Oktoberfest (Saturday)

We left on Saturday morning for Munich. Jack, Jay and Bapa took the train - while Ami, Kate and I took the car. The trip was fairly smooth - Kate had one vomit incident (literally as we are pulling up to the gas station to get her some fresh air), but she quickly recovered and was in good shape to party on when we arrived.

As soon as we all assembled, we headed out to the Alstadt (Old Town) of Munich. The walk was incredibly beautiful - gorgeous parks lining the Isar river, tons of great playgrounds, and the leaves were full of color. Bapa looked like a 4 year old who has just arrived in the gates of Disneyland - he was bouncing up and down, so excited to see Oktoberfest.

After walking down Maximilianstrasse (Munich's 5th Avenue), we veered off to the Hofbrau Haus, which I believe is the largest beer hall in Munich (if not the world). The place was absolutely packed - and everyone was in full Oktoberfest liederhosen gear. Although Jack and Kate were just about the only children inside, Jack loved it - he was dancing to the band with Ami and was fascinated by the enormous beer steins. Kate had slightly other opinions, nestling against her mom and saying, "i no like it. it very loud." But it was quite an experience and Bapa was in PURE heaven, which was so fun to see.

After leaving the Hofbrau Haus, we took a leisurely walk over to Oktoberfest, passing thru Marienplatz and the rest of the Old Town. Even with all the crowds of people, the city was remarkably clean and well organized - and we really enjoyed it.

Arriving at the Oktoberfest grounds was a slightly different story - this may have been the reason all the Germans we know questioned us taking two young children to Oktoberfest! It was absolute mayhem - and this was only 4pm! Carnival rides and games everywhere, with beer tents scattered in between... the beer tents are multiple stories tall and looking inside, it reminded me of the most crowded fraternity party you've ever been to... wall to wall people, all smelling of beer! Children were not allowed in the tents, so we found some carnival rides for Jack and Kate to ride while Bapa and Jay explored one of the tents. After a few hours, all of us were done.. and happy to retreat to the quieter side of town for the evening.

We walked back to the hotel, and Ami and Bapa went out to a Bavarian restaurant while Jay and I happily put the kids to bed - and shared room service and wine and a little down time.