München

Since the time that I moved to Italy I did not feel a big need to really travel anywhere. I kind of felt that I needed to become a local of Taranto before I could really feel like a tourist anywhere else in Europe.  This past weekend I decided yep, I'm from Taranto GRT area, time to travel!

 Keeping true to my roots I also decided to make Germany my first port of call, by coincidence it was also Oktoberfest in the city of Munich.  My trip was short, landed Friday at 11am and left Sunday at 6pm, but still had a lot of time to see the city center.

 Munich has a strong beer culture, sings of fun everywhere.  First time I saw a lion in a beer stein doll as a souvenir, Mexico has not even bothered to copy this one.

 This city also has a strong history, a mix of old and new.  All over are cool buildings, parks and fountains.

 And beer gardens.

 I was concern that when I landed here I would have a difficult time communicating and finding my way around  But really the train is easy to use, most people speak English.

 This is the Maypole at Vikualien Market, time for Lincoln Square to step it up a little bit.  

 I'm not sure, but I'm guessing the concept of Octoberfest is year-round.

 This is a fountain outside the New Town Hall at the city center of Marienplatz.

 The first German beer I had in Germany was an Erdiger at a small arts and music festival.  Good beer.  Note the red small disk next to the beer glass, that is my deposit.  Upon returning the stein and the little red disk I got back two Euro and avoided being arrested.

 All over Munich was people enjoying Octoberfest.  The Original Steindl is a store many people go to get suited up for the festivals.

 And everywhere else was people just acting German, wearing Lederhosen and Dirndl.  Actually when a majority of everyone was dressed like this, it becomes normal - nothing special.  

But I was to cheap to drop 199 Euro's on a complete Lederhosen set.  But after some careful thought I determined just the red button up shirt combined with being half German was sufficient to fit in!

Night fall on my first evening in Germany.

Saturday morning was Oktoberfest 2013.  I was waiting outside the tent at 7:15am.... With 1000's of other people from all over the world.

First round was served by 9:45am.

It is nearly impossible to describe how epic this event is, so I wont try.  Please check out the video!