From beer tents to castles

My four days in Germany seemed to fly by, yet at the same time each individual day was so packed with activity that it feels like I was there for a week.

After multiple thwarted attempts in the past to get to Munich for Oktoberfest, I finally made it this year, just in time for the festival's 200th anniversary.  The sheer number of people at the festival is staggering.  On Sunday we spent much of the day in one of the large beer tents, enjoying the German food and beer and the live Oktoberfest band, which played everything from traditional Bavarian songs to covers of John Denver and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  The tents are massive structures which hold thousands of people (the one we visited had a capacity of 5,900) and are elaborately decorated to provide a great backdrop for all the people in traditional Bavarian costumes.

The whole experience was a lot of fun, but very, very exhausting.  I think it will be a good long while until I try to experience Oktoberfest again.  But even more than anything else it was great to see some good friends who I hadn't seen in a while.

On Monday we ventured south of Munich to visit the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau Castles of King Ludwig II.  By most accounts, Ludwig was a crazy man with lots of money (which I guess is called eccentric), and the castles, while beautiful, reflect that.  The entire castle of Neuschwanstein - or at least the part that was actually completed prior to Ludwig's death - was built as an homage to the operas of Wagner.  Perhaps the most striking example of the pure decadence that the castle embodies is the large man-made cave recreated within the castle, so that the king could listen to one particular opera in a cave setting.  Crazy or not, the castles are gorgeous and we were lucky to have perfect weather.

The Neuschwanstein Castle may look familiar, as it was the inspiration for Cinderella's castle at Disney World.  However, both castles are set high up on fairly steep hills, so my legs are back to feeling like jello.  Definitely worth a visit, though.

Today I left Germany behind and headed to Austria, the third and final country on my itinerary.  The weather in Salzburg was a little dreary today, but I can already tell that it is a beautiful place.  I also got my first glimpses of one of the sights we will see on our Sound of Music tour tomorrow, and I'm so embarrassingly excited - I feel like a kid on Christmas.

Tonight after dinner we wandered into a tiny local bar to get a quick drink.  The place was decorated in a Morroccan style and was one of the coziest places I've ever discovered.  The few local patrons and the bartender/owner were beyond excited to have "real New Yorkers" in the bar. We immediately noticed a framed picture and autograph of Tom Cruise displayed prominently above the bar, and we were told (repeatedly and at length) that his latest movie Knight & Day was partly set in Salzburg, and one scene was even filmed in this tiny little bar.  I can't speak to the movie since I haven't seen it, but if you're ever in Salzburg look up Selim's for great hospitality and drinks.

And now I'm going to try to contain my excitement about the Sound of Music tour enough to get some sleep.  So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, goodnight!