Oktoberfest 2008 Finale

Combo of Marica's blog with a bunch of my own edits and insertions.

CHAPTER 3/4: Lichtenstein and Austria
It took 25 minutes to drive through all of Lichtenstein*.
*Lichtenstein is the world's 6th smallest country, largest exporter of dentures and is rich as heck.

CHAPTER 5: Germany
(getting there, finding Oktoberfest, and our first night sleeping in the Punto)

We arrived in Munich (Munchen) after only a little bit of navigational confusion, and accidentally stumbled upon Oktoberfest. It was ridiculous trying to find a parking spot, and Europeans will park ANYWHERE - on the sidewalk, doubled up to a lane of parked cars already...etc. We finally parked... and it was only because the owner of the car in front of us came outside to move his car up for us. (I honestly wonder how long he was watching and laughing at us attempt to squeeze into a spot that was obviously too small for us).

So we decided to scrimp on accommodations (and the fact that there were none left!) and slept in the car. So... imagine 5 of us (2 boys) squeezed into this tiny Fiat Punto - it got cozy REAL fast. The nearby bushes of the apartment we were parked outside became our haven for all things - changing, brushing our teeth... and the rest can be left to your imagination. Unfortunately for my poor fellow travellers, they had to experience my snoring up close and personal! LOL - consider it a rare opportunity =)

Woke up around 9 to Oktoberfesters laughing at us all bundled up in the car. We rallied, had the breakfast of champions (which was composed of nutella, varied fruit, some croissants and 25 cent bread, and 12 cans of beer) . By the time we got to Oktoberfest, there were long lineups to get into all the beer tents so we just went tent hopping and hung out with a randoms at each, while enjoying our 1 L beers, schnitzel (deep fried breaded veal!), sausages, and these massive pretzels! Most disgusting thing I saw: a guy urinating in the middle of the path x 3... and let me tell you, he had nothing to be proud about. After a day of drinking and lugging around our stolen beersteins (there are actually signs that say stealing beersteins is punishable by law), we tried to find our way to the hotel that the rest of our school was staying at. Unknownst to us, their hostel was 2 hours outside the centre of Munich and as we were driving around lost, we get pulled over by the German police. Caitlin rolls the window down and asks what she did wrong. The policeman says “Nothing, we just need to do some checks.” And Caitlin, getting lippy, says, “so you pull people over just cuz?” Luckily, the German policeman doesn’t understand. After finding out we spent the day at Oktoberfest, he asks to do a breathalizer test on Caitlin, and thank GOD she was responsible and stopped drinking early.

Thinking we were in the clear, the police pull up to our right and promptly inform that "the proud display of 7 beersteins we have lined up in the rear window" is considered theft. When Caitlin offered to return the beersteins to the cops, they just told us to hide them better with a "wtf do I want them for?" look on their face.

Chapter 6: Drive home

On the drive home, we decided to make an impromptu stop at Lichtenstein and its capital, Vaduz. After, we were on our way back through Austria trying to interpret our directions backwards since no one thought of printing out the instructions home. Evidently, we got lost.

After getting back on track, we reach the San Bernardino pass to discover a long queue (yes, queue instead of line because that's what Europeans say) was due to an accident on the other side of the tunnel. So we deciding to go UP the mountain instead of waiting and I have to say, as well as Ben handled those sharp turns, I think I nearly crapped my pants at least 5 times on the way up. By the drive was well worth it - the view was amazing 7,000 ft above sea level.

As fun as Oktoberfest was, it was the roadtrip and the path there that really made it memorable - [cue corny music] guess that's the same with one's journey in life.

I think Caitlin summed it up best when she said, " We were good at being accidental tourists."