As our whole Top Deck tour wanted to go to Oktoberfest we left Venice at 5.30am to make the 7 hour drive to Munich, Germany.

We had a stop off in Austria which was actually really nice with all their mountains and stuff. We stopped off at a gas station/bakery and they had the nicest selection of croissants and filled donut things. I again, had some self control and didn’t have any.  😥

We got caught up in Traffic around 12.30pm (I know this because I was busting to go to the bathroom) so our driver pulled over at this picnic stop so people could go to the bathroom and we had our packed picnic lunch on fold-out chairs with it all set out on a table.

On the way to our hostel, we had a stop off at the Dachau Concentration Camp which is on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory not far from Munich.
It was one if the first concentration camps opened in Germany which was meant to hold political prisoners but eventually was enlarged to include forced labor and the imprisonment of Jews and ordinary Germans.

It was quite sad to walk around and see how prisoners lived and then read about how they were all in constant fear of brutal treatment from the guards and being forced into standing cells. Also, how they had roll call every morning and had to stand in lines outside for hours. Even if someone had died, they’d have to drag their body to the roll call just so they could be accounted for. There were 32,000 documented deaths at the camp, and thousands that are undocumented.

I think it’s free to go to the camp/memorial. We spent about 2 hours there and we still didn’t see everything.
There’s a lot of stuff to read and they have the gas chambers etc there to have a look at. It can be quite emotional for some people so it’s probably good we did it before Oktoberfest. Makes you realize how lucky you are to grow up in a time where stuff like that doesn’t happen in NZ.

We didn’t actually get to Munich until 5pm so we had to check in quickly and then be back at the bus by 6pm so we could all head off to Oktoberfest. There were 6 girls in my room so imagine 6 of us trying to use 2 mirrors while getting changed and doing our hair in a small space. Drama!
I was lucky because I did my whole make up on the coach beforehand so all I needed to do was my hair and get into my outfit. Otherwise I think I would have only been wearing some mascara haha.

(This is me and one of my 6 room- mates, Ashleigh)
Kara and I got matching outfits as we got ours from the same supermarket as her haha.

It looked pretty cool though, when we got to Oktoberfest everyone was wanting photos with us or OF us because we were matching.

Oktoberfest is pretty crazy! I couldn’t believe how big it was. It’s funny how it’s called Oktoberfest but it’s actually in September. Back in the day it originally took place during the 16 days up to, and including, the first Sunday in October.

In 1994, the schedule was modified in response to German reunification so that if the first Sunday in October falls on the 1st or 2nd, then the festival would go on until October 3 (German Unity Day).

If you’re ever in Munich during September, its defintaly a must-do.
There’s no entrance fee, you just have to pay for your alcohol and if you want any food.
A pint is usually €10.50. They must make so much money as more than 6 million people from around the world attend the event every year.
I actually hate beer, so i didnt get really drunk when i was there. They only sell beer and Radlei  (which is a mixture of lemonade and beer) so I ended up drinking that the whole time.

If you don’t drink, it’s still cool to go and experience. They have amusement rides, sidestalls and games (kids can attend this too) as well as so much food!!
German food tastes so good! They have stuff like Hendl (roast chicken), Schweinebraten (roast pork),Schweinshaxe (grilled ham hock),Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstl(sausages) which is what I had as well as potato dumplings, cheese noodles and these big iced cookies which i really wanted to buy but didn’t.

The festival finishes at 10pm, so when it’s over you don’t really hang around because the music stops playing and drinks stop getting served. Oh yeah, another thing we didn’t know when we got there is that you can’t just go up and buy a drink. You have to have a table and one of the beer girls comes and brings beer to you and you just pay her. To get a table you can reserve one, otherwise just hope to god that there’s a spare one. We got there late so we didn’t have one but some guys waved us over and we joined them so that was lucky – It probably helped that all our boobs were pushed up to the ceiling in our outfits.

It was a long walk back to the hostel at 10.30pm. We didn’t think it was that far but I’m sure we walked for like over an hour! Haha.

So yeah, I didn’t really experience the sights of Munich. Just the festival as we were off at 8am the next morning for our next destination!
Xx