Oktoberfest - Munich

On the 30th of September we caught a train from Salzburg to Munich (approx 1.5 hrs) where we stayed at A&O Hostel for Oktoberfest. That evening we met with friends and wondered the streets of Munich in search for Lederhosen's and Dirndl's for the following day's festivites.

First Time entering the HB Tent

Our Table in the HB Tent

The Band inside the HB Tent

We got up quite early to get prepared and head to the festival to make sure we got a spot in one of the tents for the day. Being a Tuesday the festival wasn't as busy as it is on the weekends so we easily got a spot with some other friends we met traveling. We spent most of the day in the Hofbrauhaus (HB) Tent where a few too many beers and food were consumed including spare ribs, half chicken's, pretezels and the infamous pork knuckle. There was also a lot of standing on chairs with singing and dancing. We often had people stand on our table, dancing and spilling beer everywhere. You aren't allowed to stand on the tables so these people we quickly assorted out by security. At around 7pm we decided to was time to leave the tent and try out some of the amazing rides. There was a roller coaster in the shape of Olypmic Rings that the boy's went on.

The Olympic Rings Rollercoaster

After that we headed to the Hacker Tent for some more beer and dancing. I liked the beer and atmosphere a lot more in the Hacker tent, the crowd seemed younger and the tent was decorated really well. At 9pm we realised we had ran out of money and that it was time to head home (probably a good thing!).

Inside the Hacker Tent

The next morning we shook out our sore heads and headed to the train station where our tour of Dachau Concentration Camp was departing. Dachau was the first concerntration camp in Germany and only hosted male prisoners. It was very interesting to learn the Nazi's first started these camps for communists and anyone who did not agree with they way Hitler wanted to run the country. Then they went a step further to try and create the country they wanted, they sent emigrants, homeless, poor, homosexual and Jehovah's witnesses to this camp and then eventually the crusade began on jewish people.

The camp was run by the SS who first made the prisoners do slave labour which included building the houses that the prisoners slept in. During this time the Red Cross would visit to ensure the prisoners were being treated fairly and each time the camp passed the test. The general public believed these camps were helping these people, teaching them labour skills, to help them work towards their freedom.

Cremation / Gas Chamber

Soon enough the camp was over following with prisoners. Each day many would die from starvation and disease. The SS would leave their bodies to rot and if a prisoner died inside, it would be another prisoners job to take them out for role call so the SS could mark the prisoner off as dead.

The Prisoners bed where up to 500 people would sleep at a time

It is still very surreal for me to believe that these events really occurred and that the human race are capable of such events but I am glad that Germany have kept these camps as a reminder that nothing like this should ever occur again.

That afternoon we headed back to the festival for some dinner before having an early night in preparation for another big day at Oktoberfest.

Pork Knuckle Roll - A hit with the boys

Dozens of Pork Knuckles

Thursday was Germany's Bank Holiday, a national holiday that celebrates the reunion of East and West Germany. Being a public holiday meant many German people had packed into the festival and by 12pm it was hard to get a seat even at the outdoor beer gardens. We ended up finding a spot to some nice German people at the Augustiner Beer Garden. Thankfully the sun came out for most of the afternoon so it wasn't too cold and eventually the beer also helped us to warm up! That evening we decided to give it a shot to get into one of the tents but at each tent were at least 50 people waiting to get in so we decided to call it a day.

The next day we said good-bye to our friends and Munich and travelled to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic via Salzburg.