Munich: Oktoberfest

So, there were very few parts of my trip that were planned in advance, Oktoberfest was one of them.  Knowing that I would be in Europe in late September and having a last name like Hertenstein, it was a given that I needed to go to Oktoberfest.  And it did not disappoint!

After flying into Vienna and taking the train to Munich (it's not surprising that flights into Munich were extra expensive during Oktoberfest), I finally arrived and was almost ready to partake in the festivities.  The only thing that I was missing was my very own drindl :)  Luckily, there was a very convenient pop-up store in the train station especially for all of us tourists :)  While I was on a budget, it was a very good use of 50 Euro as I got a lot of use out of it and really got into the spirit!

My first three days in Munich were with my friend Jared.  Jared and I learned a few things during our time at Oktoberfest:

(1) Despite both having German names, we don't speak German very well

(2) Even if you see Columbus natives wearing OSU gear, they may not be true fans.  This seemed like blasphemy to us.  I mean, really, who from Columbus does NOT know the OSU fight song?!  Apparently fire fighters who just liked the color of the T-shirt

(3) The women who work in those tents must work out all year to prepare because those full steins are REALLY heavy and they carry like 4-5 at a time in each hand!

(4) If you are trying to go to a club in the evening and are told that you have to be German to enter so don't say anything in line, that's more of a suggestion.  If you put into your iPhone App translator "Can we come in for a drink" and just hold your phone up and play it for them, they will laugh really hard and let you in because you were creative and obviously amusing.

(5) The iPhone translation app is NOT anywhere close to being correct!

I had booked an extra two days at Oktoberfest as I was planning to meet up with some of my friends from Yacht Week.  However, unfortunately, we had phone issues and I was unable to find them at the tents.  That said, I have found that it is INCREDIBLY easy to meet new friends at Oktoberfest, even if you are alone!

My first day alone, I was able to make friends with a Slovakian family, including a mom who stood up to chug her Stein :)  We may have had some language barriers, but it was a lot of fun regardless :)

And on my last day there, I met a group of guys from Amsterdam on my walk to the fairgrounds!  These guys were absolutely hilarious, and to do this day crowd my Facebook news feed with updates in a language that I certainly do not speak!  I hope to see them again soon!

Despite all the fun that I had at Oktoberfest, there was one thing that made me smile at my third hotel.  It was possibly one of the most clever hotel accessories that I've seen!

Belgrade, Serbia

All - I know that it's been nearly six months since I've updated my travel blog, but after my recent trip to Australia, I was inspired to start it up again.  Instead of jumping straight to my Australian adventures, I decided I wanted to update everyone on the last few stops on my European trip this past summer/fall.  Following Warsaw, my next stop was Belgrade, Serbia.  These updates may be slow, but I will get to them!  Now - this is quite a long post, so if you make it all the way to the end, I salute you!

When I told people back home that the next stop on my journey was going to be Belgrade, the most common response that I got was "Why?"  My response, of course, was "Why not?", however, the reason that I chose Belgrade was based on recommendations from other travelers that I had met.  Although, in the cab from the airport to my hostel my cab driver said: "American, huh?  And you're here because...?  I hope you are meeting up with friends and not all alone."  I was nervous for about 30 seconds before realizing that was silly - especially since once again Jared had come through for me and linked me up with Nadezda (more on her below).

Hostel Life

The only negative thing that I will say about my time is Belgrade is that it was definitely the worst of all the hostels that I stayed in.  It was very close to the river, and as such had a very bad mosquito problem -- and for some reason or another, they love me.  Aside from that, once again, I met some really great people!  One of the employees was especially helpful through our trip, and even organized the night out my first night there - thank you, Srdjan!  Additionally, Keryn and Claire made the time in the hostel a lot of fun!  And of note, on that first night out, we had about a 30 minute walk to the club and for some reason we had two dogs that followed us the entire way and barked at anyone who got to close to us...this is probably the closest I will ever come to having my own security detail!

History

Breaking now to be serious for a minute:  Like many of the places that I visited on this trip, there were major historic events that had occurred during my lifetime.  Unlike some of the other places, I actually remember what happened in Serbia in 1999.  In fact, I remember Mr. Guy bringing everyone in the high school into the auditorium to explain to us what was going on.  Seeing some of the affects still standing really puts a lot of thing in life into perspective.

Old Town/Castle

As had become common for me, I decided to take a few tours while there.  One of the tours went through the Old Town and also the Castle.  The difference in architecture between the Old Town and New Belgrade was night and day, and the Castle offered some incredibly beautiful views!

However, this in itself was not without danger:

I also very much found the following humorous, and I think if I ever do anything worthy of having a statue of myself made, I would hope that someone does this to it, albeit - wine is obviously my drink of choice:

However, there was one thing that excited me more than it probably should have, and no one else seemed to understand why I was so excited about this - but it was a little piece of home :)  I brought it home with me, although if customs ask, I did no such thing.

(if you don't know why this was exciting to me, you are obviously not from Ohio)

New Belgrade/Beach

One of the other tours I took while in Belgrade was a bike tour through New Belgrade.  It was almost shocking the difference between the two parts of the city.  New Belgrade was very interesting to see, however, with mostly communist architecture was not what many would call visually appealing.

That said, on the ride back, the group stopped for drinks along the beach, which was incredibly beautiful.  And, after a long bike ride, there's nothing like an ice cold beer by the beach :)

Nadezda

Lastly, I do want to give a special thanks to Nadezda who was nice enough to take me out and show me some of the more local hang outs!  She is definitely cooler than I am, and I was able to experience a different side of Belgrade than I would have otherwise, and I'm very appreciative to that!

One of the main nightlife attractions I had heard about Belgrade from friends who had been there previously were the floating nightclubs.  And thanks to Nadezda and her friends, including Nouri, I was able to experience these with some of the most fun people I've met in a long time :)

Overall, it was an amazing trip in Belgrade and I recommend it to anyone who is looking for places to go in Eastern Europe -- just stay in a nicer hostel/hotel than I did!