Oktoberfest

I am sitting here in bed and outside my window, I can hear the bands at the local brewery play the traditional German Folk Music, and from the sounds of it, everyone is having a good time.  I am tired, however, and my suitcase is packed.  T-shirts, chocolate, and a few presents for the children have been bought.  I have eaten my share of amazing pastry and fantastic food.  My feet are sore from walking all over Salzburg, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest and now it is time to go home.  My flight leaves in the morning and I am ready to go home and see my babies.  I miss them!  Today started off cool and as the day progressed I shed my raincoat and stuffed it into my backpack.  We boarded the s-Bahn in Erding and headed to the city center station Karlsplatz where we walked to the parade.  Sadly despite our best efforts, we didn't get a spot. On our tippy-toes, we were able to get glimpses of the bands, the wagons for each beer brewery, and plenty of people dressed in the traditional Leiderhosen and Dirndl and while I don't drink beer it was still an amazing sight to see.  I was pretty impressed to see how many young people were dressed up and except for Halloween, I doubt you wouldn't get too many youths in America on their free will to dress up like this.  Then it was on to Oktoberfest.  It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be and we had no trouble walking around. Oktoberfest is basically like a large state fair; however, at this one beer drinking is taken to a new level.  Each brewery has its own tent and unlike the first time, I went to Oktoberfest you can't just walk into any tent.  Now a reservation is required. No reservation and the bouncer is happy to send you on your way.  No reservation for us as these need to be made months in advance.  It didn't stop us from getting a foot-long bratwurst, brotchen, and a diet coke.  While we could have ridden the rides that most likely would have made us puke, we mostly spent our time at Oktoberfest looking for the best outfit.  You don't need to be German to where one of the traditional outfits as I saw plenty of Asians, Africans, Indians wearing some pretty amazing fantastic outfits.  They are for the young and the old and they come in a variety of styles and colors. We went just at the right time because as we were leaving coming up the train station escalator was a line about 2 miles long.  Well, it is time to say Auf Wiedersehen!  Next stop Atlanta.  In case you are wondering where are the other cities.  I haven't forgotten.  I will post those when I get home. Tshuss!