For the moment: Munich and Oktoberfest

At this time of year there are crowds of people heading into Munich in Germany for one thing only - Oktoberfest! After leaving Vienna Dan and I joined the crowds streaming into Munich.

We were really excited to get amongst it in Munich but also meet up with our friend James. For those of you that know us pretty well, James is the reason Dan and I met (as he likes to remind us pretty regularly) and we were pretty excited to meet up with someone from home! We spent a few nights staying in Wombats hostel in Munich, before the prices nearly quadrupled for Oktoberfest weekend.

Given the planning we had put into getting to Munich for Oktoberfest, we decided to really get into the swing of things and buy lederhosen and a durndle for me (for the uninitiated, that's the little dress that females wear while the boys wear lederhosen). We spent a whole day trawling the city, looking at both new and secondhand traditional clothing. We were offered lederhosen from the 1800s costing about 1500 euros, but decided to go with the cheaper option of outfits from C&A (similar to Target or Myer). Stoked with our purchases, we headed to an Augustiner beer hall that night where the boys had beer and I had a radler (aka shandy) as well as pork knuckle, roast chicken, potato salad, apple strudle and more traditional Bavarian food.

We also planned to visit Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial, and jumped on a metro train one morning and headed to the town just outside of Munich. While it could never be described as an experience I particularly looked forward to or enjoyed, I think everyone who visits Germany should visit one of these memorials just to commemorate the atrocities that were committed there, to ensure we never forget and never let it happen again. It was so sad walking through each building and reading all of the memorial material, and disturbing seeing the preserved crematoriums and gas chambers.

On a happier note, we also did a fantastic free walking tour of and learned the full history of Bavaria and Munich. It was creepy to hear that one of the beer halls we walked through is considered the "birthplace" of the Nazi party. The roof used to be covered in swastikas which has since been painted over.

Munich's most famous beer hall

The day before Oktoberfest began we moved to our campground and into our tents to join the world's biggest festival. Having not camped since high school, this wasn't an experience I was particularly looking forward to. Coupled with the fact that it rained torrentially for two full days meant the overall experience was quite wet and dreary! I did really enjoy getting dressed up in traditional clothing, the opening parade on the first day and and the atmosphere in the beer halls. We also had a pretty good time on some of the rides like the dodgem cars. Overall, Oktoberfest is a must-do, once in a lifetime experience full of Bavarian culture.