GERMANY OKTOBERFEST | Munich Sept 28,2013 (Post Danube Cruise)

After we disembarked from our cruise, we drove to Munich to have an Oktoberfest Lunch at one of the breweries. 

....that is all we were told.

We were dropped off on a street corner and then had to walk through a forest (Munich has forests everywhere in the city)

Then after a bit of a walk we see .... a beer garden

We went inside the building there for our lunch.

The Menu:  Bavarian pork roast in dark beer sauce, cole slaw and dumpling potatoes.  Apple Strudel for dessert.

This is where we had lunch.
Augustiner-Festhalle – Considered by many locals to be the best tent, due to the fact it sells the favourite local brew, Augusiner from individually tapped wooden kegs rather than stainless steel vats used by the other tents.(Wikipedia)

We had a great time, but very different from what we expected.  No oom-pah band or singing - very quiet and calm.

But after lunch, our guide said we were going on a walking tour. ....a tour?  where?

So we went out of the building, through another forest and across the street...

And then going around the corner ....  wow ...we were at a midway    ...who knew?

Check out all the people.  (mostly young people dressed in traditional dress -Lederhosen and Dirndls)

The yellow gurney is used by emergency medics to pick up drunk or injured patrons.  We saw many of these yellow stretchers on our very short visit.  These drunk patrons are often called "Bierleichen" (German for "beer corpses")  

 This midway is at a large park called the Theresienwiese.  The name of the site is derived from the name of Princess Therese of Saxe Hildbrughausen, the wife of Crown Prince Ludwig 1.  Their wedding took place on Theresienwiese in 1810. Since then, Oktoberfest is celebrated every year to commemorate this event during the end of September and the first week of October

Oktoberfest has around 6 million visitors a year.

~ * ~

The next day, we went to downtown Munich to see the famous Hofbrauhaus, and to see how Oktoberfest is celebrated there .

Oktoberfest is also celebrated at Breweries, tents, beer gardens and pubs all over the city, but the best known is the Hofbrauhaus.

One of the oldest beer breweries and most likely to the most famous

 in the world is Hofbrauhaus in Munich. In this historical building you

 find a large hall for evening drinking parties. The restaurant and bar
areas have painted ceilings, wooden furniture, a band playing 

Bavarian music and  beer in 1 litre pints. 

A beautiful old copper sink beside the collection
 of beer steins of the guilds/clubs that had meetings
in the Hofbrauhaus over the centuries.

DANUBE CRUISE -part3 | BRATISLAVA, Slovakia, LINZ, Austria - Final 2 days of our Cruise (Sept 26,27 2013)

Bratislava is the capital and largest city in Slovakia. It has a population of almost 415,000 and is the administrative, cultural and economic centre of the country. It is situated about 40 km from Vienna.

Bratislava has a very pleasant and charming medieval inner city with narrow, winding streets, a hill-top castle next to the river Danube, and many historic churches and buildings to visit. The old town is centered on two squares and the buildings have been newly renovated in the past 10 years.   From the Danube you can see Bratislava Castle and the very modern revolving restaurant at the top of the bridge.

We had a wonderful morning wandering around the streets and enjoying a coffee in a cafe in the main square.  Who knew you could fall in love with this very charming city?  So glad we stopped here.

Bratislava Castle sail-by:  We sailed passed Bratislava late at night on our way down the river to Budapest, so I got some night shots.  We stopped here a couple of days later as part of the itinerary after the ship turned around in Budapest.

Docked in Bratislava right in the middle of the city.

The beautiful square right beside the Danube

In the middle of the clock tower arch, was a compass

It pointed the way home ....6981km to Toronto

Time for a coffee break

The Cafe and chocolate store was in this building

The Cafe

Sadly we had to say goodbye to Bratislava ... but we did have a wonderful morning exploring the old city that has been beautifully restored.

LINZ AUSTRIA

Linz, the 3rd largest city in Austria was the final port stop on our cruise.  It is also home to the famous Linzer torte and Linzer Cookies.

We spent the afternoon walking around the beautiful old city.

Docked in Linz

A coffee break and some Linzer Torte

CRUISIN'  

-  Here are some photos while we were on the boat the last couple of days.

Norm hosting a Q and A 

Mary at an Art Class

Farewell Party

Toasting with a Blue Danube Champagne Cocktail

Norm with Tania, Sven, and Claudia playing Liars Club ( Balderdash)

We were a couple of hours late on our last morning because of a backlog at one of the locks.

...not a problem - we got to see more views of the Danube before we disembarked.  It was a cool misty morning, so we had some magical views of the sun rising over the hills of the Danube.

Our Captain 

CRUISING INTO PASSAU on our last morning.  We had a very fast but full cruise on the famous Danube River -  that's not really so blue.  

The beautiful bouquet from Claudia our YMT rep lasted all week.  We really enjoyed them and then gifted them to Erika our room steward.

Our YMT guides waiting for us.  We were in our cabin and we pulled up right beside them.  They got a good view of our room since they had never been on the ship.

Carolyn got this shot from the top deck.  Norm (hidden in the room) and Eric our guide were deep in conversation

Docking in Passau -  It was a wonderful cruise!!

Now off to Oktoberfest in Munich