A dream trip finally made reality. Back in March I threw out to a couple friends (Matt, Mike) the grand idea of hiking in the the Alps and going to Oktoberfest in Munich. After several months of planning with many ups and downs, including a job change, the trip came together.
First stop was Prague in the Czech Republic. Both of my travel friends had some Czech roots and were eager to "czech" it out. Having traveled to Prague in 2006 I was the perfect tour guide. Prague is highly walkable and we hit the major sites in just 2 days. A bad rain storm had us running into a restaurant where we waited out the storm with a beer. When we noticed the fine food we made dinner reservations and that turned out to be the best meal of the trip. Beef ghoulash with bread dumplings and potato pancakes = awesome!
A bus and a train took us to Munich, where we headed straight for the Oktoberfest grounds. Oktoberfest looks like a carnival at first with lots of rides and shops. There are about a dozen "tents" which are really semi-permanent structures made of wood that seat around 5,000 people each. Each one is uniquely decorated and serves just 1 type of beer. You walk in and are greeted by thousands of happy Germans, swinging huge 1 liter beer glasses. Do your best to find spare room at a bench with some locals, order beer, enjoy, repeat. Awesome!
After Bavaria most of our time was spent in Austria. We spent a night in the lake town of Zell am See. Its a ringer for Lake Tahoe. We spent a fine afternoon doing my first hike in the Alps; reaching a peak called Marakougel. The surrounding high peaks stole the show and I hope one day to come back and bag one of them. The final day had us exhilarated with a high Alpine drive on the famous Grossglockner road, before flying out of beautiful Salzburg.
More photos on my picasa feed.
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