Oktoberfest

This is really a post by Josh....

While in Barcelona Matt and I decided to take Berni up on his offer to join him for the oktoberfest celebrations in Stuttgart and Munich, so we sorted our flights, but made sure that there was room in our plans for a weekend back in England to catch up with our cousin Paul, his wife Jane and his kids Hamish, Tess, and Abes.

So out the south west we went to Wincanton - Not far from Glastonbury. We enjoyed some simple pursuits like kicking the footy, catching rabbits and chooks, cooking meat on the Barbie, and the kids even had a crack on the slip n slide!

plus;

Walking the dogs in the countryside

hide and seek in the farmers corn field

After dinner shennanigans (not sure if kelly was the ring leader, or if the kids coerced her)
Tess and Abes hamming it up with the Matt and Joshes glasses

We were more than spoilt by our hosts. And we thank you again for your hospitality.


BACK TO EUROPE___________________________________________
Berni had talked up the Mercedes Benz, and Porsche museums and so we (Just the McDougall boys this time) headed straight there from the airport before meeting him at his parents place. (Kelly returned to work the 9-5 in London.)

The museum was fantastic. The history of Merecedes Benz / Daimler Benz goes right back to the birth of the automobile. So we saw each step of development of all sorts of vehicles and engines through the years. The audio handset was great and allowed you to choose audio information on technical info, social impacts, and other aspects relevant to each particular exhibit. (I listened to lots, and lost the patience of my brother who raced ahead) Significant social, political, and scientific and technical achievements occuring in the world during the same period are also refered to and on occasion discussed further. (Such as the automobile companys role in the wars)

Here are some highlights:

The classic 'pagoda' 230 SL

F1, Touring, and Le Man cars

'Exploded' exhibition of the 1955 Mercedes Benz 2,5-1 Rennwagen W196 R enabling an understanding of the engineering usually hiidden under the fuselage.

The classic old sports cars and F1 of early to mid last century

such great lines..

HOT TIP: don't bother paying extra for the motor racing simulator experience.

Once again our hosts must be thanked for their generosity. It was a pleasure staying with the Paetzholds. Berni's father Ludwig even toured us to a nearby fortress turned prison, and then for some traditonal meals at a historic village ??name??. Meanwhile I was practicing my pronunciation and madly try to regain my vocabulary. (I learnt Deutsch in highschool for 2 or 3 years)

We then had one night to see Stuttgart's equivalent to Oktoberfest, as a warm up for what to expect in Munich. Berni was careful to point out all of the traditional elements which we should participate in. - i.e. when we needed to stand, when to cheer, when to Proest our fellow revellers etc..
The showgrounds hosted the event, with all the usual rides, sideshows, games, food concessions, and huge beer halls/semi permanent structures.

This ride - bucket seats attached by chains - got really high, and showed what wimps we all were. (no way am i getting on that thing)

Immediately we made some friends (once we got a table - which is the most difficult part)

Soon enough things really started to get going, and as Berni predicted we were singing along to songs we thought we would never sing along to and having a heap of fun.

It's not until they stood up that I noticed they were both affected by the alcohol more than i was. As is often the case with me, It didn't catch up till later that night.

This was a sling shot ride, with bunjee cables fixed to the top of these three towers.

Then the next day i took much longer to get myself back on track than the other two - to the amusement of Berni's friend Fraenz who was joining us at this point for the road trip to Munich.

A Bavarian Breakfast ________________________________________

White sausage, WieSS (white) Bier, Pretzel and sweet mustard. Thanks again to our host Berni for organising this with his local friend Rene and his girlfriend. (whose name escapes me at the time of writing- sorry)

Berni and Rene preparing the spread

Matt and I hook in.

MYSTERY#1

After a slightly later start than planned we set off for the oktoberfest and saw this phone booth on the way. There had obviously been some pretty emotional calls made from this booth. We weren't sure if this was a good or bad sign for what was to come in our first full day of oktoberfest. What did it say about the locals?

Arriving at the oktoberfest grounds at 10am, we were told by our hosts: this might not be ideal - but we should still get into a beer hall and secure a table for the day. Well. We missed out on getting into a beer hall (they were full!) and it was cold and mostly raining with moments of overcast conditions. We decided to persist and after unsuccessfully trying to get snuck in by staff, then secure a sheltered outdoor table we headed for the glu wein concession to take shelter from a particularly nasty downfall. As you can see we were enjoying the absurdity of the situation.

Wait, ... is that the cloud clearing?

We went back to the outdoor area being serviced by the guy who had earlier tried to get us inside. (that way he got our tips - we thought it the right thing to do in respect of his earlier efforts) We managed to snare a table part under a heater, and so ran a rotation system on the table to share the heat around. We powered on and had a great time in the outdoor areas meeting and greeting others as they stopped for a few at our table.

The suns appearance was always followed with an eruption of cheering from the punters. You could almost hear the sound coming toward you as the shaddow of the clouds receded across the showgrounds.

Matt deciding that since the sun was out he needed to limber up for some serious drinking.

Matt wowed the fans with his underwater / underbeer camera. He almost had some people handing money over for him to put his camera in the beer.

Late that night we did get into the Hoff Brau (each tent is hosted by a beer brand). As you can see it looks pretty wild. But it never seemed close to being out of hand.

To round out a great day Bernie and Rene (who had come back once the weather setteled) decided to ride the scariest/wildest ride on site. We had scoped it out in Stuttgart, Bernie trying to get Matt and I to go on it with him. - no way! This thing was a huge pendulum, which built momentum up to doing full rotations. It is at the tipping point of the full rotation that the "cage" is let free to spin independantly. Often the passengers would find that the operator would lock the cage in upside down position as the huge arm swept them over the crowd and through the point closest to the ground!

Fraenz in forground watches on as Bernie and Rene line up.

this is man has a really long sausage!

_______________________________________________________________

The final day of our experience, and also the last day of the oktoberfest, and Matt and I set out nice and early having learnt from the previous mornign, but without our host who had gone on much later than us the night prior.

We met up with my ex housemate and Matts friend Tristan who was with a few associates also keen to secure a table for the day. So we waited out front of the doors a la the Boxing Day sales with everyone racing in to secure a table the moment the doors opened.

Once inside and with a table we had a different problem, drinking and eating enought to retain it. Well it as a slow start, but we did eventually get going. All managed to down some beer and eat some of the great food being served up. Although it should be noted that Tristan sat on half a beer for over 3 hours, after which it was quite warm and he swithced to Appfel saft.

Exhibit A: The half full maSS

At the end of the last night in Munich we went on the olympic ring roller coaster seen here at left of image.

MYSTERY#2 : Bondage bear?!

As the famous standing wave was within walking distance of Berni's brothers appartment we strolled down on the morning of our flight back to London for a bit of a squiz.