No place like London - Parent visit part 1

Very quickly after the Munich trip, my parents came to visit.  It was crazy - I had just moved into my apartment about 3 days before, barely received my stuff from the NL.  Luckily I had 2 air mattresses (but little else) for them.  I planned out a good portion of what they needed to see a long time ago, so they came with itinerary in hand and a sense of adventure (which is a must in the London survival toolkit).

During the week, I sent them to Westminster Abbey, parliament, the National Gallery, the British museum, etc.  They did such an amazing job navigating the tubes by themselves - very impressive body of travel work.  We also went to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in the first week, which was their first West End show.  It was really funny and a great way to get into the London theatre scene.

On the first weekend, we went to the Tower of London on Saturday, which was building the poppies display leading up to Remembrance day in November.  It was quite the display, probably my favourite art exhibit I have ever seen.  Very moving and powerful.

The Tower is always a fun tour - the Beefeaters give a very comical 1 hour romp through 600 years of tower history.  The best part is seeing where Anne Boleyn is buried and the stories about the missing princes in the tower.  The jewels are also a must see...the conveyor belt they put you on to see them is pretty comical, but without it, there's no way all those tourists would see them.  After that, it's a lot of armory and other war memorabilia which is not my favourite, but interesting.  

That Saturday was filled with a bit of travel nightmares...I learned that when they close the District line on the weekend for planned engineering works and the NFL is in town on the same weekend, it's almost impossible to get any where.  It took us about 2 hours to get to the Tower through a random assortment of tubes and then another 2 hours on the way back to get to Oxford Circus for some quality shopping at Liberty.  Lesson learned - check tfl.gov.uk - might be easier and worth the money for a taxi.

In Old Bavaria - Munich Part 3

After a crazy day at Oktoberfest, B and I decided to do a quick side trip to Dachau to get some learning in.  It was pretty special for B (and I will claim it by association) as her grandfather was at the liberation of Dachau in 1945.  

We took a guided tour that left from the train station.  I'll be the first to admit that the tour guide wasn't great, but the price was right and he handled all of the transportation.  It wouldn't have been bad to do it on our own, but given I had a flight at 3PM it was best to be led around.

Gates into Dachau that separated the prisoners from the outside world (well, the guns, electric fences and dogs helped with that separation as well).  The irony was that German phrases all over the camp implied that the centre was for rehabilitation, i.e. that hard work would set you free.  In most cases, it was freedom, but in a very different sense.  So many died at Dachau.

Off in the distance, there were huge thunder clouds which just seemed appropriate for the visit.  The tour went through the barrack areas which had been destroyed, replicas, the special prisoner areas, the shower facilities and the kitchens.  It also took a look at the crematoriums and the gas chambers there (they were never used at Dachau, but were being set up just in case).  Extra ordinate numbers of people were housed at the camp with little to no sanitation.  It was horrific to see and listen to the commentary in the museum.

A few things struck me:

1.  How close residential housing was to the camp now and how close it was back then.  How do people live there knowing what happened back then and how did people live there ignoring what was going on.
2.  Apparently after the war, some people relocated to the camp and set up living quarters, including a pub.  What a horrific thing to do.
3.  It continues to be strange to tour WWII sites in Germany.  Given everything that happened there, it doesn't seem right to create tourist sites.  

After a heavy morning, we went back to Munich and grabbed Weinerschnitzel and potatoes, which is a must have for me in Germany....then I had to run for the train to the plane.  Sad to leave B and M!!!

Und dales und vales - Munich Part 2

Day 2 was straight to Oktoberfest to get a table.  We didn't book in advance and I was worried we wouldn't get a seat in the "tent" we wanted to be in, so I met B and M at 8:00 to join the queue, which was a good idea because it got pretty long before opening at 9.

We got a great seat and started taking pictures.  I'm not one for interior decor, but this place was incredibly well done.  It didn't feel like a beer hall, it felt like decorations you would do for a wedding reception.

Maybe it's just the colours that I love.  What an amazing design.

The tent had a spit, spinning with what we first thought was a pig, but then later learned it was an ox.

M had his first beer (representing the Aggies!):

Two lovely ladies posed for their first fest photo:

And two love birds (and M in heaven) shared some love:

Bands were coming all afternoon with funny hats and uniforms:

And there was a polka band playing for most of the time as well:

With everyone dressed in their traditional German garb:

I could only hold 3 litres before I felt it and felt it hard.  Luckily, you could stay as long as you wanted, so it was three over about 8 hours.  The atmosphere was amazing.

Video evidence to prove you should be jealous...

Part 3 coming!

Oh, how I miss ze hills - Munich Part 1

2014 is the year of events.  I've written about the trips to Pamplona for the running and Edinburgh for the tattoo festival.  Next on the bucket list was Oktoberfest. 

I got extremely lucky because B and M booked a trip for the same weekend that I could go which was a huge bonus.  I booked the trip in March, which saved me a lot of money on the hotel and flight.  Bonus too, AirBerlin is partner with BA, so I got my tier points, which I'm currently obsessed with. 

I flew in on Friday night with a plane full of Oktoberfesters, complete with liederholsen and cute German dresses out of Stansted (new airport!).  The switch in Dusseldorf brought even more revelers and by the end of the flight, the Heineken was gone and the party was in full force.  I headed straight to the hotel, where I got my first glimpse of the fest just down the road.

On Saturday, I got up fairly early and did the hop on hop off bus tour whilst B and M were in route to Munich from Houston.  Munich is a beautiful city....the song for these blog posts is In Old Bavaria from the Producers, which is my favourite musical of all time.  I loved the cute markets all over the town, the emphasis on art and culture and the great parks.  It was so Bavarian :)

After that, it was off to walk through the centre to find food and tour a bit.

A trip to Munich isn't complete without seeing the Glockenspiel, which I believe is one of the most overrated sites in Europe, but still a must see.  Thousands of people stand in front to see it go off each day, but I'm not sure the thrill is worth the anticipation.  The square is quite lovely though.

 Town hall with the Glockenspiel:

 After that, I headed back to the hotel to catch B and M, which meant I had to walk through Oktoberfest for the first time:

 Mecca for this German girl!  What an amazing site...

More to come on this "tent"....I think the Germans fully abuse the word tent.  I know that these are all temporary, but they are in no sense of the word a tent.

Another "tent"

Then I found B and M...given how crazy busy it was in Oktoberfest, we ended up heading to Hofbrauhaus figuring that everyone would be at the fest and we could grab a table there.  It ended up being the complete right call to make as the food was amazing and the beer was just as good.

 Then we bar hopped for the rest of the night and I had my first Uber experience (luckily it worked great).  Great first day!!!

Unscheduled interuption

I haven't written since August!  I always find writing on the blog so therapeutic, so apologies to those who have witnessed my crazy during the hiatus.  I honestly have not had a relaxing, calm weekend since I moved.  Equally, I just got internet in my house, so short of finding a Starbucks every time I needed to update, it just wasn't convenient to do so.

I moved to London in early September.  It was a huge mess....moving stuff back to Houston for storage, figuring out what came with me to London, attempting to check out of the Netherlands and get a work permit/visa for the UK left me feeling most of the time like I was punched in the gut.  That's about 3 weeks of my life I do not want to repeat.  I don't handle moving well, but learned that I am very bad at moving solo to a new country.  I'll figure out a new way next time - take about a month off around the move to make it easier.  The temp housing wasn't the best either, so next time I'll try to have a place before I land.

The apartment hunt went fairly well.  I used a service, which I'm so glad I did.  There is no way I could have found somewhere without them.  Even then, it's not the best location, but it's convenient to work and Heathrow, which I'm finding is exactly what I needed.  It's in a bit of a gritty part of London - i.e. the high street near my house is not the best, but so far seems safe and it's a quick walk to the tube and bus.

There have been some funny moments, like dealing with some very fast travel partners for commutes to the Hague; some sad moments, like dealing with missing my bed and generally wondering what I'm getting myself into.  I've been told it takes about 6 months to settle into London...I will probably be a bit longer given how much travel I have on right now.

Within the first week, I was in the Hague for work and have been back almost every week since, including a full 10 day stretch.  I've also done some cool trips, one to Munich with B and M and one to Berlin for work.  And much more that will take many blog posts to recap.

First up, Munich!