Biathlon at Pokljuka

As some of you will know I quite like watching biathlon and last year went to Hochfilzen in Austria to watch the World Cup event for a few days. This year the World Cup tour was scheduled to visit Pokljuka, which is just up the road from Bled, and I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss seeing some biathlon again. As we have being lazing about(!) for the last few months I thought it might be a good idea to volunteer and to help out with the organising and I sent out a few emails way back in August, then again in September and October and finally got a response from the people in late November saying yes they were happy for me to help out. From this lack of organisation I should have expected things to go a little awry.

I had asked to be part of the accreditation team, as I thought this would be a good way to meet the people directly involved in the event and I was a tad disappointed when I was told that whilst I could be part of the accreditation team that I would be based in the Festival Hall in Bled rather than at the venue in Pokljuka.

I decided that that would be better than not helping out so on the 09th December I found myself at the Festival Hall helping to set up the venue for the accreditation office that was due to open the following day. The set up took about 5 hours, but it could have been done quicker but there seemed to be no cohesion about what was needed to be done so a lot of time was just spent sitting around. V



Victoria Padial Hernandez and I

Monday came and after being asked to get to the office by about 7.30am as it was going to be busy, low and behold it wasn't. The first person didn't arrive until about 10am for their accreditation pass. The whole day was not busy and I was a little miffed at still being there at gone 9pm because the team leaders were not that great at organising things. One good thing that did happen though was that there was a team captains meeting for all of the nations taking part and I got to meet the Spanish biathlete Victoria Padial Hernandez.

Jacko, Marcel and I

Tuesday and Wednesday were much the same in terms of people coming to sort out their accreditation passes and I was getting more than a little bored of being there from 7.45am(ish) until 8pm. However, the frustration of sitting around was more than made up for by the arrival of Marcel Laponder and Steve-Lee Jackson (Jacko) at the office, who are both member of the GB biathlon national team and it was great to be able to talk to them for a while.

Sarah Murphy and I

Thursday was the first "busy" day as it was the first race of the event and so plenty of VIP's were due in the office to pick up their accreditation passes. Whilst the Slovenes I was working with thought it was busy, it was only really busy for an hour or so and even then we were not rushed off our feet. Today, I got to meet Klaus Siebert, who is the head of the Belarussian team and he was really funny and a good guy to talk and listen to. I also got to meet Uwe Mussigang, who is the overall team chief for the German team. Whilst it was good to meet these guys the best person I met that day was Sarah Murphy who represents New Zealand in biathlon. She was really nice and friendly and like the other people I met it was a pleasure to chat to her about what she hopes to achieve and where she will be going after Pokljuka.

The office was very quiet during the time that the race was on, which meant that I got to watch it albeit on TV and we all got highly jubilant when Jakov Fak of Slovenia won.

I tought Friday was going to be the same as Thursday, but it went back to being quiet which was a shame as I prefer to be busy but then it also meant that I again saw the race on TV and the bonus was that Gabriela Soukalova won the sprint race and Miri Gossner was second. In the absence of Magdalena Neuner, who retired last year Gabriela and Miri have taken over as my two favourite biathletes, which Synnoeve Solemdal close behind.

During the week several of the Slovenian team came into the office, including Teja Gregorin and Andrea Mali, to meet with officials and friends. Like all the biathletes and coaches that I met they were extremely nice to meet and to chat to. Not one of them was rude or standoffish which made a pleasant change from what you here about footballers and other celebrities.

Saturday came and I was feeling unwell so I decided not to go into the office that day, especially as I knew it would be a long day on Sunday. Of the women's race today, the positions were reversed with Miri coming in first in the pursuit and Gabriela second. Unfortunately, Synnoeve did not have much luck in either the sprint or the pursuit events.

Vicki and I before the first race

On Sunday I persuaded Vicki to come up to Pokljuka and watch the first Mass Start events of the season, whereby the top 30 athletes all start at the same time and the first over the line after 4 shoots and 12.5kms is the winner. After the rain of Saturday it was meant to be sunny but the clouds came in and didn't really lift all day. The cost to get in was only 10 euros and this included a bus ride to the venue & back as well as access to the hospitality tent where beer and food were served and there was a "singer".

I was quite suprised to find the paths for the specatators had not been properly cleared and both of s slid about abit on the way to the tribune (stands to us English people), but we managed not to spill any beer. That is what comes of years of practice in carrying alcohol!

Jakov Fak finishing 2nd in Mass Start

We managed to bag a place by the finish line and we had a good view of the shooting range. The mens event was won by Andi Birnbacher from Germany and Jakov Fak from Slovenia was second. Between the races we "retired" to the hospitality tent for beer and a hotdog whilst listening to the Slovenian "singer" murder a few songs, it was then time to go out again for what for me was the main event of the day the women's Mass Start.

Gabriela Soukalova coming in 3rd

We got a good place to stand just beyond the finish line for this race and we had a clear view of the penalty loop track, however we had a poor view of the shooting range but this was due to the mist coming in and obscuring it for most people including the athletes. My pre-race favourite of Tora Berger came in first, followed by Miri and Gabriela with Slovenias Teja Gregorin in 6th place.



Misty presentation

Despite the weather getting colder, we stayed for the medal ceremony and then went to get the bus back to Bled. However, we must have just missed them as we had to wait for about 50 minutes for the buses to get back from Bled by which time Vicki was quite cold.




Synnoeve Solemdal

All in all it was a good week, but the organisation of some aspects of the event leave a lot to be desired. It was good to meet the athletes and officials and I think Vicki had a good time watching on Sunday, I know I did.





Getting ready for Christmas

As the weather has closed in, we have settled down in Bled to a slower way of life.  The mornings are darker and the sun goes down about 4.30pm, so we have tended to get up later and enjoy a reduced pace.  We have been fortunate enough to have had some visitors over October and November with various friends and family coming to stay.  It has kept us busy with cleaning and tidying before they come, showing them the various sites of Slovenia while they are here, and collapsing in a heap once they have gone.  It has been great to see them all, and we've had a chance to see some of the sites either again or for the first time. 

We visited the Skocjan caves - which are an UNESCO World Heritage site and are some of the hugest caves I've ever seen.  The Reka River runs through them and has created an immense cave 165m deep, one of the largest underground chambers in the world.  It is an awe-inspiring experience and one I would definitely recommend (although not good if you don't like heights).  We also had a chance to visit the Postojna caves with some friends, and although I'd been before, Vicki hadn't and it was good to go when it was less crowded.  It was a very enjoyable trip.

Bled has been beautiful in the autumn, with the changing  colours and some lovely sunny days.  Although we have had some snow and quite a lot of rain as well.  We have done some fabulous walks, including one where Vicki and I had to climb up some vertical wooden ladders.  Bit frightening, but we managed with no broken bones.

 

We did a trip up the cable car at Bohinj before it closed at the end of October to see the fabulous view of the Julian Alps, including Triglav, the highest mountain.  The colours at Bohinj were wonderful, too.

 

And now, December is here and Christmas is drawing closer.  I am hopeful that we will have a proper white Christmas with the amount of snow we've been having recently (the winter tyres on the car are excellent!) 

The view from our balcony

Christmas has been made possible by the wonders of the internet, as we organised ourselves early and ordered cards online and used e-cards.  Some we designed ourselves with the help of Bonusprint, and they sent them to us so we could post them in plenty of time.  The postage wasn't much more than at home, and they came from the Netherlands!  Presents to home have been organised in the same way, with delivery from M&S and Amazon.  We've found ourselves a very small Christmas tree and a few ornaments (including some chocolate ones).  With a few other decorations, candles and lights we are feeling very Christmassy. 


Vicki and I visited the Christmas markets in Ljubljana this week.  We went on the bus ( it stops at the end of our lane), and it was a bit chilly.  We chose a warmer day than the previous few but it still only maxed out at 1 degree.   The market wasn't as big as we'd expected, but we found a few nice presents (some for me!), and the lights were gorgeous.    We stopped for a meal in one of the cafe bars, and I warmed up with a goulash slovenian-style. 

 

That's about it for now, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us in snowy Slovenia.

Back to Munich

As regular viewers of this blog will know, the three of us went to Munich for Ocktoberfest but didn't really get to see much (any) of the city due to the copious amounts of alcohol consumed. So when Gemma and Vicki said that a couple of their work friends were coming to stay for the weekend I decided it was time to re-visit the city to see what it had to offer.

On arriving in Munich I soon found my hotel which was about a five minute walk from the station and not in the best area of town. Well it was cheap by Munich standards!! My room was in the courtyard area and whilst not with a view it was functional.

After a quick look around the local area (seedy comes to mind) I walked down to Marienplatz and got the train up to Frottmaning and to the Allianz Arena where TSV 1860 Munchen were playing FC Koln that evening. I had booked my ticket previously and was a tad disappointed to find that my "standing area" ticket was actually an unreserved seating area, as I had wanted to experience what it was like standing at a game again as there has been talk of Premier League football introducing "safe" standing areas at games and as a Liverpool supporter I wanted to see what it would be like. However, there were standing areas behind each goal but you could not gain access to these unless you had the correct identification, which is a good thing as it limits the numbers in that area.

My views on standing at games has not changed as during the match there were times when the fans seemed to "surge" forward which could have been dangerous. Overall, the game "experience" as it now seems to be called was quite positive as in my area the terracing was well spaced and you could bring beer into the stands. The bad thing was that fans are still allowed to smoke and Germans do seem to still like to chain smoke.

One thing to remember about the Arena is that it doesn't have a roof to keep out the cold, even though from most pictures you see it seems to have. This is particularly important if there is freezing fog and a temperature of minus 3 and you have left your scarf and hat back at the hotel room!!

Erdinger brewery tour tasting

The following day I had booked a tour of the Erdinger Weissbeer brewery, so it was off to the train station again for the 50 minute journey out to Erding. The tour was "interesting" as the tour I had booked was only in German (other tours on different days can be done in English) and the only words I really understood were Erdinger, weissbeer (wheat beer), hops and wasser.





However, my main reason for doing the tour was that afterwards you get to taste some of the different beers and get to sample some bratwurst and pretzels. This was well worth the 10 euro tour price as the beer and food were all included. Suffice to say that I made sure I tried the different beers of which I found the Pikantus to be my favourite followed by Scheneeweiss, Kristall and Dunkel. 

The only way is up

Sunday was my last full day in Munich and I had decided to do something a little different and I trooped off to the Olympic stadium where I met a few other intrepid souls for our walk along the edge of the roof of the stadium. 



View from the stadium top

After a 15-minute video it was time to strap into my harness and have our safety talk. We then walked back to where we had all met and started our climb onto the roof. As the only English speaker in the group I had a tour guide all to myself. Walking along is safe as well as a bit scary as when you look down into the stadium you realise that you are about 45 meters up.



The best part of the trip was walking up to the top of one of the pillars (60 meters above the stadium floor) where you can jump up and down and feel the whole roof vibrate under your feet.

At the top of the Olympic stadium

Time for a quick trip back to the city centre before going back out to the Olympic Park where I got a ticket to watch Red Bull Munchen play Augsburg Panther at ice hockey. I entered the arena about 5 minutes before the start and realised that I was in the "away" end with all of the Panther fans. They were quite vocal, which being able to drink beer in the stands seems to help. During the break I decided that I would go and stand in the "home" area and this proved to be even more fun and more vocal especially when Munchen scored and we all started singing along to "Nelly the elephant, packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus".

I was particularly happy as I had paid 16 euros to watch the game and then got to see Bryan Adams perform as well. Even better was when he scored for Munchen! Not too shabby for a crinkly old Canadian!!

After the game there was still time for a couple more beers before heading to bed and an early start the next day.

During the trip to the Erdinger brewery I had intended to buy some beers to take home to Slovenia, however by the time the tour and tastings had finished the shop was closed. So I got up at 6.30am (urrgghh!!) and got the train out to Erding again and was outside the shop waiting for it to open at 9am. Erdinger beers, glasses and a glass cleaner purchased and just enough time to pack them in my bag before the bus came to take me back to Erding station. I got back to Munich with time to spare before my train back to Bled, so I had to do what any sane person would do and popped into a bar for a couple of beers first!!.

Who knows where my next trip will take me??

 

 

 

Prague

Prague was on my list of places to visit so I started looking into how to get there and places to stay. I found that you can get there by train from Bled fairly easily with a couple of changes in Salzburg and Linz. Journey takes a little over 10 hours. Next job was to find reasonably priced train tickets. Individually the tickets seemed very expensive (over 200 euros!) so I went to see the very helpful staff at Lesce Bled station. I found out there are a limited number of 'Prague special' tickets for only 39 euros each way! Only 6 are available each day but I managed to get one which was great value. I would definitely recommend talking to the station staff as they can often advise on great deals which you can't find online!!

The Czech Republic still has its own currency so I ordered some Czech Koruna from our local bank and I was all ready!

We had snow in Bled the day before I was due to go to Prague but luckily it did not hinder my trip at all. Most of the snow in Bled had melted during the day but it wasn't really a problem anyway as they clear the roads and paths so well here! The view from the train was beautiful going through Austria as there was lots of snow on the mountains. Part of the train journey was through a tunnel which came out on higher ground and we were surrounded by snow. Very picturesque! No problems with the trains here though - would be all cancelled at home!!

I was lucky with the weather in Prague; bright and sunny on my first full day if a little chilly. Saw lots of the sights. Prague is a great city and its easy to walk to most of the major sights although there is a good metro and tram system. I decided to walk to see as much as I could.

First stop - Wenceslaus Square which is more like a big street than a square with a large monument at the top then lots of shops! This included all the ones from home - M&S, Debenhams, Subway, KFC, and some we haven't seen for years like C&A!! I resisted a shopping spree and went on to Prague Castle.

St Wenceslaus Square

St Wenceslaus Statue

The castle grounds include lots of buildings and there is loads to see. You can buy one ticket which allows you into several attractions. St. Vitus Cathedral was impressive; full of beautiful stained glass windows. I climbed the South Tower and found a great view at the top. Worth the spiral staircase which made be feel slightly dizzy!! Also worth a visit here are the Old Royal Palace, Basilica of St George and Golden Lane.

St Vitus Cathedral

Stained glass windows in St Vitus Cathedral

View from the South Tower of St Vitus Cathedral

The food and drink was reasonably priced - beer similar to Slovenia; about 2 euros for 500ml :-) Needless to say I sampled one or two different ones! The shops in Prague were similar to other cities - lots of tourist tat amongst the clothes shops! However, there were a couple of street markets selling pictures and christmassy bits and pieces. I enjoyed wandering around these and made of couple of souvenir purchases!

The famous Charles Bridge was as the guidebook warned - full of people! Picturesque though with statues all along each side of the bridge.

Charles Bridge



Another place worth a visit is the Old Town Square. The square is full of historical buildings including the Astronomical Clock. This is housed in a tower (which of course I climbed up!). On the hour the clock chimes and the 12 apostles appear at the windows. Crowds gather below the clock from 15 minutes or so before each hour to watch!

Astronomical Clock

The square also contains lots of bars and restaurants and outside heaters. I enjoyed goulash and dumplings outside next a very warm heater!

All in all I would recommend Prague as a great city to visit!





Heiligenblut, Austria

After the last lot of city visits I thought I'd be happy to put my feet up for a bit, but in a surprisingly short time I was itching to be off again.  This time I fancied something a bit different, and I read about the Tirol mountains in the Lonely Planet's Europe on a Shoestring, with europe's highest waterfall and the Hohe Tauern national park.  Always a fan of mountains I thought this would be a nice trip and only a couple of hours drive from Bled. 



Heilingenblut



After some research on the internet about where to stay we settled on Heiligenblut near the Glossglockner pass which I thought would be good to explore.  We couldn't pronounce the name of the place but when you book via our favourite accommodation website (booking.com), that doesn't matter! I checked if the pass and waterfall would be still be open, and the websites all said until the end of October.  So we booked for the last week hoping the weather would be good. 

We were very lucky with weather - it had snowed previously so there was a beautiful sprinkle on the mountain tops but had warmed up again so we had lovely warm autumn days (13-18 degrees).  I would recommend it as a time to visit this bit of Austria as the pass and the waterfall weren't overwhelmed with tourists and they'd probably be crowded in the summer.  Plus you have the lovely autumn colours. Only problem was that not much was open in the villages, Heiligenblut only had one restaurant open and one bar in the evenings, all the hotels were closed before the ski season.  The one restaurant was very good, though so we were okay.



Glossglockner and Pasterze glacier



I would definitely say that the Glossglockner alpine road is the most beautiful I have ever driven, especially on a glorious, sunny autumn day.  It isn't just a pass over the mountains but a full day of lovely scenes, mountains over 3000m, glaciers, lakes, windy roads and exploring the stopping points.  There is a huge visitor centre directly below the highest mountain, Glossglockner, and you can walk down to the Pasterze glacier if you want (we didn't fancy the steps down!), but also a walk above the glacier called Gamsgrubenweg which I was very keen to do, but unfortunately it was closed for upkeep. 

We did do a walk up to the observatory where we tried to spot ibex on the mountain slopes.  Pictures don't do it justice as the scenes were immense. The side trip to Glossglockner takes a couple of hours with all the exploring, and you haven't even started to tackle the actual pass. 





Top of the pass at Hochtor

Although the road over the pass is in excellent condition, easily wide enough for cars in both directions, I wouldn't recommend it to the faint-hearted as it is a difficult drive, especially up to the highest point at Edelweiss peak which has a lot of narrow switchbacks. In Heiligenblut we were at 1288m, and the top of the pass is at 2504 m, a huge climb. I felt seriously sorry for the couple of cyclists we passed on the way up!  The price might make you wince as well, as it is 32 euros for a car, although with the Prius we were charged as an electric car and only paid 22 euros... handy!



Fuscher lake



Edelweiss peak





  









The road at the top of the pass passes through a short tunnel, then continues on passed lakes and more mountains.  There is another side trip you can do to the highest point on Edelweiss peak, from which you have the most glorious views of dozens of mountains over 3000 m and a handy cafe for lunch sitting in the sunshine.

The other big attraction nearby was the Krimml waterfall, europe's highest according to the book!  It wasn't quite as close as I'd hoped and took a couple of hours to get there from Heiligenblut.  But the waterfall was magnificent, again pictures don't do it justice as it isn't a straight drop so doesn't fit in one picture and even the bits you try to take are nothing to the  huge amount of water in front of you. The small boy in the picture on the right gives you some idea of scale, but this is only the very bottom section, there is 380m above over three levels.  The waterfall is very good value - only 2.50 euros each for the walk, they have some sort of water theme park there as well, but this was closed for renovations.  Once you've been soaked at the bottom of the falls, you can walk up the side and see it from loads of wooden platforms all the way up. The path goes all the way to the top at 1460m, starting from 1070m and takes several hours to walk.  We just managed up to 1245m (the middle section) and then felt the need to go for lunch!

 Overall, I was very impressed with the Tirol mountains, and we had a fabulous couple of days exploring, I would recommend it if you like mountain holidays, with lots of hiking, wonderful views, clean mountain air and possibly cycling!

Piran

Having missed a lot of the really nice weather here in July and August I decided to go and find some sunshine before it really becomes autumn here too. I love the sea and decided to take a trip to Piran. As most of you will have read, Gemma and Richard visited in July. They gave good reports so I made some plans.

I found a lovely apartment with a fabulous sea view. Would highly recommend it if anyone is thinking of travelling there! I tried out the slovenian buses which seem to be very reliable. The bus goes from near the end of our road to Ljubljana and there I changed for another bus to Piran. The connection between the two buses was 12 minutes but I needn't have worried as the bus arrived exactly on time! Buses here are more like coaches at home and nothing like the 'happy bus' we have at work - thank goodness.



View from my apartment

When I arrived it was a little cloudy but after some lunch the clouds cleared to give way to beautiful sunshine. Only one thing to do - join several other people and go for a swim in the sea! Couldn't believe how warm it was especially in October!

There are lots of restaurants to choose from along the seafront all with similar menus. However, I decided to try a restaurant in the back streets recommended by Lonely Planet. This was very good value and I had a lovely seafood risotto and a glass of wine. I was shocked when I got the bill at how cheap the wine was - will have more next time!

The weather was nice throughout my stay in Piran. Walking round the town and harbour is very easy and picturesque. You can never get lost even in the backstreets - keep walking and eventually you will find the sea again. As well as several restaurants along the seafront there are a number of bars with an unopposed view of the Adriatic. I spent an enjoyable afternoon looking at the sea and enjoying a glass of wine or two!!

Walk to Fiesa beach

I did manage a little more exploring - walking along the coastal trail to Fiesa beach and up to the city walls. Good views from both!

View from the city walls



 

 

I did also try the seafront restaurants and the food was good there too and not as over priced as I had expected!

 

The only place I felt as though I had been slightly ripped off was the aquarium. They have 140 species of fish found in the sea off the coast of Slovenia apparently. It was 6 euros to go in and it was very small. Not as impressive as I had hoped. My visit was not helped by a school party full of very excitable kids arriving about 15 minutes after I did. Most of the other visitors including myself beat a hasty retreat to the peace and quiet of the harbour!

 

Overall Piran is a lovely place to visit and great for a few days by the sea. Maybe I will go back again sometime?!



Aahh..h.h. Vienna

Been a bit delayed writing this one, as we've been enjoying a visit from some friends.  Thought I'd better give you all an update on our latest trip - Vienna.

Out of all the cities we've visited recently, Vienna was the least crowded and lacking in queues, so from my point of view was more enjoyable.  This might have been as it was October or it isn't as popular as Rome, Venice and Oktoberfest! 

We used the train system again to get there, and it was very pleasant and efficient. Less than an hour from Lesce Bled to Villach in Austria and then only a 25 minute wait for the very nice train to Vienna.  Beautiful countryside and only just over 4 hours later we were there.

I was impressed with the public transport system in Vienna. There is the U-bahn, the underground, which is not as extensive as in London, but then there is also the S-bahn, which is a local overground train system that is very efficient.  Then, for other routes there is an excellent tram system, with trams running every few minutes and a bus system in the centre where the trams can't go.  It all seemed to run together very efficiently and we rarely waited more than a few minutes for our connections.  We got a 72 hour ticket - which ran from when we validated it (not to only 6am on the last day, like in Munich), which made it perfect for our trip, and it was valid on all of the four systems.  Although we didn't have our tickets checked so I suppose we could have tried travelling without a ticket!

Vienna itself is a beautiful city made up of the huge austro-hungarian empire-type buildings, dominated by the Imperial palace, the Hofburg.  This takes up a large proportion of the city centre, and now houses museums, galleries, the Spanish Riding School, government stuff and loads more.  Apparently, 5000 people still work in the palace buildings.

We visited the Kaiser appartments in the palace (no queues to get in!!), although the silver plate collection was a little tedious, the appartments were interesting and opulent.  Then I managed to drag Vicki into the Albertina which had an art exhibition I wanted to see - Monet to Picasso.  I enjoyed it very much and bought the book for art inspiration.  I didn't keep her in there too long so Vicki didn't complain too much.

We did have a quick look at the cathedral, but it wasn't that exciting and as Richard would say - "seen one church, seen them all"

We spent some time at the Spanish Riding School to see the Lipizzaner horses in their morning exercise.  Be warned, it isn't very exciting - four or five horses come out each time and walk or trot round the arena, occasionally a trainer will spend a few minutes trying to get a horse to learn a new manouver, but mostly they trot round and back.  You pay 14 euros for the 2.5 hours, but people started leaving after about 45 mins.  We managed 1.5 hours but only because I didn't want to waste the money!



View from the Ferris wheel



We also visited the Riesenrad, which is a big ferris wheel, it goes slowly and you stand in big capsules, a bit like an old version of the London Eye.  We enjoyed the views although it didn't go as high as I expected and we couldn't see the Danube. 



 

We had fun in the fairground next to the ferris wheel, and even visited a beer tent erected for Oktoberfest - everyone seems to get in on it!

We finished the day by seeing another palace - the Belvedere, where I got to see an exhibition of Gustav Klimt's work.  Not my favourite type of art but as it is everywhere in Vienna I felt I had to see some before we left.

Just a quick mention about Viennese food!  We ate at a very nice restaurant the first night and I had the ravioli. The second night it wasn't so nice and I had goulash.  The last night we went to a brewery restaurant and I had roast pork - I managed to avoid the dreaded Wiener Schnitzel, which in my opinion is a rather awful bit of sat-on meat covered in breadcrumbs to make it palatable.  Reminiscent of Bernard Matthews turkey burgers! Austrian food generally is not what you visit Austria for, it is meat heavy, can be salty and lacks green stuff.

The brewery restaurant was very good for beer though, and I would definitely recommend it - Siebensternbrau.  Vicki tried the Hemp beer - no extra effects over and above the alcohol, I'm afraid and Richard the chilli beer.  Only a small one, and it made my lips tingle after one sip!  I had an interesting amber beer, it made a nice change from all the regular lager we've been quoffing.

Oktoberfest

How to sum it up?  Three days of drinking the hugest beers ever, with a bunch of Germans in Lederhosen and silly dresses! (Not at the same time, obviously).  We managed to see nothing of Munich except the underground, the road to our hotel and the Theresienwiese - the park where Oktoberfest is held.
When you first walk in the park it feels more like a big fairground than a beer festival, loads of rides, big rollercoasters (they were fun!), bumper cars, ghost trains, food stalls and souvenir tat.  Then you notice that there are a lot more adults than children, and in the occasional corner is a figure lying on the floor with others trying to help them.  Although, I will say this was a lot less frequent than I would expect from the amount of alcohol consumed. 

The beer tents are huge - several thousand people in each, and when you first shove your way in, you are assailed by the raucous noise of the drinkers.  It is all very good humoured, lots of singing along to the bands, standing on benches and clapping to encourage someone to down a litre in one go!  I could hardly hold one up, let alone drink it down in one.  At regular intervals the band strike up a popular drinking song which everyone gets up and swings their glasses to, the first time we looked slightly bewildered but after a bit more beer we did our best to join in.  The words were difficult to distinguish amongst several thousand drunken Germans so we made up our own lyrics - something along the lines of "My cosy, tea cosy, it keeps the teapot warm".  No-one seemed to mind as long as you clinked glasses and drank at the end. When we googled it the words are actually "Ein Prosit, ein Prosit, Der Gemütlichkeit", which translates (sort of) into "A toast, a toast, to cheer and good times". It encapsulates the general feeling of good cheer and friendliness.  Everyone is very friendly and wants to chat, and you share a long table with lots of others - it can get a bit of a squeeze.

The first evening we arrived, it was too busy in the tents to find a seat (some people apparently reserve tables a year in advance!), so we found a seat outside and proceeded to order beers - we hadn't realised beforehand that they only do 1 litre steins, but we made do....  Also, different from beer festivals back home, they only have one type of beer per tent, so if you want to try more than one you have to move, which can be problematic once you've found a seat!
Each tent has a price for the litre of beer of about 9.40 euros, but the staff don't bother about giving you change, so you pretty much pay 10 euros wherever you are!

After our first reconnoitre, we decided that to enjoy the bands and the atmosphere, the best idea was to arrive early and drink very slowly.  In all we managed to try four different tents some more exciting than others, on the last day we tried the Augustiner tent which turned out to be "more sedate" than some of the others.

 

 

 

After the beer drinking we tried the rides at the fair - even managed to get Vicki on some rides.  As the picture proves - not sure she liked me much after!

 

 

 

We did get a good deal on the public transport, as we managed to get a "Partner" day ticket which allows up to 5 people to travel on the one ticket for 10.20 euros each day, this covered the tube, the S-trains, trams and buses.  Plus, you can buy it in advance and then validate it on the day you travel. Much cheaper than the single tickets at 7.50 euros a go.

 

If you enjoy beer (the cold, fizzy type) in large quantities, like lots of noise, singing and crowds I would recommend Oktoberfest.  But is was quite nice to get back to normal size glasses afterwards. Cheers!