Country Road....

How is it that every German knows every lyric in John Denver's "Take me home, country roads?" It seems that not only are the Oompa bands providing many songs for us to join in, but the American influence provided a sense of home on the other side of the world. 7 liters of bier, 6 rowdy adults, 5 large pretzels, 4 hours in the Hippodrome tent, 3 days since I landed, 2 days at Oktoberfest, and 1 good ol' time. It's truly amazing that there are people from all over the world, and yet I mostly hear English spoken. We spent two days at Oktoberfest, one was planned, the other was to "just check it out for a bit." 8 hours later...we came home...yaaa...is GOOOOOD.

Melanie and her friend, Monika, dressed in tradtional dirndls. That was the dress of choice for most women. And yes, the men wore some form of lederhosen. To describe what we saw would not do the celebration justice. Oh, right, the Oktoberfest is the celebration of Ludwig and his wife, in the 1800's. Since beer came before Ludwig in Munich, it's tough to tell if the celebration was just a necessity, or a compliment to the bride and groom. Anyhow, we enjoyed two days worth of a good party.

Today is Monday, and nearly 12:00 a.m. We took the train for two hours southwest in Bavaria to the Castle Tour. The weather whipped our bodies with a reminder that it is going to be a cold winter. We were all in layers, upon layers. I bought a traditional Bavarian hat, in red, with feathers to keep me warm.

Tonight ended with a traditional Bavarian meal - which by most European standards, consists of some form of pounded meat, potato with cream sauce, and possible some cheese. It's been very delicious. And of course, a bier.

Danke...