Prior to leaving the States, we agreed that we would take the weekend after my birthday and head to Munich for Oktoberfest. The annual harvest festival had been celebrated by the ancient Bavarians first as a ritual celebration of the god of … ah, who cares. Bottom line, it’s the world’s biggest festival solely for the celebration of beer, plus an excellent place to get a good fill of traditional German food (despite what Dennis Leary says, not all German food is just ground meats in an animal casing).
An Opal Wagon (rather, Wagonette by American standards) was rented for a very cost effective weekend rate. We knew this car was going to see a lot of us, what we didn’t realize was that we would be spending the better part of our weekend in it. And come Sunday, boy did it smell like it.
Disclaimer: This is not one of those posts where we replay an awful travel experience for the amusement of others. In this case, the travel mishaps were incredibly amusing for us as well.
The trip started off as uneventfully as possible. A quick swing through the grocery store for some travel food (bread, cheese, salami, grapes, peaches and a big ol’ bag of Nutella flavored Muslix which happens to be a fantastic culinary invention). Remember this shopping list, some of the items are to be revisited later in our story.
Driving through Switzerland can be four very rewarding hours for anyone who enjoys scenic mountain vistas, picturesque Swiss villages and cows – lots and lots of cows. There were cows in fields, cows in orchards, cows in people’s front yards. I even saw two cows in what was essentially an inner lawn of a highway off ramp. And being someone who is fond of cows for their stately manner and curiously funny demeanor, I was perfectly fine with all of this. Lausanne, Bern, Interlaken and Zurich passed by with predictable regularity, bringing us closer to the German border town of Lindau.
Lichtenstein? Did I just see a sign for Lichtenstein? The map said we were going to have to make a 10 minute dip into Austria, but I don’t remember anything about Lichtenstein.
Sure enough, we were in Lichtenstein. I’ll say this up front – Lichtenstein is gorgeous. With near perpendicular mountain faces bordering every little hamlet, the place was stunning. That said, it was also microscopic, and as we made our way through the country in about 15 minutes. Seriously, the place makes Vatican City feel like Texas. And to top it all off, the sign on the Austrian border said “Gut Fahrt,” which brought ceaseless joy to our adolescent minds.
Ah, the Autobahns. I had forgotten about these. No speed limit, no mercy. Then again, we were in an Opal, so I wasn’t holding onto any delusions of breaking the land speed record. As we made our way on, I of course accelerated to 165km/hr, roughly equating 100mph. And while admittedly I’d gotten the Geo up to 165 on the 401 in Canada, this was still a rush (or maybe it was just the vibrating steering column and creaking frame on this French-made masterpiece that was frightening the hell out of me).However, the fun was not to last because as luck would have it, the vast majority of the Autobahn between Lindau and Munich was being worked on, and we spent more time creaking along at 20km/hr. *Worth noting here is that the official driving time from Geneva to Munich was to be 5 1/2 hours. In reality, we were nearing hour 7 mark after the Lichtendetour and traffic. Still 150km to Munich, and we’ve got a sinking feeling that its going to feel like much longer.
3 hours later, we get to Munich. After 9 hours in the car, we still had to find somewhere to park before doing anything else. We had the names of a few motorhome camp sites around town, and a VERY poor map of Munich printed off the computer (Jaren took every opportunity to remind me how poor the map’s quality was). Eventually we made our way through the city to a mobile park, with about 1,000 campers neatly lined up, but no room at the inn for our little wagon. Boo. (Europeans seem to have really embraced the RV culture, Uncle Bill would be proud).
Our other options were another mobile campsite we knew the location of and a proper campsight in the Southern part of the city we did not have a map of. After starting to make our way back across Munich, we decided the other site would be the same problem, and that we should just find a quiet street to park on. The plan had been to sleep in the car all along (thus, the wagon), so this wasn’t too big a deal. After 45 minutes of somewhat bewildered weaving trough the city (there were street pronunciation issues, which is understandable if you’ve ever tried to find Linzenkeinenbergerstraße). As an aside, Munich at night is quite beautiful. All the old buildings and plazas are light up, and everything has this feeling of understated majesty. Really, do go sometime.
Finally, we settled on a quiet street, put our sheets up in the window (as seen here) and waddled to a corner restaurant for a bite and a much needed beer.
After our much needed beer and bite to eat, we got all tucked in. Good night, sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite--we didn't need to worry about that--no beds here, just the hard floor of the back of an Opal!
There is nothing quite as jarring than waking up in the back of a car with the windows shrowded, only to open them and find these sights staring back at you.
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Being the good campers we are, we brushed our teeth with some bottled water we had brought, took a Kleenex wipe to our faces and applied some deoderant as the residents of this upper class Munich neighborhood walked by and stared. Two Americans, Swiss plates, French car – I’d stare too. But it was morning, the gas stations were open and we could figure out where we were and, more importantly, where we were going.
1 comment:
“Gut Fahrt." That is hilarious! LOL. Steve, you are a great storyteller. Keep 'em comin'!
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