fall break (part 1)
So I lied. I did see multiple countries over a relatively short period of time. Since last I blogged, I've been in Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, and back to Germany. But I was gone a solid two weeks, so that's not too breakneck a pace.
I'm daunted by the task of fitting two weeks into one post, I must admit. Let's see, I'll try to hit on some highlights...
I'm not sure what exactly I expected to find at Oktoberfest, but nothing could have prepared me for the sheer masses of people. Here's a beer "tent", which is really, as you can see, more like a beer "building the size of an airplane hangar":
There are fourteen of these on a big fairgrounds they call the Wiesen, and lots of carnival rides and food stands in between.
Apparently I spent the entire weekend saying, "There are SO MANY people here!" and then taking pictures of them, because all of my Oktoberfest pictures look pretty much like that one. You don't need to see much else, I guess, except this, the most central part of the madness:
And this, to prove that, contrary to my former beliefs, your average Bavarian does, in fact, own and proudly wear Lederhosen:
That's Hasi in the blue checks. Lindsay and I stayed with him, his wife Gitti (whose head you can also see at the bottom of the picture), and his two daughters--definitely four of my favorite Germans.
I took the train from Munich to Innsbruck, through a lot of impossibly picturesque villages and meadows full of sheep. I kept thinking of The Sound of Music, seeing scenery like this:
You can go up to the ski jump they built when the Olympics were in Innsbruck and get an impressive view of the town from above, which I did:
I can't even describe to you how windy it was the day I was up there. I took a picture instead:
I spent an afternoon in the capital city of Liechtenstein, because why not go to Liechtenstein if it's on the way? I walked up a very steep path to the prince's castle, but he doesn't let tourists in (can't say I blame him) so I only have a rather ordinary-looking (for a castle) picture of the outside:
And here are some rare Liechtensteinian brass horses--hatching, I guess:
All right, that's enough for now. I don't feel like uploading any more pictures at the moment, so I'll leave you hanging for a while.
I'm daunted by the task of fitting two weeks into one post, I must admit. Let's see, I'll try to hit on some highlights...
Oktoberfest (Munich)
I'm not sure what exactly I expected to find at Oktoberfest, but nothing could have prepared me for the sheer masses of people. Here's a beer "tent", which is really, as you can see, more like a beer "building the size of an airplane hangar":
There are fourteen of these on a big fairgrounds they call the Wiesen, and lots of carnival rides and food stands in between.Apparently I spent the entire weekend saying, "There are SO MANY people here!" and then taking pictures of them, because all of my Oktoberfest pictures look pretty much like that one. You don't need to see much else, I guess, except this, the most central part of the madness:
And this, to prove that, contrary to my former beliefs, your average Bavarian does, in fact, own and proudly wear Lederhosen:
That's Hasi in the blue checks. Lindsay and I stayed with him, his wife Gitti (whose head you can also see at the bottom of the picture), and his two daughters--definitely four of my favorite Germans.Innsbruck
I took the train from Munich to Innsbruck, through a lot of impossibly picturesque villages and meadows full of sheep. I kept thinking of The Sound of Music, seeing scenery like this:
You can go up to the ski jump they built when the Olympics were in Innsbruck and get an impressive view of the town from above, which I did:
I can't even describe to you how windy it was the day I was up there. I took a picture instead:
Vaduz (Liechtenstein)
I spent an afternoon in the capital city of Liechtenstein, because why not go to Liechtenstein if it's on the way? I walked up a very steep path to the prince's castle, but he doesn't let tourists in (can't say I blame him) so I only have a rather ordinary-looking (for a castle) picture of the outside:
And here are some rare Liechtensteinian brass horses--hatching, I guess:
All right, that's enough for now. I don't feel like uploading any more pictures at the moment, so I'll leave you hanging for a while.Labels: travels
