Blogging the Fest

Starkbierfest (Munich Strong Beer Festival)

2013-03-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

Went to a mini fest over the weekend in Munich. We had a good time at Paulaner Nockherberg brewery. A lot of the breweries in Munich have their own areas for the fest. It was just a warm up preparing for May in my book!

Starkbier is a heavier beer they say the monks drank up (as liquid beer) preparing for lent.. I don't know that it would help me survive a month without food but at 750 calories, a couple of those would certainly allow me to survive the day. We were outside, but inside is where the fun takes place... There just were not any seats!

Got my room!

2013-03-18T10:14:00.001-07:00

Reserved my room today! Of course all the hotels raised their rates for rooms using points over all, so an extra 10,000 points per day were required. Still better than paying 200 Euros a night. Of course, I am looking forward to Frühlingsfest first as that one is when life gets good here in Germany. Winter is gone and the beer gartens open up.

Pictures from 2012!

2013-02-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

Oktoberfest has begun!

2012-09-22T03:11:00.001-07:00

The mayor has tapped the first keg and the beer is flowing. I am not there for it but will be next weekend. Hopefully your trip plans are set and you are ready to go. I will be posting pictures following the fest. Happy drinking. Prost!

Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest

2012-05-03T21:49:00.001-07:00

The Frühlingsfest (Spring Fest) is currently going on all over Germany. I am headed to the largest of the Springfests tonight. Will be lots of fun! Video posted from the first week of the fest (the weather is much better now).

And here is a video from inside a beer tent

Oktoberfest 2012 Calendar of Events

2012-04-28T07:53:00.002-07:00

9/22/12 10:45 AM	Arrival of the tent patrons with parade through Munich.
9/22/2012 Noon	Tapping of the first Octoberfest-beer-barrel by the Munich mayor in the Schottenhamel Tent.
9/23/12 9:45 AM	Traditional costume parade through Munich.
9/24/2012 Noon	Special lunch for senior citizens in the big tents.
9/25/2012 Noon-6	Family day: all rides and performances cost less.
9/27/12 10:00 AM	Traditional religious Oktoberfest mass in the Hippodrom-tent.
9/30/12 11:00 AM	Traditional concert of the Oktoberfest brass-bands at the feet of the Bavaria.
10/1/12 6:00 PM	Rosa Wiesn in the Fischer Vroni tent.
10/2/2012 Noon-6	Family day: all rides and performances cost less.
10/3/2012 Noon	Senior showman meeting in the Hippodrom.
10/07/2012 Noon	Traditional gun-salute on the steps of the Bavaria monument.

Getting a Passport

2012-04-28T07:36:00.001-07:00

Being an American going to Europe is easy. For short trips, we do not require a visa. We do however still require a US Passport book (make sure you get the book and not the card). Fortunately, with adequate preparation getting a Passport is easy and pretty cheap. Go online and fill out the form, scroll down to step one (fill out online and print), accept the terms click next and then click to apply for a new passport. Fill out all fields and print. This only takes a few minutes and you will have a completed Passport application. The fee is $165 for normal processing (plan for 8-12 weeks) and $205 for expedited processing (plan for 4-6 weeks). I would pay the extra $12.50 for overnight delivery as well to ensure you don’t have any problems with the Passport being shipped.

You need to submit this documentation in person. When I did it, the post office was my one stop shop. The information you need to bring with you is:

· The application filled out above

· Payment

· Birth Certificate (or other proof of citizenship) – the original document needs to be sent as well: I strongly recommend overnight shipping to passport office and back to you

· Driver’s license or Photo ID (also photocopy this ID to send)

· Passport photo (can get at Walmart, Walgreens, or other…The post office also will do this during certain times)

And then wait. You will receive a new passport after a month or two and will be ready to travel!

Getting a flight

2012-04-28T07:12:00.001-07:00

Living in Germany last year (and this year!) it was only a two hour drive for me to arrive in Munich for the fest. But in 2010 we flew from Colorado Springs to Munich, using frequent flyer miles. I scheduled my flight in May and was able to book two first class saver tickets for 110,000 miles each. First class is an excellent way to travel but is really only affordable for the rich and by using miles. All of the major carriers fly into Munich, we flew United Airlines as that is the airline that I had the miles on to use but you can choose whatever airline you want. If you don’t have a preference, my recommendation is to use online searching services (such as expedia.com but there are many others) as this will allow you to select the best fares. If you live in DC, Denver, or Chicago United will probably be your best bet but you never know. As with booking a room, timing is important! I would recommend doing both at the same time. This ensures that your hotel and airline plans line up. If you are not a frequent traveler, you can usually book a room and flight on the same website.

I also highly recommend flying directly into Munich if you have never been to Germany before. What you may save flying into Frankfurt and taking the train to Munich may really cost you trying to learn what all the German signs mean. This is supposed to be fun and exciting, and not because you have a great story about completely missing trains or ending up on the wrong train.

Getting a room

2012-04-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

I recommend getting a room as early as possible. Rooms during the fest will be pricy at anytime but will get more expensive the longer you wait. The best way to get a room is to book it with hotel points. Using Priority Club rewards last year, I was able to book a room with 15,000 points a night only 30 days in advance BUT…it was in a very very bad location for traveling to the fest.

Things to keep in mind when getting a room is how will you get to the fest. The subway is the best bet. The Theresienwiese‎ train stop on the U4 and U5 train lines is the best bet. I recommend trying to find a hotel close to those lines. The Poccistraße‎ stop on U3 and U6 lines is also a very good stop. In fact, the hotel I plan on trying to stay at is a 5 minute walk to a U6 stop a couple stops away. You don’t want to do too much train changing or walking after having many beers at the fest.

Use this link google maps fest location and click on the train stations near it to see where the lines that go there go. They are indicated on the map by the colors shown. See the example picture. The green lines show where the U4 goes and the brown lines show where the U5 goes.

Welcome!

2012-04-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

I am writing this to share my experiences and help give advice on how to enjoy a trip to Munich Germany (München, Deutschland) in late September to enjoy Oktoberfest. I will include a lot of links, most will link to Wikipedia to give the reader an opportunity to learn more about various things I might be writing about.

From 2007-2010 I did a lot of traveling for work. The company I worked for flew us business class overseas on United and other Star alliance flights. This allowed me to accumulate a lot of miles. Generally when we stayed in hotels, I was able to stay in Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels. As they are in the same hotel family, this allowed me to accumulate many hotel points. I used these points and miles for my wife and me to travel to the 2010 Oktoberfest on the cheap. We flew first class, and had a week in the hotel for a grand total of $380. We had a wonderful time and I ended up taking a job in Germany which allowed us to also attend the fest of 2011. We also plan on going in 2012 and I think this year will be the best as I will be able to apply the lessons I have learned from the first two trips. This blog will be my way of sharing the things I have learned and hopefully removing the fear of leaving the great USA for a vacation to Germany. Thanks for reading and hopefully you will enjoy the ride!

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