Munich; Saturday, 01 October, 2005

Oktoberfest Day meant an appalling 6:30 alarm call to make early breakfast and then a walk to the Oktoberfest site about 1 mile away. Despite getting there about 1 hour before the doors to the tents opened, there were still long queues.

A little before 9 the doors opened and there was a mass surge of people running to get tables. Thankfully we managed to find one. Within minutes every table (that's over 5,000 people!) was occupied and the beer started flowing.

As there are so many people hunting for seats you can either stay put for the whole day, or spend a very long time hunting a seat! My friends had decided to stay for the whole day (all 14 hours of it!!). After 2 litres of beer, half a chicken and some Bavarian Sausages I decided that I had had enough, any more and I would have been quite spectacularly ill I think! I left my friends to continue their rapid descent into alcoholic oblivion and headed back into town.

I stopped off at the hotel for a short while, to sober up a bit before heading back to the Hauptbahnhof to catch the open top sightseeing tour round Munich. Thankfully the bus had it's roof on (but no windows!) so I only got slightly damp when the rain decided to arrive part way through the tour! The tour takes in most of the main sights in the centre of Munich, lasting just over the hour.

After popping back to the hotel for a change into some drier clothes I headed back out. This time to the Schloss Nymphenburg on the Western edge of town. The castle (think more French Chateaux rather than Tower of London) is set in sumptuous grounds with a massive river/canal running through the centre powering numerous water features. The castle itself is sub-divided into several museums (which can be visited on a combined ticket.) However, today being October the 1st they had reverted to their winter times and closed at 4 p.m. so by the time I got there there wasn't much point in investing in the ticket.

I spent quite some time wandering around the grounds, which also include the city's Botanical gardens (also just closing due to the change of month!) and several pagodas/follies dotted over the park.

With the rain continuing on and off by the time I got back to the hotel I was soaked to the skin and by the time I had dried off it was too late to attempt to get back into the Oktoberfest (they stop letting people into the tents after about 7 p.m.) so I grabbed a bite to eat at the Hauptbahnhof and settled back in the hotel with a book waiting for the others (mostly because I was the only one with a key so I had to be there when they got back!)