Frühlingsfest: Bavaria’s Spring Alternative to Oktoberfest

I don’t think I would love Bavaria as much as I do if it wasn’t home to so many wonderful beer festivals. I’ve been to a few since I’ve arrived here – Oktoberfest, obviously and Starkbierfest – both interesting and unique in their own special ways. Oktoberfest is world famous and is absolutely worth visiting at least once in your life if you are a beer enthusiast and can throw back a few liters of beer on any given day. Starkbierfest (which means strong beer in English) was unique in its merchandise – beer that is loaded with carbs and a lot of potential to get you really wasted. I was lucky enough to attend both of these beer festivals (sadly I never went to the Dachau Volksfest and will miss it this summer) and, even better, I was able to attend in my tracht wear (aka dirndl) – a traditional Bavarian dress!

This past weekend, I rocked my dirndl once again and headed out to join my friends for a day of beer and sunshine at this year’s Frühlingsfest celebration. I was expecting something along the lines of Oktoberfest size but I was met with a much smaller reality. Frühlingsfest boasts only two beer tents – Augustiner and Hippodrom – and takes up about 2/8 of the space that Oktoberfest occupied. (I only fully realized this when I was ascending the crest of the Wasserbahn (log ride) and could see the grounds of Theresienwiese laid out below us.) The festival includes a midway and carnival rides and tons and tons of delicious food and drink.

Upon arrival, my friends and I first decided to have a good old fashioned race down the massive slide. I was overconfident that I would win and definitely did not. My fellow American friend, Dieter, managed to beat both Jennie and I in a race back to ground level. This carnival slide was very sophisticated – with nine slide lanes, furry bottomed slide blankets, and an escalator that took you to the top. German’s are so efficient!

Dieter in the lead, me taking second place, and Jennie taking up the rear.

Garmisch, Again and the Blessed Comfort of Family in a Far Away Place

This blog can’t keep up with real life! I am not giving it any justice. I have so many things I want to write about and then I find that I have all the time in the world to write it down but I just… don’t. I get distracted. I get going on StumbleUpon. I start  chatting on FB. I pick up my book. I clean my bathroom. Seriously. I scrub the toilet instead. It’s pathetic. Anyway, I’m going to start with my recent trip down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen where I visited my Quasi-Mom, Christina, and my German Oma, Kathe for the weekend.

In case you missed the memo the first few times that I talked about it  – everyone in Christina’s family is pretty much mine, too. Neither one of us would have ever guessed that back in the fall of 2007, when she hired me to work at her candle store, that 3 1/2 years later, I would be hanging out with every member of her family in their motherland. I worked for Christina as both a candle store employee and as the babysitter for her adorable grand-daughter, Andrea, up until the summer of last year and became extremely close to her in the process. Christina and her husband, Barrie, have been like surrogate parents to me while I was living away from home and going to school and they have gone out of their way most of the time to take care of me. (Thank you for all of the tire changes, broken car door repairs, and home-cooked meals!) They’re wonderful! Christina’s older sister, Susie, I met through the family (she visited me in Munich during Oktoberfest!) as well and their mother, Kathe, who I met whenever she was staying in California and then, formally, after I’d found out that I would be going to Germany. More recently, I’ve become friends with Christina’s son, Dustin, as well, because he visited Munich back in February. I feel like he’s my big brother now, I love it! And, of course, there’s Drea in there, too. I’m her “Hairy” and I find myself missing her, too! Needless to say, I have been incredibly blessed with the comforts and consolation of family while I’ve been here in Europe and I couldn’t imagine how my experience here would have been different had that touch of familiarity been absent.

With that being said, Kathe lives here in Bavaria, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, so I have been visiting her a lot since I’ve arrived here in Germany. I now have pictures of Garmisch through the seasons. It’s been really cool, this little town is so beautiful and it has so much stuff to do and look at. This time around, however, I went there to see Christina who I hadn’t seen since I’d left California last June. Kathe and Christina picked me up at my house, met my host-mom and the girls, and then we drove from Munich to G-Pa, which was about an hour’s drive. It was nice to catch up with her gossip a little bit, which we’re soooo good at. When we got to Garmisch, we stopped first at the commissary, since Kathe works for the Army. I stocked up on American goodies – macaroni and cheese, blueberry bagels, Ranch dressing, French’s mustard, an industrial size bottle of Treseme conditioner, Ruffles Sour Cream and Onion potato chips. Oh man, I love cheating on German culture sometimes! After our shopping excursion, Christina and I went into the heart of the city and had a delicious Bavarian dinner – schnitzel for everyone (I ate mine and half of hers! D’oh!) – and we had beers and walked home. It was a beautiful twilight!

Garmisch-Partenkirchen after dark

Back at Kathe’s house we had a Skype video call with Barrie, Dustin, and Andrea and we all got an earful from that little chatterbox. She is getting so big and is talking so much since the last time that I saw her and I couldn’t stop laughing at the cute things that just came out of her mouth. It’ll be nice to play with her again – I hope she’s missing me! It was nice to see Barrie and Dustin, too, of course. We all went to bed after that and woke up slowly in the morning. After breakfast Christina and I decided to go to Ludwig’s Schloss Linderhof. I’ve been to nearly all of King Ludwig’s castles now! I feel accomplished. Linderhof was beautiful – and it’s the only castle that he ever fully completed (and it’s one of the smallest!). He didn’t even finish the Disney castle. Linderhof comes with Ludwig’s grotto and so that was really interesting to see. It’s the largest man-made cave in Europe, by the way. It was raining and it was a bit cold but I enjoyed the scenery and the castle itself and Christina and I had fun just hanging out, the two of us.

Mountain scenery from the path to Linderhof
I absolutely love this country! How can I ever leave?!

Schloss Linderhof

The view from the front side of Linderhof

Me with Neptune’s fountain

Painting in the grotto where Ludwig present Wagner’s opera

The castle, down below

We finished touring Linderhof and were back in G-Pa by 3 o’clock so we decided to walk into the city and check out the street market that was going on. The walk to the city is picturesque and there is a little field with about six sheep in it and they wear cow bells on their necks so you always know if they’re coming. We would stop and talk to them, pet them, and feed them dandelions. They were adorable! The market itself was so cute – very small town German and just adorable. And so many good aromas coming from all that delicious food. Christina and I ended up eating the 1/2 meter bratwursts and taste testing all kinds of yummy foods. It was a good way to pass through the afternoon and once we return home – we made a plan to send me back to Munich and Christina took me to the train station. We said our good-byes and then I settled in for the 90 minute train ride back into the city. I read my book the entire time (I’m in love with Lisa Gardner’s thrillers!) and snacked on all of my guilty pleasure American food the whole time!

Ultimately, it was a great weekend in Garmisch and I had so much fun with Christina – I really had missed her a lot and I can’t wait to spend more time with her once I’m back in California NEXT MONTH. Geez. It’s gone by so fast. Holy cow.

Next up on my blog-frenzy-agenda…

• The joys of spring and all that it brings – beer festivals, warm weather, sunburns, hay fever, bugs, an over abundance of work, and all kinds of other stuff.
• My job hunt back in California and how awesome I am as the future Mary Poppins.
• Books, books, books… and my GoodReads.com literary goal!
• Resuming my “52 Things in Munich” bucket list – I’m so behind!
• My thoughts and reflections on the last six weeks of the best year of my life. Can I even put it into words?!

This (not so) new German girl is finding out that
home really is where the heart is.

When In Rome: Easter Vacation (April 21st) Part 4

(I forgot to post this last piece! Sorry! It’s out of order now. Haha. Oh well. ENJOY!)

This past Easter I was able to visit Rome on vacation and I had an absolutely wonderful experience. I spent four days and five nights in Italy and was able to see so many unbelievable and breathtaking sights – things I never thought that I would ever be fortunate enough to see with my own eyes. I was also fortunate enough to meet a handful of really awesome travelers – people who I may never see again but will never forget! For blogging purposes, I’m going to break the adventure down into numerous installments so that I can include everything. This is the last piece of the adventure – documenting mine and Brenna’s last day in Rome, our travels, back to Munich, and my final thoughts and reflections on the whole trip.

I Have Not Forgotten About You–Resuming Life in Munich and the Daze of Spring

With all this talk of my Italian vacation, my life in Munich has kind of been overshadowed and I haven’t really been giving it much justice, have I? I am down to seven weeks here and the thought of that blows my mind. I have been having a horrible time balancing it out, too. I want to be home but I want to be here. I can’t keep myself from being in both places and, for a while there, the homesickness was eating me alive and turning me into an emotional mess. I think I’ve pushed past it though, I’m feeling better and more balanced. I’m not missing the days of vacation and I have so much to look forward to over the next few months and so things are good. All is well with this German girl. :)

The last week went easy on me, where both work and my social life were concerned. The girls were not in school so they had the week off and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn’t have to work until 3 pm everyday of the week. We watched a lot of movies (Nana is absolutely terrified of Tangled, next time I will let her watch it in German to take the edge off), played a lot of Angry Birds (the six year olds have surpassed me on the levels), and ate a lot of pasta (what else is new?). The weather was beautiful so my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the sun either at the English Gardens or BBQing at the Isar. Munich in the spring is absolutely stunning – the trees have all turned green and are flourishing with the rain and sunshine. Lilacs are blooming (my favorite!!), birds are singing, the sun is shining. Everyone here is happy!

Down at the Isar with friends

Sunset on the Isar

Bruno Mars in Munich?!?!?

Lilacs in a Bavarian approved vase

A little bit of home has found its way to Germany, too – my good friend, Christina, who I used to work for in Monterey, has come to Germany to visit her mom, Kathe, who I have mentioned before in this blog. I went to Garmisch this past weekend to visit her and had such a relaxing weekend full of family, food, and much needed relaxation. I will make a separate post about the weekend, of course, but for now, let’s just say it was incredibly wonderful to see her and even though I had to say hello and goodbye to a piece of home, I was grateful to have her here! Hopefully I get to see her again before she leaves.

On that note, darling Jennie is returning to Munich today! If you haven’t read her blog, Too Hard to Find a URL, go do it. She’s witty and intelligent and Canadian so obviously she’s worth knowing. I met her last summer, here in Munich, and she’s returning now for an internship at a law firm here in Munich so I’m excited to have her back here while I enjoy my last few weeks in Munich. I am going to meet her at her new apartment in a few hours, too! Fresh off the airplane!

Now that Easter vacation is over, it’s back to regular scheduled programming. The girls are back in school, the Frau is filling up her spring social calendar, I am back to being overworked, and life goes on. For seven more weeks (to the day), I will live my German life to the fullest possible extent. Frühlingsfest commenced on Friday so I hope to take advantage of that soon (but more on that later!) and it is now officially May! This time last year I was polishing off my Capstone project and presentation, preparing for graduation, leaving most of my jobs, and getting ready to move out of my apartment. It’s hard to believe that a year has gone by since then or that I’m even this close to the end of my experience here in Germany. Sometimes, especially now with the spring weather and the nostalgic scents of the season, it feels like I just got here. Hopefully, I can make the best of my remaining time and leave Munich with a heavy but happy heart.

When In Rome: Easter Vacation (April 20th) Part 3

This past Easter I was able to visit Rome on vacation and I had an absolutely wonderful experience. I spent four days and five nights in Italy and was able to see so many unbelievable and breathtaking sights – things I never thought that I would ever be fortunate enough to see with my own eyes. I was also fortunate enough to meet a handful of really awesome travelers – people who I may never see again but will never forget! For blogging purposes, I’m going to break the adventure down into numerous installments so that I can include everything. This is the third part of my vacation, which includes a day trip to Naples and Pompeii and plenty of complaints about Rome's horrible public transport.

When in Rome: Easter Vacation (April 19th) Part 2

This past Easter I was able to visit Rome on vacation and I had an absolutely wonderful experience. I spent four days and five nights in Italy and was able to see so many unbelievable and breathtaking sights – things I never thought that I would ever be fortunate enough to see with my own eyes. I was also fortunate enough to meet a handful of really awesome travelers – people who I may never see again but will never forget! For blogging purposes, I’m going to break the adventure down into numerous installments so that I can include everything. This is the second part of my vacation, which includes the second day in Rome – a tour of Vatican city and Piazza Novona!

When in Rome: Easter Vacation (April 17th–18th) Part 1

This past Easter I was able to visit Rome on vacation and I had an absolutely wonderful experience. I spent four days and five nights in Italy and was able to see so many unbelievable and breathtaking sights – things I never thought that I would ever be fortunate enough to see with my own eyes. I was also fortunate enough to meet a handful of really awesome travelers – people who I may never see again but will never forget! For blogging purposes, I’m going to break the adventure down into numerous installments so that I can include everything. This is the first part of my vacation, which includes the first day of travel and the mishaps that came along with it, and the first days in the city! After that, I’ll write about my day trip to Naples and Pompei and the last of the adventure. Enjoy!

Off to Rome! Ciao Bella!

Well, boys and girls, I owe the world some serious blog updates. I have been lazy. But, for now, I choose to travel instead and will be in Rome until Friday, the 22nd. Enjoy this lovely week of April and I will be back Easter weekend. Ciao!

Six Days in The Eternal City

It’s official! On Sunday, April 17th I am flying to Rome for a six day vacation! Brenna and I are flying on Swiss Air, stopping over in Zurich, and continuing on to Rome late Sunday night. We have a hostel outside of the city center, a tourist book, and grand plans for our Easter holiday. Naples, Pompei, the Sistine Chapel, the Coliseum, Vatican City, the Trevi Fountain. Cannoli’s and gelato, pizza, penne pasta, Italian wine. I never knew that I could be so excited about Italy – I didn’t even think twice about visiting before but now I can’t get it out of my head! The travel bug has definitely bitten, my friends!

Of course, none of those pictures are mine but I can’t wait until I have my own! Too bad my good camera is still broken. Boo! Although, I will mention that Brenna and I are going to do the Angels & Demons of Rome tour, following the plot from one of our favorite Dan Brown books of the same name. Yay!

Munich’s Spring Make-Over, Adventures in the English Gardens, Starkbierfest, Vacation Dreams, and Shameless Self-Promotion

Remember when I used to be really good about writing updates about my life? Those were the days. Ha. I promise you that I’ve been thinking about it – there just hasn’t been a lot of doing. I have so much to catch up so I hope that I can do it justice. This may be a fairly long update but I have a feeling that you won’t mind. :)

The best thing about my life in Munich right now is that SPRING IS HERE. And I don’t mean like, maybe spring is kind of deciding to show up… the season has done a full on, head first somersault into spring and it’s absolutely GORGEOUS. The trees started turning green sometime late last week and there’s no stopping them now. I imagine that sometime next week, Munich will be bathed completely in green and we will be in business. The weather has been absolutely breathtaking as of late – high 60’s, low 70’s for temperatures, blue skies, sunshine, cloudless afternoons. Lately I’ve been spending my days in the English Gardens, laying out in the sun with friends, picnicking, listening to music, and thoroughly enjoying the new season. I’ve gotten a few sunburns already – two or three – and as painful as they are, it’s always nice when you can say you got your first sunburn of the season in late March!

Here’s some pictures from our lay outs in the English Gardens that I graciously stole from my friends Facebooks and some that I stole from myself. Spring! Yay!