Well we survived Oktoberfest and made it home safely and ahead of schedule. It was a weekend to remember, and a weekend I am still trying to recover on sleep from. We left the manor Thursday night after dinner to catch our train by 6:45. The train ride was pretty smooth, we had to get off in Peterborough and change trains but the whole trip only took us about two hours. We had to spend the night in the Stansted Airport because our flight left at 7:00 AM and there aren't trains to get there that early. The airport was a lot bigger than we thought and it wasn't too miserable to sleep there. We spent a majority of our night in the seating area for Burger King. They had pretty comfy chairs and a TV on so we just camped out there. At about midnight we decided we should get some sleep. By this time, hundreds of people are already sleeping all around the airport and the only place left for us is the cold tile floor. We had no blankets or pillows so it was pretty interesting. A couple hours later we woke up freezing so we got up and moved to the back of the airport away from the doors. Around 3:30 AM they open the security gates and we could go through to the other side. We were one of the first ones through so we were able to grab some benches and get a couple more hours of sleep. At 6:00 AM we decided we should try to find our gate, but it wasn't listed on the screens yet - it just said wait in lobby. So we went to the bathroom and when we came out checked it again. It said gate 43 - now boarding. Needless to say we booked it to our gate, but we got there in time and we weren't the only ones that were out of breath.
From there we flew to Memmingen Airport in Germany. We then had to get on a coach bus that took us to the Munich train station. From there we had to get tram tickets and hop on a tram to get to our hostel which was a little bit outside of the city. It took us a while to get around a city that speaks German, but we did it. After we got to our hostel at about 3 in the afternoon, we were so tired. Our hostel was cheap, but it literally was a huge tent. There were hundreds of bunk beds in the same room - I guess you get what you pay for. After we checked in, we decided to explore the city. We walked around by our hostel and found a park that had some really neat buildings around it. Eventually, we ended up going back to our hostel and getting some hot tea. We spent the night at the hostel, they had kegs of beer and a bonfire. We met a lot of cool people that were traveling Europe.
Saturday morning we got up and headed back to the Munich train station where I had planned to meet my German exchange student from high school, Franzi. From there, her friends took us around Munich and then to the opening ceremonies of Oktoberfest. The parade was pretty cool, and afterward we followed the end of the parade to the entrance of Oktoberfest. The best way I can describe it is it was like a giant state fair. There were thousands of people there I could hardly move at some points ( and the people aren't exactly "Minnesota nice" there). There were food and souvenir vendors everywhere. The beer tents were enormous, and they had roller coasters and some other crazy rides (Not sure who came up with the idea of mixing large amounts of beer with roller coasters?)
Because it was the first day, we had no chance a getting a seat in a beer tent - which is okay because I probably saved myself a lot of money. After we had had enough of Oktoberfest, Franzi and her friends brought us back to Ingolstadt - her home town. It was about an hour train ride and a nice break for a short nap. Back in Ingolstadt we went shopping and for a walk around the city. We saw where Franzi goes to school, her church, and cute German side streets that we would have never gotten to see if we didn't have her. After that, she took us to a fabulous German restaurant where we got to try some really good Bavarian food. Candace, Veronica, and I each got something different and then we kept changing plates. After dinner we headed back to Franzi's house where we were very well taken care of. We got to take nice warm showers - which were definitely needed. They gave us some chocolate, and made sure we felt right at home. We were so tired we went to bed at 10:00 PM. We did have to get up at 3:45 AM for breakfast, then Franzi and her mom took us on the autobahn on the way back to the train station. The coach bus left the train station at 6:15 AM to go back to Memmingen Airport. Our flight left Memmingen at 9:40 AM and because of the time difference, we got back to Stansted at 10:00 AM. From here we had to get back on a train to Grantham - not so simple. Turns out there was construction on the train, so we had to go to the bus station, wait for a bus to go to Cambridge, get on a train to Peterborough, switch trains and finally get back to Grantham.
Overall it was a fabulous weekend with a lot of traveling. Now we know that we can conquer almost any form of transportation even in a country that speaks a different language. Pretty sweet if you ask me.
After a crazy first three weeks here, we decided it would be best to spend this weekend at the Manor to catch up on sleep and homework. John and Jen are taking full advantage of us being home for the weekend and are planning to take us to a flower festival in a nearby town on Sunday. Other than that, there's not much going on this weekend. Next weekend is our first long weekend, so Candace, Veronica and I are going to Madrid to soak up some warm weather. Then my mom is coming to visit on October 6th!! Can't wait! :)
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