Oktoberfest 2010: Connoisseur's Trip

DAY 1

Jersey Bill was the last to arrive at the airport. As soon as he arrived, our bus whisked our small group from the airport to the oldest brewery in world – Weihenstephan. The group quikly took to the Weissbier and we enjoyed the views over Freising as we enjoyed the beer and the Weisswurst.

Once we were finished with our snack, we continued the drive to Hotel Ruchti in Füssen. We arrived to a hearty greeting and everyone went to their rooms to clean up a bit before dinner. Since we were a small group, we were able to order of the menu for dinner. As soon as dinner was over, we climbed into a 9 passenger minivan that we had rented and Vonia drove us to the small village of Seeg. It took us a while, but we finally found the location of their Fest Tent – they were celebrating their own Viehscheid (the return of the cows from the mountain pastures), We parked by the Fire Station and Jersey Bill and I had a beer with the firemen while everyone else went inside the tent. The program was really good – they had a group on Alphorns and did a great number with 4 guys with whips scattered throughout the crowd. A real traditional evening. Since everyone had just arrived, however, we had promised we wouldn’t stay too late.

DAY 2

In the morning, we drove over to the castles of Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. The weather was perfect and the tours of the castles were great. The other surprise was that Petra and Frances met up with us here!

After our castle tours, we climbed in the van and left for Böbing where a small Dorffest was in progress. It wasn’t particularly Bavarian, but it was still fun. Karl was on stage singing when we arrived. Carmen was selling beer and Karl’s family was serving up sausages and fresh bread from Sepp’s bakery. Renee was manning a drink bar and even Father Sepp came out to see us. It was a warm sunny day and we enjoyed the beer and activities in the small village. There was a lot of bongo drum numbers in the program, but also a guy doing Johnny Cash and doing it quite well!

Leaving our friends in Böbing, we phoned a friend of a friend who arranged a nice dinner for us at the Griessbräu brewery in Murnau. After a large on-table buffet, Herr Gilg treated us to a personal tour of his small brewery operation and we ended up tapping fresh beer straight from the vat!

Day 3

Our luck ran out with the weather and we drove about 75 minutes in a light drizzle over to Obertsdorf for their Viehscheid. We waited for awhile in the rain, but finally the first wave of cows ran by with their large bells and floral arrangements. Afterward, we got to see them up close as they were tied up after their run.

Bill made a bee-line for the beer tent, while the rest of us examined the cows. Later we discovered he got us a front row seat directly in front of the community brass band. We sat down to our first beer somewhere around 10:30 AM. As the rain continued, the tent filled with people — and with mud. We met some interesting people – Jack and Bonnie pretty much adopted a cute little Bavarian boy and Doug formed a real “bond” with the older gent across the aisle.  Finally, we were chased out when the roof started to leak on us – we did our best to catch the water in an empty Masskrug, but enough was enough!

We drive back into Obertsdorf and the rain relented a bit. Near the train station, we found the Dampfbier Brewery – Steam Beer. We went inside and enjoyed another couple of drinks in the wet afternoon.

Leaving Obertsdorf we took a slightly different route back towards Füssen. On our way through the village of Rettenberg, I convinced Vonia to stop at the Engelbräu Brewery. Sadly, production was shut down, but the nice lady at the desk took me into the back room and sold me two 6-packs for the road. Right next to the brewery was their tourist info center and she gave me a good tip to stop at a little cheese shop just up the road.

After a short 10 minute drive, we found the cheese shop and invade the small business. We crammed into the little place, each carrying an open beer. The ladies there thought we were funny and guessed that intoxicated people might buy a lot of cheese. So, they put on an impromptu cheese tasting for us. We tasted about 7 different regional cheeses and everyone bought a little something for the road.

We next made a stop at the castle ruin of Falkenstein. The road is so narrow that traffic is regulated and cars are allowed to go up only during the first 20 minutes after the hour. We waited only a few minutes and Vonia drove up the winding road. Once there, we visited the ruin that would have been Ludwig II’s next castle building project – Falkenstein. And, the dreamy, fanciful nature would have put Neuschwanstein to shame.

We departed the ruins and drove back to Hotel Ruchti where we all enjoyed  giant Wiener Schnitzel!

Day 4

Vonia departed early in the morning to retrieve some late arriving guests at the Munich airport. The rest of us were driven to the Holy Mountain, Kloster Andechs. We all enjoyed the Doppelbock Beer and a small snack before we continued on toward Munich and the German Hops Museum. Unfortunately, Vonia was having some difficulties – apparently I had ordered the bus for her and the 4 late arrivals for the next day! She got them up to Weihenstephan while the bus company dispatched a bus immediately to bail us out – whew!

We all met up at the Hops museum and had a personal English tour of the facility. Since this is the heart of the Hallertau, this crop is off extreme importance in the area and is woven into the regions history. We learned a great deal about hops in the short time we had.

From Wolnzach, it was not far to Regensburg and we check into Hotel zum Fröhlichen Türken before we went to dinner at the Regensburger Weissesbrauhaus. The beer wasn;t my favorite, but the table-top buffet offered up some great food and we all enjoyed it.  After dinner, some of us enjoyed another
drink at the Alter Münz – and one of us really enjoyed the Kaiserschmarrn. This was a tip from our bus driver and he was spot on!

Day 5

The next morning we had a bit of rain during our walking tour of Regensburg. It never really came down hard; just a little drizzle. A medieval istory major, she took us through the oldest parts of the city and related the history to us in a personable way.  The tour ended at the Danuabe river in front of the historic Wurstkuchl – we all enjoyed a beer with a small order of Regensburg sausages and Händlmaier mustard.

After the snack we all split up for a bit of free time. I took some of the guys over to Spital for some sampling and we ended up back over at another brewery tap, Bischofshof am Dom. That beer was just average and the atmosphere a little fancy for our taste, so we wandered on toward where we had dinner planned – Kneitinger am Arnulfsplatz. This is my favorite place with outstanding beer!

Day 6

We awoke to the best weather of the entire trip – a great day for a cruise! We took our bus towards Riedenburg along the Ludwig-Donau-Main Canal which was built between 1836 and 1846, forming a water route from the North Sea all the way to the Black Sea. We were running a bit late, so we missed the boarding at Riedenburg and had to get picked up at Prem – thank God for cell phones!

The trip through the Altmühltal was pretty low keyed, but sitting in the sun enjoying a Schneider Weisse was great. THe most interesting part of the trip was going through the lock as we approached the city of Kelheim. Once we reached Kelheim, we went ashore right in front of the Schnieder Brewery. We stopped in to use the bathroom, but didn’t have enough time to enjoy a beer there. We conited walking through town and then boarded another ship to take us through what is called the “Donaudurchbruch” – where the Danuabe punches through high cliffs.

The scenery here was outstanding as we made our way to Kloster Weltenburg. Arriving there, all the passengers went straight to the beer garden for lunch and we had the bad luck of getting a horrible server. Finally, a Greek fellow we were sharing the table with went in an complained and we finally got some service.

After lunch, we walked along the Danube to the parking lot to meet our bus. We drove on to Abensberg to visit Robert Janey and the Kuchlbauer Brewery. Kuchlbauer is the most beautiful brewery I have ever been to and I always look forward to seeing it again. I was shocked at how much this quaint, undiscovered gem has changed: It had deinately been discovered. The place was buzzing with Japanese tourists who have come to see the recenly opened Hundertwasser Tower. A new gift shop  and a turnstile to handle the crowds of visitors have been installed. The tour isn’t the same slow pace it used to be, but the place is still very charming. The tower itself is very interesting and offers a great view of the surrounding Hallertau countryside. The tasting room and beer garden for after the tour are a nice addition and we definitely enjoyed our time there. As and extra bonus, we found out that the group I brought there in March 2010 are pictured on page 148 of the new book, “Der Kuchlbauer und Sein Turm.”

After our visit at Kuchlbauer, we strolled over to the Kuchlbauer tap in the heart of the town of Abensberg. We enjoyed the friendly service and great food before returning to Regensburg. Not ready to quite call it a night, a few of us ended up back at Kneitinger.

Day 7

We slept in a little longer than usually and then took our small bus to Nuremburg. We visited the site of the Nazi Party Rallies at the Dokuzentrum Reichsparteitagsgelände. Since we were a little head of schedule, we were able to spend extra time in Nuremburg. Our drive took us past the courthouse where the infamous Nuremburg trials took place and then he dropped us at the Nuremburg castle so we could have a quick look at that before walking down the hill to Bratwurst Röslein for lunch.

We pushed on to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, that famous romantic/medieval town on the Tauber River. There was a great deal of road construction inside the city walls and even our small bus couldn’t get through to our hotel. We went pack out side the gate and unloaded at a small parking lot and had to pull our luggage through the town wall and down to our hotel, Hotel Glocke.

This is a lovely hotel near the Plönlein Town. Since it is so old, there is no elevator and we had to help each other get the luggage up the steps of the hotel. Dinner was planned in the hotel and we were treated to the absolute best Sauerbraten I have ever had in my life. Also, the owner of this hotel runs a vineyard and makes his own wine. Better still, it’s excellent wine and quite inexpensive.

After dinner, several of us joined the night watchman for his tour through the city. His tour is a little heavier on humor than on history, but it’s a very easy and enjoyable walk. By the way, I bought his DVD and think it’s even better than his tour!

We ended up at one the few places to get a beer in this little town – right next to our hotel, just outside the Plönlein Gate.

Day 8

A free day on our itinerary. About half the group stayed in Rothenburg for the day with Vonia while I, of course, took the beer connoisseur’s on to Bamberg. From Rothenburg, we had to change train three times, but we got there in about 2.5 hours.

We departed the train and headed straight to Fässla for lunch. Herr Kalb was there pouring his own beer and we enjoyed an inexpensive lunch in the interior beer garden. We stopped in at Spezial across the street and were told they were closing in 15 minutes. Plenty of time to sample the lightly smoked beer!

From here we had to walk off a bit of the beer and we hiked across the bridge, through the old town of Bamberg and through the old Town Hall and up to the cathedral. We paid a quick visit to Pope Clement II and the Baberg Rider before going down the hill to Schlenkerla. Joe’s crew was particularly impressed with the famous Rauchbier (what a great beer family!). I thought we’d catch a bus to the next brewery, but it was a 20 minute wait until the next one. Never fear! There is the Kloster Brewery just around the corner. Famous for it’s brown beer, this was Joe’s favorite style, so we stopped in their for a quick one and still made our bus!

We took the bus to the ZOB – the central bus station – and again would have to wait 20 minutes for the connecting bus. IN that time we could easily walk to Wunderberg, so we did. We tried to pop into Keesman for a Herren Pils, but it was closed. So, we went across the street to Mahr’s and everyone enjoyed the “U.” Buying a couple dark biers – the E.T.A. Hoffman, we returned to the train station. By this time I definitely had the munchies and thoroughly enjoyed  a train station Dönner as our train pulled away.

Unfortunately for us, we missed one of our connections due to a late train and we ended up stranded just 15 minutes from Rothenburg. 40 minute wait for a taxi and a 40 minute wait for the next train….So, we opted for the train and visited the one restaurant in the small Dorf while we waited. We got back into Rothenburg late, but we’d had a great day!

Day 9

An early morning departure was planned from Rothenburg because we wanted to see the big parade in Munich. We first had to drag our luggage out to meet the bus and then be drove the 3 hours or so down to Dachau.

At Dachau Station, the bus let us out and we boards the S-Bahn to downtown Munich. In the meantime, the bus went on to Hotel Alter Wirt to deposit our luggage. We took the U-Bahn over to Lehel and watched the parade along Maximillian Strasse. The size and length of this parade is mind-boggling. With over 8,000 participants, the whole parade takes hours to complete. We watched for about 90 minutes before walking towards the Englischer Garten.

On our way there, Michael and Petra discovered us on the street and joined up with us. We watched the Munich surfers and then ducked into Haus Der Kunst to use the bathrooms.

We continued our walk to the Chinese Tower where Vonia was waiting for us with a few tables off to the side. With the band playing full force, we enjoyed the afternoon over a few beers and a light lunch.

After fortifying ourselves, our next destination was the balcony of the Augustiner Tent at Oktoberfest.

It was great evening with many of my friends including a surprise visit from by buddy from Füssen. Great beer, great chicken and great times share with great friends!

Day 10

So the morning after a late night visit to Oktoberfest is always an interesting experience as a tour guide. Who will actually turn up at breakfast and who will remain in bed?

Everyone ended up showing up, but 2 of them were dragging a bit. We went to downtown Munich and did a little more of the history tour before we headed to our Oktoberfest Reservation in the Box back inside the Augustiner Tent. Before going there, we met up with the Kohler boys on the Weissbier Carousel since they had a few people joining us for the day.

Arriving at Box 3, we were treated like family as Berta and her team greeted us all and took excellent care of us for the afternoon. Except for dousing me with beer once, everything was excellent (that’s another good reason to wear Lederhosen!)

After getting kicked out of our seats in Augustiner, we followed the Kohler boys to the Paulaner Tent and stood clear as they worked there magic. It was tentative at first, but they managed to acquire two tables for our use. We spent a great few hours singing and dancing to the traditional Oktoberfest hits.

On our way back to the hotel, we made the obligatory stop at the train station for french fries smothered in Mayo and and extra beer – probably didn’t need that one!

Day 11

A wonder, but everyone showed up again for their second morning after Oktoberfest. I think that’s a first!

We rode the tram downtown and went directly into the Weisses Brauhaus – my favorite haunt in downtown Munich. It’s an absolute requirement that one sample the Weisswurst when in Bavaria and we had not yet had the chance. We took over two tables in the Schwemme and the waitress brought us enough Weisswurst, Bretzn and Weissbier and Sweet Mustard so that everyone could try it. What a way to take care of a hang-over!

After the snack we had some free time to enjoy Munich before finishing off a little more of our history tour. Afterwards, we went back to Oktoberfest to enjoy the Historical Tent, a new addition due to the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest. Amazingly, as I was walking towards the tent, my friends from Füssen found me in the crowd and they joined me for a Mass inside the tent – unbelievable!

Fortunately, we had enough time to really visit the historical area. We got to see the Museum tent and some of the folk dancing which was taking place on the racetrack. Inside, we had a great 3 course dinner and enjoyed the beer a lot. The beer was a collaborative effort of the six Munich breweries and supossedly harkend back to the 19th century. It was very tasty and served in historically accurate ceramic mugs. This, coupled with the brass band and traditional music served to transport us all back to the era when Therese and Ludwig were married

Day 12

Today was departure day and everyone made their way to the airport. “Everything has an end – only the Wurst has two” is the german saying and it’s sad to see everyone leave.  But, the memories remain always!