Oktoberfest 2011

As per my promise of a few blogs ago....I can say that I have officially survived Oktoberfest.  So...while I had a great time...I must say that the rumors about what Oktoberfest is (drunken fest with idiots running rampant - just in case you didn't hear the same rumors as me) well, anyhow...all those rumors are absolutely true. 

Yep...true.

But...its also a great big party with people who belt out songs and laugh a lot and cheer each other on and meet new friends from all over the world.  So, like I said...I had a great time.

First...the outfit.  Yep...John and I wore our traditional Dirndle and Lederhosen and felt quite Bavarian that day.

Second...I think I may have said this already, but Oktoberfest is all about the beer and the boobs.  I think you'll find the photos reflect this for the most part. 

We walked around the fest and I had to take some photos just to show how many people and how crowded and how HUGE this place is...

 

And our friends, Christina and Matt...who wore their dirndle and lederhosen too!

And then the party itself.  We ended up trying to get into the Lowenbrau fest tent, but that was a big joke...We were squashed together trying to get to the door...we waited for about 1/2 hour before deciding it just wasn't worth it.

This is the photo John took of me waiting in the squashed line...he said he had to take it from above because it was so crowded...

...squashed or not that didn't stop John and Matt from getting a hostess to serve them their first beer of the night...

I was starving so we all got sandwiches...mine was less than satisfactory.  I was disappointed...ended up eating the salami and cheese and dumping the rest.  Oh well...they never did say Oktoberfest was for the food.  :)

We ended up going to the Paulaner tent and ran into friends of John's that he works with.  They scootched over and we spent the next 5 hours hanging out there.

...and making friends with the Brits...

and the belgians...

...and some Germans until someone said the word Nazi and then security came and started throwing people out.  Yeah.  Fun.

Then there was a girl at the Belgian table that lifted her beer stein and hit herself in the nose and gave herself a bloody nose.  That was actually quite funny.

Overall...it was an experience I won't soon forget....plus I got to wear my dirndle and that totally made it all worth it.  :)

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Little Man in Interlaken....

You *might* be thinking I'm talking about a "little person..."  i.e. midget...?  But no, alas you will be sorely disappointed to learn that my nephew, Orion, is half Swiss.  When he was born he adopted the name, Little Man and it stuck.  During the summer months, Orion can often be found with his dad, Sascha, in Interlaken, Switzerland.  Since we were driving that way to get to Triberg we decided to stop for the afternoon and play a little.

Sascha had to work, but he had left Orion with his friends at the Hotel Mattenhof...

It hadn't been more than 30 seconds that we were there before the boys had to play foosball...It was them against John...guess who won?!

If you guessed John you were WRONG!  It was a very exciting end to a foosball game...tied..one ball left and WHAM...they whacked it right into the goal before John even had a chance to spin...  He spent a few minutes crying in the corner and sucking his thumb.  *wink wink*

The kids had to do lots of hugging and investigating of Orion's summer stomping grounds...

Including petting the biggest dog EVER.

We decided to spend the afternoon at Trummelbach Falls.  Its one of the things I remember most from my last visits to Interlaken.  That might be because those were the fall where I lost my brand new $400 camera...They slid right into the pounding tons of water...I dove for the camera (yes, there are guard rails) and a German woman and a Japanese woman must have thought I was throwing myself over the ledge because they shrieked and made quite the scene. 

Maybe my desire to have a better experience there was what led us back that direction...it was very different.  Now they have a funicular to take you to the top and you can walk down...oh, and you have to pay to see them.  AND there is a touristy thing there too...little souvenir shops and all.  It was very strange, but we were glad we went...the falls were spectacular....even better than I remembered them.

You can get just a glimpse of the awesome power of the water from this short video....It was spraying us so hard...our backs were soaked from standing there for 10 seconds.

When we were done I figured the kids still had too much energy so we did runback races...they had to run long distance, do spins, jumping jacks, burpees and other forms of physical torture to get all that energy out.  Even Bella ran...in fact...she's got a set of little leggies on her...

Plus I made her climb a tree...she did pretty good...

Upon our return to the Mattenhof we met up with Orion's dad, Sascha, and had ourselves some delicious Thai food.  It was great fun to catch up with him and spend a little time with them.  Next summer we've already got plans for a longer trip to visit them...a little fishing...some canyoning...maybe I'll actually get to paraglide...?! 

Our final goodbyes were quite appropriate...they do call the Mattenhof the "funny farm..."  I wonder why.  :)

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