Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle is a 19th century Bavarian castle. Located about two hours on the train from Munich, the castle was built by Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner, the King's inspiring muse. Apparently its the most photographed building in Germany.

The castle's famous fairytale appearance lends itself to frequent use in popular culture including being the inspiration for Disneys castle which was why Mel was so keen on seeing it. It was a great day trip and was definetly worth the long train ride, it was also great having a day to recover from the two previous sessions in Munich.

Day Two Oktoberfest 2007

After waking up with a slight headache we decided to head to the Hofbrau beer hall where my friend from work Leah had been really organised and got a table already. The Hofbrau beer hall is know to be the crazyiest of them all and of course has the most Kiwis and Aussies. There was no waiting for beers this time and within about 30 seconds we had our first steins. The table started to get out of control pretty quickly and before we knew it there was smash steins people dancing on tables and hugs and kisses from random stangers. It wasnt long before our first casulty when Leah fell on the table and split the top of her eye open with the top of a stein, after a bandade and a quick nap she was back in action. Her friend who's favourate saying of the day was "Get involved!" soon became the second with a gash on her hand from being too crazy with the prosting!

Before we knew what had happened we were outside again and this time wandering around Munich. I lost Mel when I went into a subway and since Mels phone was out of credit I couldnt call her. I managed to find my way to a subway and a helpful German pointed me out the right train and we chatted on the way to the campsite. Mel made it back a while later and we had another frozen night in the tent, we got woken at 3am when a drunk kiwi tried to get in our tent assuring us that it was his. After some forceful convincing me move to the front of the tent only to spew over Mels converse and on our front tarp! We somehow got back to sleep since we knew we had a big day visiting Neuschwanstein Castle in the morning.

Opening Day Oktoberfest 2007

We got up at about 7am and had our free breakfast from PP Travel which consisted of some warm baked beans and some stale toast. After that we jumped on the first bus towards Oktoberfest. We arrived outside the Lowenbrau Beer Hall at about 8.30am and lined up outside waiting for the doors to open. At 9am on the dot the doors burst open and we rushed to get a table. If your not at a table then you dont get served! So we then had the three hour wait until the first drinks. We let three Italian guys sit with us then four other Aussie chicks and we were full.

The brass band started playing and then all hell broke loose at 12pm! The waitresses in traditional dress brought out steins 10 at a time and dropped them on the tables! It wasnt long before everyone was getting crazy, it only took the italians about 3 sips of beer. We partied hard there for a while then made our way to our friends table when the Italians started to get out of control and the girls became nervous. We then kept drinking hard into the afternoon until we couldnt drink anymore, we then went outside for a walk around, sample some food and Mel wanted to go on some rides. After a huge day we made it home to our freezing tent and rock hard and icy ground. Next time I will remember to bring a jumper and not just a beer coat.