Oktoberfest

We just got back from our first Oktoberfest and we had a blast. Though we were only in Munich for 26 hours we made the most of our time there. After taking the 5am train from Wiesbaden we dropped our bags and headed for breakfast. After a quick uneventful breakfast we joined up with the free walking tour of Munich. Our tour guide Lauren was great. Here's some of the things we saw:

20070925 - Munich tour

We finally got to hear the story of how Oktoberfest really started. You can read that story here (and it has nothing to do with the harvest or the month of October): http://www.ofest.com/history.html

You must have tickets at Oktoberfest for a tent in order to drink. We had tickets in the Stifl/Wienerworld tent which holds about 300 people. This is small compared to tents by Paulaner and HB that can hold 5000+. Our tent was a lot of fun though. Our night started at about 6pm.



As the evening went on there was lots of singing and dancing....




Before the night was through we were all a bit tipsy and very silly.....


See all our photos from our night at Oktoberfest here:

20070925 - Oktoberfest

If you'd like to read more about Oktoberfest you can go to their website: http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/

The kitchen (part 2)

In order for the workmen to come install our kitchen, I had to move everything out of that space. So, the guest room, which was finally starting to look like a guest room, soon became a storage room for all our kitchen stuff. This is the mess I created on Wednesday.


We had a few setbacks yesterday with the kitchen, but for the most part it is in. I've even cooked our first meal already. We didn't really know what it would look like since the landlord picked everything out, but after seeing the bathroom he did, we weren't worried. The final result: We love it! Here's what it looks like:









Now its not your typical american kitchen. Everything is smaller...really. Here are a few examples:
The refrigerator and freezer are separate and mini. Thank goodness we have an american refrigerator in the basement.


They are also good at using every last inch of space, this sometimes makes for some very small storage spaces. Check out the shelves above the stove and next to it:

Our trip to Umbria

Our friends Chantal & Peter emailed us in August to let us know they'd be in Umbria for three weeks. Since they now live in Australia, we jumped at the chance to visit them and take in the beauty Umbria and Tuscany have to offer. Here's a glimpse of our trip:


Here's the link to the album where I've added captions to many of the pictures:

20070913 - Umbria w Chantal & Peter

Another room down

The bedroom is now painted and after Thursday we'll have our very own (permanent) kitchen.

Here's a "before" picture of the bedroom and the "after" shot (we do still need to finish the curtains though). For those of you that have seen our place in Maryland the color should look very familiar.

Wurzburg

Wurzburg is the Franken wine capital in Germany. Its about a 2 hour train ride from Wiesbaden so I decided to check it out on Sunday.


The two main sites I checked out were the Residence and Fortress Marienberg. Both are homes to the PrinceBishops when the state had merged church and state. Along with the merging of c&s came the new position of princebishop. (history lesson brought to you by my Residence tour guide)

Both sides were quite impressive. Here's a picture looking up at Fortress Marienberg.

The Residence does not allow you to take pictures inside but I did take some of the gardens. The building was build to resemble Versailles and it certainly does. I would expect the gardens would be amazing in the spring.





I had planned to spend the rest of my afternoon wine tasting, since that was part of the draw of this town. My first stop was Haus des Frankenweins, and it was a good thing it was. Here I was able to taste wines from a lot of the other vineyards. The woman that did do the tasting explained that many of the other vineyards only offer tastings for a fee and with a reservation. I certainly lucked out.

The most common grape in Franken is the Silvaner. Many of the bottles from this area are not your typical wine bottle. Here's a picture of what they do look like. There's a few myths as to why the bottles look this way (I'll give you the short versions). The first is that wine was enjoyed from a leather bag way back when, that had this shape and so the shape stayed when the moved to bottles. The other story is that because wine was cheaper to obtain than water, everyone in Wurzburg used to make their own wine. The royalty wanted to distinguish their wine from all the others so they designed these special bottles to set them apart. I don't know which story is true, if any.

There's a lot to check out in Wurzburg (http://www.wuerzburg.de/system/international/englisch/index.html)

Neroberg

With Javier out of town I decided to do some exploring myself. On Saturday I rode my bike over to Neroberg, maybe one of the richest neighborhoods in Wiesbaden. The houses here are amazing and its hard to believe that just one family ever lived in these homes.

At the end of the neighborhood there is a train, the Nerobergbahn, that takes you to the top of the hill. From there you get an amazing view of the city, can sunbathe at the Opalbad while enjoying the view, check out the Russian Church nestled in the woods or have a drink at the cafe.

The train is impressive because it works with water and gravity alone. It was a short ride and well worth it! Here's a website with some more information: http://english.wiesbaden.de/index.php