Oktoberfest 2008

How many occurrences equate tradition?

As if I really needed an excuse to, you know, travel and drink with one of my Marine buddies. While most of my commentary from last year still rings true the difference in photography between that one and this (full set there) is pretty freakin drastic. I wish I could claim it’s better but will settle for different.

We ended up in Munich on the last day of the fest and it was packed, easily five times the people as last time. We didn’t plan to spend the day in the tents for this go instead opting to feed off the collective energy for a while, grab just a few beers, and gorge on that fucking chicken that I lusted after for the last year.

Seriously, it’s just chicken > season > roast > cut in half > eat with fingers. Why isn’t this done everywhere?

Wouldn’t mind going for three next year.

Posted in Culinary Fratricide, Germany, Travel | 3 Comments »

GhettoNet.DE

Greetings from Deutschland. I speak from the suction cup.

Connectivity, one way or the other. Mother of invention, folks.

Oh, here was lunch:

Kinda love it here.

Posted in Culinary Fratricide, Germany, Nerd, Transport, Travel | 4 Comments »

Convergence

Given my current work load (ha) I’ve the profound ability to peruse many a site while shackled to my corporate sponsored drudgery. As such my morning browsing reliably brings me to a few dozen sites and in it’s not uncommon for degrees of familiarity or even outright relationships to exist between two seemingly unrelated topics.

The second organizational unit in the ever-reaching branches that compose my RSS Tree (the first being _Acquaintances) is a myriad of artists I follow such as Ashley Wood, Rob Sheridan, Thomas Babbey, Eliza Gauger, Christopher McCulloch, and others. It was via Jhonen Vasquez that I first found out about the closing of Nova Express, then later over at Coilhouse.

While I detest LA, and this is a topic that seems to come up every few days in conversation, it’s a shame that yet another odd, properly unique snowflake is consumed in the flames of consumerism. I really can’t phrase it better than those previously linked did, and I think it likely that most have a similar place they can relate to in the same manner.

The next step in this vapid flow chart brought me to the flickr set of user Crashwork which accordingly led to pictures of relics from the Residenz in Munich. Being an iconic point for any tourist in the area I was unsurprised that many of the shots I took mirrored those of this particular user which were taken two years prior.

The above (Antiquarium) adorns postcards and is perhaps the most common amongst shots taken at the Residenz.

[ all shots in the left column are via Crashwork ]

The world feels just a little smaller.

Posted in Convergence, Exhibit, Germany, Travel | No Comments »

Wanderlust Ki– Erm, Squire.

Sweet, Tumblr rolled out an update. Bitter, completely wonky since they did so.

Finally got around to sorting and uploading my photos from Munich. Not sure why I let three weeks go by before sorting the wheat from the chaff, as a rule I attempt to keep things as digitally organized as possible but what can I say. It was fun to look back at a few of the shots, but it didn’t take long to realize I don’t have any travel plans in queue at the moment. Allow me to amend, no travel plans of the entertainment persuasion. Another trip to Boston is on the horizon, and I’m getting closer and closer to a decision in the impending dilemma of where to attend school, but these are basically handfuls of sand in as far as quenching my travel thirst.

In the past year I have been to:

• California
• Boston (will be 2x)
• New York (3x)
• New Haven (>24 hours)
• Germany
• London (though my passport confirms, doesn’t bloody count)
• Dallas
• Chicago

All told the roster isn’t terrible, despite being partially inflated, but I want more – especially of the international variety. There are only a few places on my list as far as the states are concerned that I have yet to visit:

• Death Valley
• Las Vegas
• New Orleans
• Alaska
• Yellowstone National Park
• House on the Rock

While I’m not canceling the rest of the US out, and am sure to add to the above list as time goes by, I can’t get as excited when compared to:

• The Amazon
• Machu Picchu
• Cairo
• Tokyo
• Australia
• Sights used in the filming of Monty Python and the Holy Grail
• —I’m stopping here because the list is loooooong, and my moneys are shoooooooort.

It’s possible that the feelings I get when experiencing a new place will fade with time, encounters becoming less vivid and enjoyable as my memories go through the gentle wash cycle of years passing. Until that happens my current priorities remain, and nearly all efforts mundane and necessary are to that greater cause.

Though I dote on him constantly, were it not for the Woodgimus McPrime I might embrace a more nomadic lifestyle, shirking the comforts of “home” all together. The feline is a many things, above all a hefty double edged-sword that often doubles as an anchor (he’s dense enough…) keeping me in reality. For now the two of us will content ourselves with the pursuit of knowledge, limiting our excesses and pilfering what small trips as can be obtained on our meager budget, more than likely partaking in the credentialatory motions of “College” along the way.

More than likely the means will lead to the desired ends, and one can only hope that the world doesn’t suddenly become more adept at destroying itself in the interim. It would be a pity to those in addition to myself if all those places us would-be travelers hold in our minds were gone when the opportunity finally came to see them.

Posted in Germany, Travel, Utterance | 2 Comments »

Prost!

< Oktoberfest > Festival < / Munich >

Two days ago I returned to the United States, my trip to Oktoberfest in Munich completed sans deforming maladies or sustained unpleasantness. The trip itself was the brain child of a Marine buddy who opted for the 4 year re-up out in Stuttgart and easily convinced me to partake in satiating my wanderlust with a few liters of beer and brief visit to his neck of the Bavarian woods.

With only four days in Deutschland bodily functions were mostly ignored in favor of adopting the more alluring sense of actively chilling in as many locations as possible. Many a beer garden was supported while still allowing maximum absorption of local flair, if not full out charm.

Day one involved a day trip to a few of the smaller towns not far from the southern area of Stuttgart. Among these was a monastery in Maulbronn.

My buddy’s wife had been here recently with her German class and while she had prefaced the suggestion with claims that it might be boring we all enjoyed the trip to this slightly-touristy but classically aged monastery. The concept of “old” doesn’t really exist for most of the US beyond the 18th century so churches and areas founded three to four hundred years prior to that still happily appeases my need for the properly antiquated. The three of us rambled around the grounds and then the church, finalizing the small visit at a local eatery where we boldly ordered without really knowing the full contents of what we were to consume aside from the half-liter pilsners.

Due to unknown road closures my generous hosts were able to improvise the journey back and another trip to a beer garden closed out the night.

Day two brought a larger scope of the base, which while mostly hosting folks of the Army persuasion was still awesome, and a chartered bus to bear us safely into the bosom of Munich’s Oktoberfest. I had heard about this 6 million person a year festival and read up on it’s rich history and traditions, as well as listened intently to my buddy’s accounting of Bavarian garbed patrons and their table standing antics, swinging heavy beer-filled glass steins all the while. While impressed with the sheer size of the grounds as we trekked across the puddle-filled parking lot, nothing could have prepared me as we hit our first tent.

Now, “tent” is entirely the wrong word. These several story high structures are constructed and decorated months in advance by each of their corresponding brewery sponsors. Each holds thousands, is distinctly unique and functional while hosting a live band and the means to dispense thousands of liters of fine beer alongside roast chicken and a myriad of other items. Our first, Hippodrom, slapped me in the face much as a wronged female would, only instead of the angsty stare and silent fuming I was left with the stinging imprint of sound, people, and intense hospitality. Age didn’t matter, neither did your language or garb. I saw guys with their daughters, both traditionally dressed, alongside others that were clearly American – scourge of all Europe. I was instructed on the proper toasting etiquette and greeted with warm smiles and clinking steins for the duration of our time there.We progressed on to other tents and were met with equally sincere welcomes and even more beer. I mostly observed those around me as they enjoyed the simpler aspects of the fest (see: BEER) but not ignoring a genuinely global appreciation of what was transpiring. I remained self-conscious of my lack of ability to say much outside of my native language, at least until I had a few liters in me, but it didn’t seem to bother anyone. We drank with people from Germany, France, America, and beyond. A good time was had.

I won’t go in to the details of the voids in my memory of the return trip to the bus or relate my puzzled looks when I saw quite of a few decidedly blurry pictures I seem to have taken, but I will remark on the sheer inability to describe how utterly universal the festival was. Yes, alcohol is a social lubricant and grows only more potent as it’s volume increases, but the vibe was one of celebration without worry. Joy in the simple act of a toast, oft repeated, and in watching those around you have a good time often not realizing that you are in the thick of the same feeling they are.

Suffice to say, if you have the means I cannot endorse your attendance enough.

The following day hangovers were nursed and we went back to Munich to enjoy some of the sites other than the fairgrounds. We visited the city’s Marienplatz, Residens, Frauenkirche, and walked the majority of the downtown area. The US needs to add public squares to remedy it’s increasingly long list of detriments. Yes, these are tourist magnets but I’m sure their historic credence with the locals accounts for much. On second thought, stay how you are U.S. for all I can imagine is Las Vegas and it’s butchingly butcheristic butchery of actual sites.

There were naturally a myriad of occurrences, both in transit and with the people I was fortunate to enough interact, that will pass without comment. The combined sum of experiences associated with this trip are as rich as they are many and will not be soon forgotten. To my hosts: I cannot say how much I appreciate your friendship and generosity.

Things of late being what they are, this trip was a much needed dosage of what I feel life should be about.

Posted in Germany, So one time..., Travel | No Comments »