Chris had mentioned this website before we left for our trip called couchsurfing.com where total strangers can surf to find other total strangers and then spend the night on their couch. I was abhorred. What? You want me to spend the night with a stranger who could rob us or beat us or rape us? Are you insane? BUT, as the weeks have rolled by and I see our dollars wasted on crappy hostels, I thought what the hell. Plus, we had met some couples along the way that had talked about it and had great experiences. So, still leary, I went to the website. I have to give it to them, they calmed my fears. All my questions were answered. I set up a profile for us. It was kinda like EBAY, people rate each other after couchsurfing experiences and the more positive responses from other members, the better you look as far as hosting, or being hosted.

So, our first couchsurfing experience was in Munich. The Hostel rates doubled after the first two days due to Oktoberfest and were well out of our budget. Daniel took us in (along with 4 other poor hotel-less/hostel-less souls). We stayed with him for two nights and had a wonderful time. He trusted us with keys to his flat and offered up his computer and kitchen. We were also very lucky in that we were the only couple that we got the blow up mattress while others got the floor. He was great fun to talk to regarding travel stories. It truly gave us a positive opinion of the couchsurfing network along with fostering a sense of companionship amongst different nationalities. We are so gonna do this again!

Tags: Couchsurfing,Munich,Oktoberfest
Categories: Becky Blogs, Couch Surfing, Germany
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How do you desbribe chaos on paper? It even makes me have a loss of words. We (Chris, Julie and I) took the EARLY train from Kaiserslautern to Munich in the southern region of Germany known as Bavaria today so we would not miss one of the opening parades of Oktoberfest on the opening weekend. There were SO many people.

Oktoberfest begain as a wedding celebration for Ludwig I, one of the past kings of Bavaria back in the 1800’s, if I remember correctly, and it has been repeated since then every year. I am sure that initially it was just music and dancing and food, but roll the clock forward to 2006 and now it is just crazy. Try to imagine mixing a state fair, and amusement park and a frat house party all together and you are pretty close to what it is like.

The main street has all these tents that they assemble new every year. Each major beer company sponsors a tent and on top of that alot of them have themes (fish house vs. family orriented vs. college crazy). Most bavarian Germans wear the traditional clothes to Oktoberfest. Men in their Leiderhosen and fancy socks and women in their dirndl (which basically makes it looks like their breasts are in a wonderbra and about to pop out of the outfit. Chris thought that it was great! LOL)

So in the tents is where most of the action happens. You are lucky to get a seat if you don’t have reservations. Once you finally find a place there is alot of food that you can order, but most people it seems survive on huge 1 Liter mugs of beer, along with pretzels with sweet mustard and huge radishes. The beer is brewed special for Oktoberfest and I was told had an alcohol content of over 6.2%. All I know is that it didn’t take long for it to knock me on my ass. Also in each of the tents, high on a platform, is a band. They play traditional German songs of course and everyone sings and dances on the tables, but some of the songs they played that really drove the crowd into a frenzy were like Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Country Road by John Denver. Yeah you heard me right, John Freakin’ Denver. They knew all the words, and in fact, of the three tents we drank beer in, we heard that song being played three separate times!!!

After all the beer you can then stumble over to where all the rides are. The lines were short and they were all fun. All were except the Olympic Rings. Five loop-d-loops all in a row after drinking about 1 1/2 - 2 L of beer is never a good idea! Just trust me on this one, O.K.? That is unless you like vertigo and nausea, and if so, go on ahead. I dare ya!

Tags: Bavaria,Munich,Oktoberfest
Categories: Becky Blogs, Germany
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