sam looked once, early fainted and backed out...silly geek...haha he is so lazy, sometimes I wonder how he referees football...he probably gets someoe to push him up and down the field in a shopping trolley hes that lazy! he missed out big time because the scenery was incredible, the alps were nice as well and the air so fresh, we took the scenic route through the trees down to where we started and was so worth it!

That night we went to Oktoberfest again and this time it was so much more packed because it was the last night and everyone was out and about, hats and geeks everywhere! we waited at the front to see if we were going to meet up woth Marcus and Stephan again but they stood us up! well, we did ay we were going to call them i guess, oh well...this time around we at outside again and didnt get a chance to go inside a tent which was a shame but we already went in the day before so thats ok with me...we started talking to some very extremley and utterly drunk italians and we could barely understand them though their accent and slurs, the boys around us decided to make fun of Daniel becaue he was carrying around a ... get this...FANTA BOTTLE at the Oktoberfest! hehe he didnt want to drink but after being the butt of all jokes at the Oktoberfest he gave into it and got a beer! it was so funny!

We got lost...each of us got seperated but eventually we found each other at our hotel, we had a good position with the hotel, 10 mins away from the Oktoberfest and 5mins away from the station

Munich was our most favourite place in regards to the partying, the Oktoberfest was just so much fun we didnt know it could get this good! like the easter show but 65,789 times better and bigger! and the friends we made, never forget them...

Caught the train to Venice...weehooo, Venice venice here we come! cant wait!!