This non-American Life

Oktoberfest 2009 day 16: Das Schützen Festzelt

2009-11-03T09:49:00.000+01:00

Somehow we managed to survive another whole Oktoberfest, concluding with a day in the Schützen Festzelt. This is the largest tent at Oktoberfest, and they really know how to pack in the people.

As we were ordering up our first round of beers the tent shook with a mighty loud boom. Everyone jumped a bit except for the waitress, who calmly explained that they were doing some last-day-of-Oktoberfest ceremonial shooting over on the steps to the Bavaria statue, right next to the tent. There were more booms to come, so we might as well get used to it.

The feel and atmosphere inside the Schützen Festzelt was similar to that in the other large beer tents, and the food was about average for Oktoberfest tent food. Unlike most of the other tents, though, this tent had wines (and even weinschorle) on the menu in addition to beer. Can't wait to bring Em there next year.

The creepy mannequins attached to the walls were pretty cool, too.

The Kaiserschmarrn looked better than it tasted.

And there we have it, ladies and gentlemen: another year of Oktoberfest behind us. Whew.

Oktoberfest 2009 day 13: Weinzelt, good and bad

2009-11-01T13:49:00.001+01:00

After a couple nice visits last year, I was really looking forward to our evening reservation at the Weinzelt this year. Overall it was a fabulously fun Oktoberfest night, but my esteem for this tent has dropped considerably. I'll have to be on the lookout for a new favorite.

The main reason I love the Weinzelt is because almost all of the tables are booths, meaning there is a nice barrier between you and the asses of the drunk, sweaty, squirmy guys sitting at the table behind you. This little detail increases my enjoyment of a long session at Oktoberfest considerably. Another nice touch is that the Weinzelt stays open an hour later than the other tents.

The Weinzelt, per its name, serves a decent selection of wines instead of Oktoberfest beer. You can get weißbier at the Weinzelt, but not all night long (I forget at what time they actually stopped serving it). The food at the Weinzelt is top-notch, but comes with a similarly high price tag (evening reservations are around €80 per person). While I very much enjoyed my dinner, fine food seems kind of out of place at Oktoberfest. There's so much else going on around you that it's hardly possible to give your meal the attention and appreciation it deserves.

The worst part of the evening was getting into the tent: only one door was open, and there was a giant crowd of angry, drunk, reservation-holding people all shoving to get into it while asshole security guards looked on and offered no assistance. It was a horrendous experience, even by Oktoberfest standards. And from what I've heard from other people, this is pretty much standard practice at the Weinzelt on popular evenings. If you can't be bothered to allow customers into your tent in a way which does not squish the air out of their lungs, I'm not sure I can be bothered to fork over money for an evening reservation at your tent again. No matter how cute your flashing pink bunny ears, nor how awesome you Oktoberfest band's renditions of Lady Gaga songs.

We'll see which parts I remember most when next year's Oktoberfest comes around.

Greetings from... where do you think I am?

2009-10-28T00:49:00.001+01:00

Anyone know where I found these adorable cross walk signs? I mean, they're not quite as awesome as the East German Ampelmänner, but they're still pretty cute.

Put your guess in the comments. Maybe there will be a prize for those who get it right, or for those with the best answers.

UPDATE: We have a winner! Eva guessed correctly; these little guys are found in Andorra. More about our trip there soon.

Greetings from southern France

2009-10-25T20:11:00.000+01:00

Have I mentioned recently how much I love living in the center of Europe?

Italy: you say Bozen, I say Bolzano

2009-10-23T15:57:00.001+02:00

I was happy to finally get back to Bolzano (Bozen in German), a city where we spent some time many years ago and completely loved it. At the time we were living in Italy and found Bolzano's German-ness to be novel and charming; this time around it was the Italian side we were more interested in. Although the locals supposedly prefer German, the city feels almost perfectly bilingual, and almost every conversation I had involved exchanges in both Italian and German.

Luckily it wasn't too hard to find enough Italian details in Bolzano to completely delight me. Bolzano's cafes serve real espresso and delicious aperitivi. The city's center contains many winding, cobblestoned pedestrian streets teaming with life. The cuisine in most restaurants is heavily Austrian-leaning, but we had an amazing Italian dinner at Hostaria Argentieri. We took it as a good sign that the only menu available was in handwritten Italian, and and our instincts were dead on.

This time we stayed at the Parkhotel Laurin, a grand old-timey hotel with a gorgeous private park and an elevator that contains a sofa. The location was great for exploring Bolzano on foot, and the rooms were clean and modern. We've also stayed at Hotel Figl, which I can also highly recommend: central, good value, clean, good.

The views of the vineyards and Dolomites surrounding Bolzano are gorgeous, and there are many nice hikes that you can start right from the city. We skipped him this time, but I also recommend a visit to Ötzi. That is, if you can tear yourself away from people-watching as you sip your prosecco at an outdoor cafe.

Italy: Val Gardena

2009-10-21T17:58:00.000+02:00

The Dolomites were the perfect place to unwind after two weeks of Oktoberfest. A friend recommended Val Gardena, Italy - about a 3-hour drive from Munich. It's a ski resort area in the winter, and popular with hikers in the summer. Since we are now the shoulder season, we were able to get a great deal on a room with half board at Hotel Grones in the little mountain town of Ortisei (St. Ulrich in German).

Signs in the area were often posted in three languages: Italian, German, and another one which contained wacky things like ë. This turned out to be Ladin, a local language similar to Romansh (one of Switzerland's four official languages) and about equally decipherable. At the hotel and around town we heard all three languages being spoken around us, and it made my head swim a little. Our waitress clearly preferred speaking Italian with us, while the hotel owners were happier chatting in German.

The roads were small and windy, which made for some heart-thumping every time a tourist bus came flying towards us. There were a lot of tour buses. I don't want to imagine what it must be like in the high season.

We visited various little towns in Val Gardena (each with a cute little church and graveyard, some hotels, and at least one collapsed wooden barn). There was a little Sound-of-Music-style spinning involved. And a waist-tall squash. I'll let the photos say the rest.

In Munich tomorrow? Join the Carrotmob

2009-10-16T14:26:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow (Saturday, October 17th, 2009) afternoon Munich will experience its first Carrotmob. If you understand German, watch the video below (if you don't, check out Carrotmob's English-language website):

The idea behind Carrotmob is to reward businesses which pledge to become more environmentally-friendly by delivering a bunch of consumers to their door. In this case, a small Munich grocer has signed up to spend 30% of their sales from the Carrotmob to make environmentally-friendly improvements to their refrigeration system.

Tomorrow's Munich Carrotmob will take place from 12 to 3 PM at Löwenzahn, Lindwurmstraße 135. There are Carrotmobs in many other cities (especially around the US), so if you can't make it to Munich tomorrow, try looking for one in your area.

UPDATE: The Carrotmob was a success! Despite crappy weather, their money-raising goals were reached. When we went there seemed to be the perfect number of people milling around and buying things - no long line, but it was definitely the busiest shop on the block by far. Unfortunately the rain made us not so eager to stick around and listen to the band play, but it was still a fun time.

Italy: Bolzano's colorful market

2009-10-13T00:23:00.001+02:00

I could have wandered up and down this street all day.

Not that Munich doesn't have a nice market; it does. But for some reason everything looks more delicious when it's in Italy.

Luckily we didn't have to just look.

We came home with many delicious Italian treats from this market.

My husband gets credit for most of the photos. He was shooting away while I was buying as much as I could carry.

Hiding out in the Dolomites

2009-10-07T09:46:00.004+02:00

Greetings from Italy. We're recovering from Oktoberfest in a cute mountain resort town, because the best way to get over too much German beer, pretzels and kaesespaetzle is to wash it down with Italian wine, pasta, and cheese.

I'll be back to finish off my Oktoberfest posting in a few days. But for now, the sauna is calling me.

Oktoberfest 2009 day 12: tent hopping

2009-10-04T10:05:00.000+02:00

A new set of visitors, a new introductory tour of the Wiesn. We went around noon on Wednesday and poked our heads into several of the tents. Most of them were pretty quiet, and all of them had free tables. Only the Hofbräu tent was full of rowdy drunks at this hour.

We decided to lunch at the Augustiner tent. The service was pretty bad but the food was decent (including my veggie ravioli). The tent's most striking feature was its forest green canvas roof.

Fake lederhosen at the beery-go-round. You can't buy Oktoberfest beer unless you're in a tent or on its patio, but there are a few places around the wiesn where you can get wießbier. One of those places is this slowly rotating platform (actually there are a couple of these).

I get the feeling that this ride would not meet US safety standards.

This sign struck me as an interesting example of Denglish, advertising a little temporary cafe outside of the Oktoberfest grounds. Wiesn is the place where Oktoberfest is held; Treff is a German word meaning 'get-together'. Obviously the After part is supposed to be understood as the English meaning of the word, and the sign is trying to say 'hey, here's a place where you can hang out with your friends after Oktoberfest'. At least I hope that's what they're going for, since the alternative would mean using the German meaning of After, which is, ehem, anus.

And on that note, we're off to the last day of Oktoberfest. Ein Prosit!

Gooooooooooooooooooool!

2009-09-29T22:17:00.002+02:00

Urinal at Drei Königinnen in Augsburg, Germany.

Oktoberfest 2009 day 6: Bavarian Heaven

2009-09-24T23:04:00.000+02:00

Thanks to its charming decorations and lively atmosphere, the Hacker ten t (Himmel der Bayern) makes it onto lots of people's list of favorite Oktoberfest tents. The walls are painted up into a fairytale-like Bavarian town, and the ceiling is a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. Today (a Thursday) we decided to go for lunch, and had no trouble scoring a prime table at around 11:30am.

The tent finished filling up pretty quickly, and there was constant competition for the extra seats at our table. We were joined by an adorable old Bavarian man for part of the day; he was thrilled to death by all the attention the bedirndled foreigners were giving him. I think we made his week.

It's actually quite easy to get a lot of attention in Bavarian Heaven: just stand up on your table and chug a liter of beer (or better yet, have your friends hold the table in the air while you stand on it, like the guy in the photo below). The whole tent will cheer you on, and celebrate your inebriated victory. But be warned: if you fail to finish they will boo mightily, and never forgive you.

We had lunch (merely so-so food) and a couple rounds of beer in the tent. Around 5:00pm we got kicked off of our table due to an evening reservation, but by that point we were ready to move on anyway. It was time for some rides.

Oktoberfest 2009 day 4: itty bitty tent

2009-09-23T13:37:00.005+02:00

Last year I don't think I even noticed the tiny tents interspersed amongst the big Oktoberfest tents, but there they are. Most of them have names which describe what kind of animal they most like to kill and cook up for your dining pleasure. We spent yesterday evening in the Heinz Wurst- und Hühnerbraterei, a tent that holds fewer than 400 guests. The largest tents, in comparison, hold around 10,000 people each.

When we first arrived at our tiny little tent, I was skeptical. It was about half empty (reserved tables which hadn't been claimed yet) and the band hadn't started playing. It felt like a sad little imitation of the real Oktoberfest. When the entertainment for the evening took their place, my skepticism grew: visually, the duo resembled a certain Will Ferrell SNL skit.

But as the tables filled up and the music got going, I grew fond of our little tent. Turns out it had a lot going for it. The seats were more comfortable than the backless benches typical of a big tent, and the open windows made it not as hot. There was more drink choice than in a large tent, with weißbier and wines on the menu in addition to Oktoberfest brew. Everyone in our party agreed the food was fabulous. Plus as someone who is mildly uncomfortable in large crowds, I appreciated the smaller scale.

The musicians were great and really got the crowd going. There was plenty of dancing on the tables and singing along to Oktoberfest classics. And I never had to wait in line at the bathrooms. All in all it was a very fun night at the Wiesn, and a nice change of pace from the big tents.

Oktoberfest 2009 day 1: Ochsenbraterei

2009-09-20T15:34:00.000+02:00

Ozapft is! Munich's mayor tapped the ceremonial first keg at noon yesterday with two brisk swings of the mallet. Bring on the drunken revelry.

We spent the first evening in the Ochsenbraterei tent. We had a table reserved, which is the only reason we even considered going opening day. All the tents were full, and some very forlorn tourists practically begged us for our armbands as we headed towards the door.

The tent was sweltering hot, much hotter than I remember being last year. Dirndl-skirt-sticking-to-your-ass hot. Perhaps it was because of the heat that the beer* tasted particularly good.

The music was particularly repetitive, and not particularly good. Not that Oktoberfest music ever really qualifies as "good", but still... Achy Breaky Heart? Come on, people.

After a couple hours we couldn't take the heat anymore, so we headed out into the cool night to ride a ride and head home. There's nothing more fun than spinning around upside down in the air after two liters of beer.

Luckily we didn't see too many guys walking around in these.

* Spaten is served in the Ochsenbraterei tent.

The Oktoberfest answers you've been searching for

2009-09-18T18:03:00.000+02:00

As is to be expected, this week I've had an explosion of hits from people googling their last-minute Oktoberfest queries and questions. Why don't we take a stab at helping out these folks, shall we?

oktoberfest reservations
A little late for that, buddy.

cheap dirndls
Try Ebay.

oktoberfest munich first time advice
You're in luck, I wrote a whole post about that.

is there sex at oktoberfest?
Hmm. Probably?

oktoberfest regensburg 2009
You're close, but actually it's in Munich.

where to buy lederhosen in munich
These days you can buy them all over the city, but I'd recommend heading out to the Loden Frey outlet store or the giant Wies'n Tracht & Mehr on Hanaurstraße. Both are near the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum U-bahn stop.

oktoberfest reservations tents
Yes, Oktoberfest reservations are in tents.

oktoberfest munich without a reservation tent
No problem. See my tips.

oktoberfest sex stories
Well, there was this one time... not. Perhaps Penthouse should put out a special Oktoberfest issue. Or feel free to leave your own story in the comments.

oktoberfest pictures with lederhosen
Here's one of my favorite Oktoberfest lederhosen pics, taken at an after-hours party across the street from the Wiesn.

oktoberfest peeing
There's no peeing at Oktoberfest. You just have to hold it in. OK, I guess you could use one of these.

how to get a last minute beer tent reservation oktoberfest
Call or go by the tents' offices. Check the tents' websites (Oktoberfest.de has convenient links to all of them) to find out where the offices are and how/when you can reach them. But don't get your hopes up too much - it's probably not worth the effort.

training for oktoberfest drinking
The jury is out on how to best go about this.

oktoberfest signs
Signs that it is Oktoberfest: 1) more drunken lederhosen-clad hordes on the U-bahn than usual; 2) puke at your tram stop.

oktoberfest waitresses
...have mad beer-carrying skillz. And are usually grumpy. But you would be too.

nudity oktoberfest
Yes, there is nudity at Oktoberfest, most of which is of the unfortunate, ~~pale~~ British variety.

what are the waitresses called at the oktoberfest
Hmmm. Any ideas?

expat dirndl oktoberfest
They let us wear the same dirndls as the locals, actually. Here's mine. It's the tourists who have to wear the funny ones.

drink as much as you want 10 euro munich
You can totally do that at Oktoberfest. I mean, assuming you only want a liter. That's enough for anyone, right?

preparation for oktoberfest drink water
Nah, then you'll just have to stand in that godawful bathroom line even more often. Instead, prepare by 1) going out and buying some tract and 2) getting a lot of cash out of your bank account.

Tomorrow's the day...

A long night of Berlin's museums

2009-09-16T09:17:00.000+02:00

Our recent trip to Berlin included the Lange Nacht der Museen. Long museum nights are popular in many cities around Europe (we've also been to them in Zurich and Munich). Berlin has two a year, with 100 museums around the city opening their doors from 6pm to 2am. Special events for the evening include concerts, demonstrations, and things like the opportunity to destroy your evil things with a special machine (after first attending the Dinge-Sprechstunde, during which an expert will evaluate your thing for evilness).*

The festivities were centered on Museum Island. The big light show entertained us while we were milling around waiting for buses to take us to the more far-flung locations. There were so many interesting-sounding things to do that we had a lot of trouble choosing.

The DDR Museum was serving up 'typical East-German cocktails'. I was worried that drinking one might make my hair curl up into a mullet.

Several museums had the added bonus of letting visitors participate in The Big Draw Berlin. We doodled at the Museum of Communication and at the Sammlung Scharf Gerstenberg (which has an amazing 'Surreal Worlds' collection, by the way).

The big Bauhaus exhibit at the Martin-Gropius-Bau was also part of Museum Night, but we wanted to spend more time there, so we went the next day instead. It's a fabulous exhibit, probably the most comprehensive presentation of the Bauhaus that I've ever seen in one place.

The dance show at the Schwules Museum was quite colorful.

We also hit a fabulous photography show at the Akademie der Künste (right next door to the Adlon hotel, featuring the Blanket Jackson Balcony). I'm sure we visited a couple other museums that night, too, but that's all I can remember at the moment.

---
* I didn't even make this part up. It happened at the Museum of Things.

Dopplr keeps trying to send me to Canada

2009-09-13T15:40:00.000+02:00

As a frequent traveler, I'm always on the lookout for ways to make travel easier. There are several websites out there that claim to do just that, but my patience for trying out every new thing to hit the interwebs is low. But this year I've been trying out two sites which claim to help out with travel planning and organization, and there's a clear winner between the two.

On the surface Dopplr and Tripit are similar - basically you tell the site about your upcoming travels and it will tell you when any of your friends will be in the same place as you are at the same time. It also organizes your travel info into an itinerary which it supplements with other info such as maps, weather, and things to do. You can decide who has access to your trip information and add other users as friends.

Both sites allow you to enter trip information manually, or you can forward your confirmation emails for flights, hotels, etc., and have the site extract the information itself. This feature is key, since I have no desire to perform data entry in order to use a site that is supposed to be making my life easier. TripIt does an infinitely better job with this feature than Dopplr does.

Dopplr seems to be more popular with other bloggers I know, but I'm not sure why. It has done a horrible job of interpreting travel emails. For example, I forwarded it my plane reservation for an upcoming trip to Dublin, and instead Dopplr decided I was going to From, Norway, for almost a year. For another trip Dopplr has me in Night, Canada, one day and Armonai, Lithuania, the next, when in fact I'll be in Bavaria the whole time. Dopplr also thinks I spent a week in More, England, when in fact I was in Toulouse. Tripit got all those bookings right the first time.

I really like the itinerary presentation on TripIt. It includes vital info about flights and hotels, plus weather and maps for your destination. Flight listings include a handy button which links to the airline's online check-in. TripIt also has an iPhone app which my husband loves.

Dopplr seems to focus on giving you other information about your destination - restaurant reviews, hotels, sites, etc. - and it encourages you to add your own reviews. Dopplr doesn't present your itinerary in as useful of a format, but it does keep a copy of confirmation emails handy in case you need to look up information.

The only clear advantage I see to Dopplr is that as of now more people I know use it than use TripIt. This is important for the second big advantage of these sites, i.e. their ability to let me know when friends and I will be in the same place at the same time. A site needs a critical mass of users for this to really work. The easiest way for me to check to see if most of my friends will be in a certain place at the same time as me? Announcing an upcoming trip in my Facebook status.

I've been using both sites for about six months now, but I think I'm about to ditch Dopplr for good. Now if only I could get all my friends to sign up for TripIt.

Do you use any travel websites like these? What's your opinion on them?

The quick brown fox flies over the lazy Olypiastadion

2009-09-11T16:09:00.000+02:00

After more than a year and a half in Munich, we finally made it out to Munich's Olympiapark. What finally got us there was the flying fox they have up for a few months. We decided to do it together with the Zeltdach-Tour (tent roof tour), which made for a good yet expensive couple of hours of entertainment.

The architecture at the Olympiapark is quite striking, and the roof tour focused on the history of the structures as well as their unique features. It was surprisingly interesting. There was no mention of any tragedies that may have been connected with these particular Olympics.

We were put into some pretty serious safety gear. It seemed quite excessive for the roof tour part, but like just enough when it came to flying across the stadium hanging from a wire.

The step off the side of the roof is a big one.

Reservations are recommended for the Zeltdach-Tour, but it sounds like you can do the flying fox without calling ahead. Instead of doing the combination tour like we did, I think I'd recommend reading up on the architecture of the Olympiapark on your own and saving €40 by doing just the flying fox. You still get to go onto the roof for it.

There's a new lady bag in town

2009-09-08T10:47:00.000+02:00

German Company Invents Pocket Toilet for Women

Lady Bags became sort of a conversational leitmotiv during the Whiny Expat Bloggers Meet-Up. We think they should market these at Oktoberfest by handing them out to bedirndled women waiting in long bathroom lines. Except they're going to have to make them bigger, first, since I believe most women pee around once per Maß, and the gel can only absorb half a liter.

And I thought these Lady Bags were weird.

Have you ever peed in a yogurt cup during a road trip? Yeah, me neither. I guess it's a German thing.

Munich: So many bloggers

2009-09-07T14:56:00.004+02:00

Whew, what a weekend. We Munich bloggers had the honor of hosting this year's Whiny Expat Blogger Meet-Up. Bloggers from the far corners of Germany descended upon us for a weekend of eating, drinking, wandering around, and lots and lots of conversation. We tried to give everyone a glimpse of our city with some unexpected twists.

One stop on our walking tour involved watching the famous Eisbach surfers. Urban surfing at its best.

Another fun stop was the Anglia English Bookshop (Schellingstraße 3, near the Universität Ubahn stop), which has a nice selection and reasonable prices compared to what you'll find at other English bookshops in Germany.

While we were tempted to require everyone to consume Bavarian food (washed down with liters of beer) for every single meal, in the end we opted for a delicious Ethiopian dinner at Blue Nile on one evening. This was a nice break for those who are not so skilled at peeling Weißwurst.

Dinner was followed by That Queer Expatriate's Queer Expedition, an annual tradition of sorts. This time it was held at Mylord, an absolutely charming little bar in the middle of the Glockenbachviertel (Munich's gayborhood). The furnishings are just like those at your grandmother's house, assuming your grandmother has been a chain smoker for the last 60 years and has a penchant for erotic lesbian art.

Sunday morning started with a stroll through the Theresienwiese to catch a glimpse of the Oktoberfest tents. Looks like they're almost ready to go.

And as a grand finale, we went on a little pilgrimage to Munich's very own public shrine to Michael Jackson (to be found on Promenadeplatz), which was skillfully scoped out by the HeidelbergerInnen. Notable features included a creepy drawing of a little boy cowering in a corner and a panda bear humping a mattress spring.

Even though I failed to talk anyone into buying lederhosen, the weekend was a blast. It was such a great group of people who made me laugh harder than I have in a long, long time. Posts from other bloggers about the meet-up:

Berlin: as enchanting as ever

2009-09-02T22:50:00.003+02:00

After almost three whole months (oh, the horror) of sleeping in my own bed, I finally got out of Munich for a few days in Berlin. Berlin is one of the few places I go back to over and over and over again, because I will never get enough of it. It's so big and diverse and... atmospherey. You know what I mean?

A highlight of the trip was getting to meet Snooker and Sweet No (oh yes, and Mimi!). And I get to see them (minus Mimi) again this coming weekend at the blogger meet-up. Woo hoo!

We met them at the charming Ampelmann Restaurant and 'beach bar', where I could indulge my Ampelmann fetish to my heart's content. Later Snook took us to the kind of place you just don't find in Munich: an Indian restaurant with a large outdoor terrace populated with glowing neon-pink plastic palm trees. The food was delicious, too.

We found a couple other new (to us) restaurants we liked this trip, too. MaoThai was yummy, cheap Thai food in big portions. In street food, we enjoyed falafel at a small döner kebab place along Karl-Liebknecht-Straße across the street from Alexanderplatz.

2009 marks 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and naturally the city is celebrating. There's a great temporary open-air museum up at Alexanderplatz which chronicles the history of the Wall and the revolution which toppled it.

Speaking of museums, we hit a lot of them this trip. More in a later post.

Dublin notes

2009-08-27T14:34:00.000+02:00

[I spent about a month in Dublin this past spring, and wrote most of this post then. I figured it's high time I got around to publishing it.]

What I enjoyed most about this stay in Dublin were the little bits of daily life: the grocery stores, the pubs, the friendliness of the people. Spending hours wandering around a giant bookstore full of English books. Cheddar cheese. But naturally I fit in couple touristy adventures, too. We hit several of Dublin's big sights on our first trip to Ireland, but there was still plenty left to see this time around.

Dublin Sights

Kilmainham Gaol - This no-longer-in-use jail is slightly outside of town, but worth a trip if you're interested in learning more about Ireland's political history. The tour was informative and interesting.

Old Jameson Distillery - The €13.50 entrance fee feels like kind of a rip-off, especially since real distilleries tend to charge much less if anything at all. But if you're up for a Disneyfied version of a whiskey tour, it's definitely a good time. Be ready to volunteer enthusiastically when they ask for tasters near the beginning of the tour - everyone gets a shot of Jameson, but only a chosen few get to do the taste-test comparing American, Irish, and Scottish whisk(e)ys.

National Gallery - this art museum has a fabulous collection of old masters, impressionists, and Irish paintings. And free entrance! But the best part was the security guard who out of the blue just wanted to let me know that I was "very welcome" in Ireland. When was the last time a German said something similar to you, I ask?

Gogarty's - in the center of Temple Bar, Gogarty's offers live Irish music every night of the week in the cozy upstairs bar. Touristy, yes, but the craic is still excellent. Drinking Irish ales by the pint is part of the full cultural experience, which you will surely want to have. Actually there are tons of pubs that offer free live music all over Dublin, so don't feel like you have to stop at just this one.

Hugh Lane Gallery - a fabulous little art collection plus an excellent exhibit (including his reconstructed studio) on Francis Bacon, everyone's favorite crazy ~~fuck~~ artist.

Book of Kells - Em dragged me here. The book itself wasn't even on display (I think it's being restored), but surprisingly I enjoyed the exhibit, which talked about the book's history and production.

Dublin Eats

The Mermaid Cafe became my favorite restaurant in Dublin after a meal of creative, elegant food in their relaxed atmosphere (great service, too). The seats near the windows make for excellent people-watching.

We also had a nice meal at The Church, a former church which has been beautifully converted into a bar and restaurant. The prix fixe menu felt like a good value in a city as expensive as Dublin.

In more casual dining, I quite liked Juice, a vegetarian restaurant with a good selection of creative international vegetarian and vegan fare. The lunch special was a good deal.

I completely fell in love with Dublin and its people. I'd go back in a minute.

How should we prepare for Oktoberfest?

2009-08-24T22:22:00.001+02:00

Complete the following sentence:

In anticipation of Oktoberfest, we should ______.

A. Start drinking more, to build up our tolerance.

B. Stop drinking entirely, to let our livers rest up before the big event.

C. Other (please specify).

It's less than a month away!

It really is all about the beer here

2009-08-20T09:19:00.001+02:00

Munich's postmark ('city of world-famous beers').

A short guide to Munich's public transportation system

2009-08-18T23:36:00.002+02:00

[Note: if you're not planning on using Munich's public transportation system anytime soon, I recommend skipping this post. Instead go look at some funny t-shirts from Gatlinburg.]

Even Germans are bewildered when they first encounter Munich's public transportation system in all its glory. The various zones, trams, S-bahns, rings, U-bahns, and Streifenkarten are enough to leave anyone's head spinning when trying to purchase a ticket on the fly. That's why I put together this post containing the information I think would be most helpful to tourists and other visitors to Munich. Basically, I'm tired of repeating myself to visitors.

First for the good news: MVV (the company that runs Munich's public transportation) has a relatively useful English website, which includes route maps, ticket prices, and a recently-improved Journey Planner. You can input your origin and destination (in the form of addresses or stops) and receive one or more suggested routes (along with PDF maps and fare information).
There's also an independent iPhone app which shows local transport as well as Deutsche Bahn trains.

The other good news is that Munich's transportation system is rather comprehensive and integrated. You can take buses, trams, U-bahns (subways), and S-bahns (urban rail) all on the same ticket. The travel part is relatively easy. But choosing that ticket? Not always so easy.

Munich's transportation network consists of four zones, which are further subdivided into four rings (or circles) each, for a total of 16 rings. The zones are denoted by the various background colors in the map above. Travel is on the honor system most of the time: it is up to you to buy and validate the right ticket for your needs. Chances are no one will look at your ticket, but if you are checked and found to be without a valid ticket, you will pay a €40 fine.

Tickets can be purchased from machines in all S-bahn and U-bahn stations, as well as at some tram and bus stops. At major stops, such as the airport and the main train station, you can also buy your ticket from a real live person (assuming you can find the MVV counter). Most trams and buses have ticket machines on board, as well, although the ticket selection is more limited. Tickets purchased on board a bus or tram are usually valid immediately; most other tickets must be validated with a stamp. To validate (activate) a ticket, stamp it in one of the machines (usually blue boxes) that can be found as you enter the S-bahn or U-bahn system or on a bus or tram. Passes (day and 3-day) must be stamped only once, on your first trip using the ticket. Be sure to carry your ticket in a place where you can find it.

As a tourist, chances are you'll be staying within the Innenraum (center zone - white) for all of your travel needs, with the exception of trips to and from the airport and/or Dachau. Personally I prefer to get passes that are good for the whole day (or longer), so I don't have to spend time buying individual tickets or thinking about how many rides I plan to take in a given day. Even if I end up overspending by a couple euros, to me it's worth it to just buy one ticket and be free to roam all day.

There are dozens of ticket options, but as a tourist or short-term visitor to Munich, you are likely to find the most useful tickets are the ones listed below. Note that the word 'Partner' in a ticket name means the ticket is good for up to 5 people traveling together; these tickets can be great deals. Note also that in Munich, a day ticket (Tageskarte) is only valid until 6am the following day, rather than for 24 hours.

Getting around central Munich:

Innenraum (white zone) day pass - €5
Innenraum day Partner ticket - €9
Innenraum 3-day pass - € 12.30
Innenraum 3-day Partner pass - € 21
Single ride - € 2.30
Single ride Kurzstrecke (very short ride) - € 1.20

Between Munich airport and anywhere in the city center (follow the signs that show an S in a green circle after you get out of luggage claim):

Day pass (good for airport ride and any other trips you take that day) - €10
Partner day pass - €18
Single ride - €9.20

Between Munich city center and Dachau:

Day pass (Munich XXL - white and green zones) - € 6.70
Partner day pass (Munich XXL) - € 11.80
Single ride - € 4.60

(Prices quoted are current as of August 2009, more or less. For the latest price info, see MVV's website.)

If you'll be staying for more than three or four days, it may be worth looking into weekly or monthly tickets. These get a little more complicated because they are valid for specific rings rather than specific zones. See this MVV page for more info.

One last note: many ticket machines have green buttons towards the bottom with wording that screams something like "Hey dumb tourist, buy these tickets!" Those tickets are combination passes good for public transport and discounts off of various sights. They are more expensive than regular tickets, so if you're tempted, do some calculations in advance to determine whether they make financial sense for you.