Brandon O'Brien

Monday, October 6, 2025 @ 9:14 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Today was another mostly rainy day. The plan was to have a relaxed morning and then catch public transport back into Germany to a town called Schonram that's supposed to have a really good brewery. I ran out after I woke up around 7:30 and got a few yogurts and bananas to act as a quick breakfast the next few mornings. I've found that's been a good way to get something in my stomach without being too heavy. While I was out at the grocery, it was pouring down rain.

Fortunately the rain let up by about 9 so we headed out again into the old town to get a cup of coffee and walk around a little bit. The old town is really cool with the town butting up entirely to the hillside. There are gigantic gates and old walls all over the place, which makes it extremely tight for buses to get through. We popped in and out of some alleys which had little squares inside them with shops, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. We're going to walk around there more tomorrow so we didn't spend too much time there today.

We came back to the Airbnb to kill a little time before we needed to catch our train. We only had to take the train from the stop near our Airbnb down a couple stations to Freilassing. From there we took another regional train to Laufen and then finally caught the 9515 bus to Schonram. The train from Freilassing to Laufen was pretty much only school kids, then the bus to Schonram was as well. I guess the kids got out of school at noon today and were all on their way back home. It was a little after 1pm by the time we got to Schonram and we were both hungry and ready for a beer. Before stopping in the restaurant, we stuck our heads into the gift shop and saw the really nice taproom they have there. Unfortunately that taproom is only available for those who did the tour.

The place we actually ate and drank at is called Bräustüberl Schönram. When we got in there, it was pretty empty. We sat down and quickly ordered the Schonramer Helles. It's won several awards and was a really nice beer. For food, I ordered some fried chicken with fries and a little mini salad. The chicken was really good and the fries were really well seasoned. Since we had nowhere to be and it was still raining, we each had two more beers before we needed to leave to catch our bus back.

We went back to the gift shop and Ben bought a glass with the Schonramer logo on it. The bus was on time and quickly got us to the train station. What we didn't realize is the train wasn't running so we had to catch a bus instead. Fortunately, a lady flagged us down and pointed us to where the bus was. Crisis averted. The bus took us a little longer than the train would have, but dropped us off right at the Freilassing train station where there was an S2 train waiting for us.

The S2 train was brand new and still had that "new car smell" associated with it. It was one of the nicest trains I've been on in terms of being clean. We only had to take it two stations, then got off and came back to the Airbnb for a little while before dinner. I called my dad to wish him a happy birthday, we did a little planning for Prague and then headed out again to get dinner. We chose a restaurant called Trumerei which had a more modern menu but also some really well known local beer.

We each ordered their Pilsner which wasn't like any pilsner I've had before. It was extremely hop forward with aromas of noble hops and tea. The flavor was more noble hops with a rounded clean finish. For dinner, I ordered a teriyaki chicken bowl which was chicken, rice and a big salad. It was super filling but exactly what I wanted. I was so full I didn't get another beer, even though they sounded good. Ben ordered a "Red hot chili pepper" burger and also got another "hopped" Helles, which kinda tasted like a hop forward blonde ale.

We're back at the AirBnb now and it's getting close to 9:15. I'll probably wind down for bed now. Tomorrow is going to be another big walking day with us exploring Salzburg. We want to see both sides of the river and will plan our route based on the weather. The only brewery left we really want to hit is Stiegl, which is a really popular brewery from Salzburg.

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Tags: austria, salzburg, schonram, germany

Posted from: Austria

Sunday, October 5, 2025 @ 7:31 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Today was a travel day between Munich and Salzburg. We both slept in until almost 8 this morning which felt amazing. I think doing 11 miles of walking with almost no beer helped us get some good sleep. We didn't have to catch our train until 9:55 so we had plenty of time to pack up and leave. The train was easy to find and we boarded with enough time to find a seat and get situated before it took off.

On the way to Salzburg, we stopped at a town called Traunstein, which had their own brewery and restaurant. It was aptly named Hofbrauhaus Traunstein. Ben and I both tried a couple beers and had lunch. He had a venison goulash and I had grilled pork loin with spatzel and veggies. After lunch, we walked back and caught a train the rest of the way to Salzburg. It was about a 20 minute walk from the train station to the AirBnb which wasn't bad. It was raining a little bit but not enough to get us soaked.

On the walk to the AirBnb, we passed the Augustiner Bräu Mülln which is a different Augustiner than in Munich. This place only serves one kind of beer on draft, and that's what the Austrians call a Marzen. It's not the same dark style beer that Germans call a Marzen, which is a little confusing. We got checked in and hung out for about an hour before heading out to get some beer and food.

First we went to Augustiner and got some beer. They have a few shelves of clay mugs in liter and half liter sizes on the wall. You pick up the mug size you want, give it a quick rinse in nearby fountain and then pay for the beer. After paying, you take the receipt to the beer servers and they fill the mug you picked out. Overall it's a pretty efficient system. and you get your beer quickly. We didn't want more heavy German / Austrian food for dinner so we only had the beer. For being a rainy day, it was actually pretty easy to find a seat inside. There is a massive biergarten outside but no one was really sitting there drinking beer in the rain.

We had a few choices for dinner but settled on an Ethiopian restaurant called "Habesha Äthiopisches-Ethiopian and Eritrean-African Cuisine". It was rated 5 stars on Google Maps with over 600 reviews. It was pretty empty when we walked in around 6, but it quickly filled up as we ate. We ordered some samosas to start, then split a two person platter. The food was incredible and a really nice change from the heavy food typical of the area. Totally stuffed, we walked back to the AirBnb where we're calling it a night. Tomorrow we're going to head to a small German town called Schonramm so we can try a brewery there that's really well regarded. It's still looking like a lot of rain, but hopefully it was like today where it was light and came and went.

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Tags: austria, salzburg, germany, munich

Posted from: Austria

Saturday, October 4, 2025 @ 7:34 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Sleep last night still wasn't great, but we had nowhere to be this morning so took it fairly easy in getting ready. I ran out and grabbed some more yogurt for breakfast and then we headed to the train station to catch the S8 to Herrsching. We got on the train pretty quick and then it emptied out pretty quickly after the first few stops. We had almost an hour train ride to get to the station and I almost fell asleep a few times. Once in Herrsching, we started the walk up to the Andechs monastery where they have a brewery and biergarten.

It took about an hour to do the walk from town to the monastery. The hike itself was pretty nice. It was mostly on wide paths through some thick forests. There were a decent amount of people hiking up there too. The elevation gain was pretty significant with a lot of steep stairs to climb. While we were hiking, the sun broke through the clouds and we had a really beautiful day while there.

At the monastery, Ben and I took some photos then made our way down to the biergarten. We ordered some food first (two sausages and some potato salad) and then had a half liter of beer, which was the Andechs Special Helles. Both Ben and I wanted to take it easy on the drinking today, so we just had the one beer then started making our way back to town where we'd get on the S8 back to Munich.

The hike down was also really nice. We took a different route that wound through some big valleys. When we made it back into town, we timed it just right and got on a train that was set to leave in a few minutes. The train ride back was pretty uneventful until we got to a station about 5 stops away from where we needed to go. Apparently someone wandered onto the tracks somewhere around the Hirschgarten stop and they had to shut it all down until they figured out what happened. We sat on the train for a few minutes then decided to get out and walk to the Hirschgarten since it was pretty close by.

The park was really nice and had a lot of different playgrounds. By now the weather was turning again and it was starting to get really cloudy. The park was still really nice and relaxing to walk through. I called Sam and Dakotah to catch up while there too. We saw some of the deer that live in the park, walked through the biergarten and then made our way to one of the trams that would take us really close to our hotel.

The tram was packed and it was pretty uncomfortable riding it the six or so stops we needed. By the time we got off, it was starting to sprinkle so we came back to the hotel to drop off some of our stuff, then went back out to the grocery store to grab some snacks for the train ride to Salzburg tomorrow. After killing a little time, we went to dinner at a place called Mama Bao which had some really good Biang Biang noodles and starters. We split some smashed cucumber salad, popcorn chicken and fungi salad dishes. I had a ginger lemon fizz with dinner which tasted really good. They must have used a lot of honey because you could really taste it in there. Both of us sufficiently full, we came back to the hotel again where we're calling it a night.

It's been raining on and off and neither one of us wanted to drink more, so chilling out is a nice option. I also walked over 23,000 steps today, the most of this whole trip. I'm looking forward to the train tomorrow so we don't feel like we're forced to walk as much. The train tomorrow goes directly from Munich to Salzburg, but we're going to make a pitstop in a town called Traunstein where they have a well known brewery. We'll have a beer and lunch there before catching the train again all the way to Salzburg. Unfortunately the weather looks like it's turned for the trip and we're going to have a lot of rain for the rest of the time we're in Europe. Fingers crossed it doesn't rain too hard and we can still get out and walk around and enjoy the sights.

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Tags: germany, oktoberfest, munich

Posted from: Germany

Friday, October 3, 2025 @ 9:44 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

This morning, we chilled in the hotel room for a little while before heading out and getting some coffee from a place called Suuapinga Café. Before leaving, I had some pomegranate yogurt and banana so there would be something in my stomach. We had to take the U-bahn a stop from the Hoptbahnhof to get to the coffee sho, but it wasn't a big deal. I had a cappuccino which tasted great. After getting back to the hotel, we had about 45 minutes before meeting up with everyone to head to our table reservations at Hacker-Pschorr tent from noon - 5pm.

We met the whole crew at Mike and Anne's hotel and then walked over to the fest grounds. When we showed up at the tent, it was already pretty rowdy which was a change from the last few sessions we've been at. After ordering a round of beers, the waiter told us we should probably go ahead and order food because the wait times get pretty bad as the session goes on. I ordered a half chicken with some potato salad and most people ordered either a half chicken or something else. Somehow we ended up with an extra pork belly dish which tasted pretty good too. Both the chicken and pork dish were really salty, which would have been offputting in other situations but was really good when drinking a lot of beer. The waiters here were a little less laid back than at Lowenbrau, asking for tips and generally being a little more intense than other tents. They were also selling beers to basically anyone who had money, even if they weren't at a table (which was kinda against the rules, but they were making a lot of money that way).

I ended up having about 3 liters over the course of 5 hours, then Ben and I headed out to meet up with another acquaintance for dinner. We were meeting up with another brewer who happened to move to Germany and was going to train at the Weihenstephaner institute to learn the ins and outs of brewing there. We left the grounds and somehow got turned around and it took us a while to get back to the area we were meeting him. After meeting up, we had dinner at an Indian restaurant called Madame Chutney. I got a chicken korma dish which tasted really good. Having some more food in my stomach really helped, considering how much booze I had in my system.

After eating dinner, Ben and I came back to our hotel where we've been winding down for bed. Tomorrow we're heading to Herrsching and then doing a hike up to the Andech's monastery brewery where we'll have some beer and food before heading back to Munich. It looks like there may be some rain tomorrow afternoon / evening but hopefully we're back before it hits.

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Tags: oktoberfest, germany, munich

Posted from: Germany

Thursday, October 2, 2025 @ 7:41 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

I got back to the hotel pretty late last night and didn't sleep very well, but still woke up around 7am when the sun started shining into the room. I went out again to get some yogurt, banana and a little breakfast pizza at the local REWE grocery store. On the way back I got some more coffee then worked for a little while before we needed to meet up to head back into the festival grounds.

Before meeting up, Ben and I stopped at a place called Uiguer Kabap and where we each got a really spicey Dürüm (basically everything in a doner but wrapped in a tortilla instead of bread). We didn't know it at the time, but apparently this place is known for how spicy they make their food. They add a lot of chili oil and pepper flakes to it which adds a nice level of heat. By the time I was done with mine, my lips were tingling.

We met up with the rest of the crew at Mike and Anne's hotel and walked to the festival grounds. We had two more tables reserved at the Lowenbrau tent and they ended up being the exact same tables we had on Tuesday night. It started off a lot more mellow since it was the afternoon session but as the hours rolled by, the band got more and more loud and people started dancing on the tables more and more.

I had two and a half liters over the course of the session as well as another half chicken. After our session ended, I decided to call it a day since I wanted some time to chill before bed so I could be a little more refreshed for tomorrow. I met back up with Ben and we went out to a pizza restaurant called Napoli Rush where we each got a pizza. Both were excellent and had great crust and toppings. On the way back we stopped at another grocery store to pick up a few snacks. It's just going to be an early night tonight so I can hopefully catch up on some sleep.

Tomorrow we're going to the Hacker Pschorr tent from noon to five. This will be our first time in that tent and I'm looking forward to a change from Lowenbrau, even though the beer everything else has been great there.

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Tags: oktoberfest, germany, munich

Posted from: Germany

Wednesday, October 1, 2025 @ 11:46 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Today was a strange one. I woke up pretty early, around 7am, and ended up wandering around to get to a Rewe grocery store to grab some food for breakfast. I wasn't really sure what I was in the mood for but I ended up getting a cup of yogurt and an apple. On the way back to the hotel I stopped at a coffee shop nearby and got a cup of coffee to bring back to the room while I ate breakfast and got a little work done.

It was significantly colder today than yesterday but that wasn't too bad. It actually felt nice outside and stayed mostly sunny for the day. We had two tables reserved at the Hacker-Pschorr tent but there was some kind of an emergency situation and they shut the Oktoberfest grounds down until 5pm. This meant we had to change plans since we couldn't use our reservations today. We ended up all meeting up at the English Garden at the Chinese Tower biergarten a little after noon. Before heading there, I wanted to get some food in my stomach so got a Döner kabob before we met up.

At the biergarten, we hung out for several hours drinking beer, enjoying the weather and having some food. When it got closer to 5pm, we decided to test our luck and head to the Oktoberfest grounds and see if we could find any tables. Most of the group wanted to take an Uber to get to the grounds but a few of us decided just to take public transportation after seeing how long it was going to take for an Uber to arrive. The few of us who took public transport made it to the fest grounds pretty quick but were faced with some extremely daunting entry lines.

We almost gave up after waiting in line for a while but as we were leaving we found another entrance that had basically no people at it and were able to get in pretty fast. We heard about the Oide Wiesen which is supposed to be a more quiet and relaxed area where they have a big beer tent, a museum and some rides. Luckily, we got a table at the Festzelt Tradition (traditional tent) and had a liter of Augustiner beer there. The rest of the crew ended up doing some carnival rides and then we met up with them at Lowenbrau again where they had found a couple free tables. The difference in atmosphere between the traditional tent and Lowenbrau was intense. The traditional tent had music but it was pretty mellow and there were families with kids around, no one standing on tables, etc. Lowenbrau was extremely loud, packed and full of people dancing on the tables.

We hung out at Lowenbrau for a couple hours before calling it a night. On the way back to the hotel I grabbed some more sausage from one of the stands as a late dinner. The walk back was pretty cold, with temps in the 40s. Tomorrow is another afternoon session at Lowenbrau, assuming there aren't any other issues.

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Tags: oktoberfest, munich, germany

Posted from: Germany

Tuesday, September 30, 2025 @ 10:57 PM in 2025 Oktoberfest Trip

Today was a long day, as most travel days are. I picked Ben up around 9:30am in Santa Fe and then we drove to Albuquerque to catch our flight. The first flight was from ABQ to Houston, which was uneventful. From Houston we caught our direct flight to Munich. The flight was delayed a little bit but no big deal. After we boarded the flight to Munich, I watched 28 Years Later before dinner, then took half of a sleeping pill after a few glasses of wine to help me pass out. Dinner service consisted of beef, chicken or pasta. I ordered the chicken which ended up being a curry dish with rice. While tasting good, it didn't really fill me up too much.

Unfortunately sleep didn't come easily and I only had a couple hours of sleep in total for the 10 hour flight. In addition to 28 Years Later, I watched Thunderbolts again which was something entertaining. Breakfast on the flight was either a cinnamon roll or a breakfast sandwich, so I opted for the sandwich. We landed in Munich around 10am and then got stuck in a massive customs line. Fortunately it was moving pretty fast and they were breaking people off to go to a different customs area which helped speed things up.

After Ben got his bag, we booked a day ticket for the transit system and then got on a train to Munich. It was about noon so we weren't able to check into our hotel, but we were able to drop our bags off and go to Augustiner Keller where I had a beer and a Pfefferschnitzel. The beer was way too easy to drink, probably because I was very dehydrated. After lunch, we started walking around to kill some time but the rain came and it started coming down pretty hard. We made it to the Marienplatz but then hopped on the S-Bahn and took it back to the station closest to our hotel. We killed some time in the lobby until we could check in.

At 4:15 I met up with Mike and Anne and the other 9 people who were going to the Lowenbrau tent at Oktoberfest tonight. We had a 10 person table reserved for 5:00-10:00. Each seat at the table comes with vouchers for two beers and an order of a half chicken. The Oktoberfest grounds are filled with all kinds of rides, food booths, carnival games and obviously beer tents. It was like being at the midway of a big state fair.

We got seated at our table and ordered a round of beers for everyone. It started off pretty mellow but as the hours passed and people drank more and more, the crowd started getting really loud with lots of dancing on tables and singing. It was a really cool experience, even if the people behind us were extremely drunk and kept bumping into us.

The tables are really crammed in there so there isn't really space to move around once you're seated. I ended up having about 2.5 liters of beer and a half chicken. We all ended up leaving around 9:30 and then got some sausages at a stand outside the Lowenbrau tent.

The walk back to the hotel only took about 15 minutes and by the time I got back I was ready to sleep. Between several big beers and very little sleep on the flight, I was beat.

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Tags: oktoberfest, munich, germany

Posted from: Germany

Friday, September 2, 2022 @ 7:24 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 9

There was a lot of activity on the streets outside our Airbnb last night. It seemed like drunk people were walking by screaming and shouting until almost 5 in the morning. Tonight we're going to try shutting the windows to help keep the noise down. We were both up by about 7am, had some coffee and ate breakfast over the next hour and a half. I was looking at the train schedule to Freiburg and saw that the train we wanted (departing Strasbourg at 9:58am) had some issues so we tried to get to the station for the 9:20 train. Unfortunately we missed the tram and wouldn't get to the station in time so we meandered through town to the station and hung out for a little while until the 10:20 train.

Because of the different train we took, we had about an hour to kill at our connection in Offenburg, Germany. We walked into town and got some food to hold us over so we wouldn't be starving when we got into Freiburg. I got essentially a sauceless pizza and Sam got the same toppings on a pretzel. Both were good and did their job of filling us up. While we were eating, Dakotah had a poop explosion and got his onesie covered. We ended up having to change him and wipe him down in a park behind a big church. We also realized we were almost completely out of wipes so we'd need to pick up some more in Freiburg.

We got back to the train station and hopped on our 11:26am high speed train to Freiburg. The trip only took a half hour and was pretty uneventful. Our regional train pass was working well since we could hop on an off whichever trains we wanted to in the area without having to buy new tickets. When we arrived in Freiburg we ran into a DM store and picked up a new packet of diaper wipes.

Walking into town we saw an archeological museum that had a bunch of grape vines in front of them. Some of the grapes were ripe and we tried a few which were really good. We're assuming the grapes they had out there were the ones that grow really well in the area. From there, we made our way over to the Schlossburg area where we were going to hike up to the Schlossburgturn (the big tower). The walk through town brought us through a bunch of markets and really cool cobbled streets that still have some old sewage and water canals in them (no sewage now, haha). We also passed by the Martinstor which was a 13th century gate in the wall around town. Now there's a McDonalds underneath it, lol.

The hike up to the tower was pretty steep but it was mostly paved and pretty well marked. There were a bunch of various trails that all weaved through each other but most ultimately made it to the tower. The tower is 153 steps up to a big lookout with some amazing views of the area. I went up there while Sam stayed on the ground. It was probably a good choice on her part since the tower was slightly swaying in the wind at the top.

After hiking back into town, we went to the Feierling biergarten and had some of their Inselhopf (an unfiltered wheat beer that was very easy to drink) and some sausages with kraut, mustard and some slices of bread. It was nice hanging out in the beer garden, even if there were a decent amount of flies and our waitress wasn't very attentive. It took quite a while to flag her down and get the bill.

From the beer garden we walked over to the Freiburger Munster (the main cathedral in town) where we snapped some pics and then started walking back to the train station. Along the way we saw a bunch of people with boba tea so we hunted the shop down and got some too. We got one with taro and coconut and it was a good thirst quencher. We both realized how little water we'd had to drink today so having something to drink other than beer was extremely welcomed.

The train rides back to Strasbourg were uneventful. We just retraced our route here by getting the high speed train to Offenburg and then a regional train to Strasbourg. We got back into Strasbourg around 5pm and were pretty hungry already. We walked around a little while hoping to see somewhere that jumped out to us but ultimately decided on more Asian by going to a place called East Canteen. I got a Japanese pancake and Sam got some Pad Thai. The pancake was really filling and Sam's pad thai was really flavorful.

On the walk back to the hotel we saw one restaurant that I bookmarked as a potential location to eat tomorrow. It was also next to a cheese and meat shop so we'll probably get some meat, cheese and a baguette and snack on that with our wine that we still need to try. Tomorrow is calling for thunderstorms all day so we're going to take it easy and play it by ear. We're hoping to find some souvenirs in town so tomorrow might be a great day to do that.

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Tags: france, germany, freiburg, strasbourg, europe

Posted from: France

Tuesday, August 30, 2022 @ 8:25 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 6

Today started out reasonably well. We both got some sleep and Sam ran downstairs to the coffee shop and picked us up some Chai. We made some croissant sandwiches for breakfast, finished packing and then went down to the train station to catch our first train of the day. We thought it might take a while to find our gate but it was actually pretty easy. With some time to kill, Sam set off to find another coffee and a snack.

We boarded our train and got settled in for the 3 hour ride to Mannheim. It was pretty uneventful, although we were losing time at each stop and we weren't sure if we'd make our 11 minute layover from Mannheim to Strasbourg. Lunch was leftover pizza from last night, which was actually pretty decent on the train. Some of the towns and countryside we passed through were really neat. Many of the towns had cathedrals or towers in the middle of them. Near Stuttgart, there were some vineyards on what looked like sheer cliffs too. When we left Stuttgart, the train said it was running 8 minutes late but we made up a little bit of time. Before arriving in Mannheim, they showed a list of updated connections and showed that our train to Strasbourg was also running a little late. With a sigh of relief, we didn't need to rush to get to the other gate.

Once we got to Mannheim, we got off and went to gate 5 where it said our train would be. We were supposed to be on the TGV9580 which went direct to Strasbourg. This is where the day went from chill to stress-fest. Our train was supposed to depart at 2:48 (after delays) and at 2:47 a train pulled up to gate 5. Not thinking anything about it, we got right on the train, found car 11 and sat down. One of the seats we were supposed to be in was taken, but that didn't seem too weird since some people kinda sit wherever they want and then move if the person with the reservation comes. Right as the doors shut and the screens updated to show the next stop, I realized we were on the wrong train. This one was going right back to Stuttgart (about 40 minutes away), and not Strasbourg.

With no other options, we were stuck on the train and had to figure out another way to get to Strasbourg from Stuttgart. The train we were supposed to be on was the only direct from Mannheim, so backtracking to Mannheim again wasn't going to help us out. We found some regional trains that would require two different transfers but would ultimately get us to Strasbourg (albeit, 2.5 hours after we were supposed to get in).

Back in Stuttgart, we jumped on our first train which was an extremely overcrowded commuter to Karlsruhe with a 50 minute ride time. Once in Karlsruhe, we got on another packed train to Appenweier. This one was doubly annoying because our huge roller bag took up like 3/4 of the aisle so every time someone wanted to walk by, they had to shimmy around the bag. There weren't any restrooms on this train either and Dakotah was in serious need of changing. With several delays and stops, we finally made it to Appenweier after about 45 minutes.

Due to the train being late, we missed our connection in Appenweier but fortunately there were trains running every 30 minutes to Strasbourg. This at least gave us time to change Dakotah at the train station (on the top of our suitcase in the parking lot, lol). At 6:11 we jumped on our last train of the day and made the 11 mile journey across the Rhine river into France.

After finally arriving in Strasbourg, we had to jump on the tram to take us into town. The tram station we got off at was just a couple hundred feet from the Airbnb which was convenient. What wasn't so convenient was having to carry a 50 pound roller bag up 3 flights of several hundred year old stairs to get to our apartment. After a lot of sweating (I was carrying Dakotah, my backpack and the roller bag), we made it and were able to get to our room.

By now it was well after 7pm and we were tired, hungry and thirsty. We gave Dakotah a quick clothes swap and then went back downstairs to eat at a microbrewery and restaurant called La Lanterne, directly across from our Airbnb. Sam and I each got a beer (I had an amber and she had a weissebier). For food, I got a chicken cordon bleu with spatzel and mushroom sauce while Sam got a burger and fries. All the food and beer was good but we were super stuffed and tired.

Since it was already dark out, we decided to take a walk to Strasbourg's Notre Dame Cathedral which wasn't too far away. The cathedral took a couple hundred years to build (starting in the 1100's) and looks really neat, especially at night. We walked around the entire cathedral then made our way back to the Airbnb. Unfortunately due to historical regulations, they couldn't put A/C in the unit so have a couple of fans blowing to try and cool it down. It was still really hot in the room but not too long after getting home it started raining which helped cool things down considerably (it also helped get people off the streets, which was pretty loud from our open windows).

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Tags: germany, munich, trains, france

Posted from: France

Monday, August 29, 2022 @ 7:22 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 5

Today was a much needed rest day after several late nights and very little sleep. We got up around 8:30am, made some coffee in the room and then I set out to track down some laundry detergent so we could do a load of laundry in the basement of the hotel. There was a DM store around the corner and I found some laundry sheets there (basically sheets of soap you use). I went down to the laundry room to see if any of the machines were being used and saw a sign that said no detergent was needed... the machines automatically added it. Whoops. At least the detergent was cheap and doesn't take up much space.

I brought all the laundry down, put it in the machine and then started looking for a coin slot or start button. Turns out you had to use an app to reserve and start the machines. Not a big deal, but the wifi wasn't working in the basement and it was below ground so I didn't have any cell service. I went up to the lobby to download the app and get it started. For some reason it wouldn't let me immediately start it but I had to wait 10 minutes before it would let me start the machine.

Once we finally got the laundry going, Sam and I headed out to find some coffee and grab a quick snack for breakfast. By now it was getting close to 11 and we didn't want too much food since it was getting close to lunch. We found a Coffee Fellows near the train station and got a cappuccino and blueberry muffin. After that, the laundry was ready so we came back to switch it over to the dryer.

Not really sure what to do, we headed down to the Oktoberfest grounds to see all of the beer halls under construction. Back in 2008 we were able to walk through the grounds but now they have the whole thing gated off. We walked around it a little while and got to the Bavaria statue where we sat down for a little while and fed Dakotah. Allie video called us so Emmie and Sofie could see Dakotah again too.

I got a notification that the clothes were done so we went back to the hotel to grab our clothes and then find some food. Along the way, Sam found a couple Thai restaurants pretty close to the hotel so we picked one to try. The food hit the spot and it wasn't as heavy as sausage, potatoes and cabbage would have been.

We came back to the hotel for a quick break before heading out for an aimless wander around town. We started going through the botanical garden / park near our hotel, making our way back down to the Marienplatz and over to the Hofbrauhaus. After snapping a quick pick there (didn't need to go in since I had been there before and wasn't really feeling the need for more beer), we walked through Old Town and the Promenadplatz. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a Rewe to grab something for breakfast in the morning. We landed on some croissants with cheese and meat.

Not really sure what to do for dinner, we went back to the same Doner place we had for lunch yesterday and got a couple pizzas. One was mushroom and prosciutto and the other was spinach, onion and feta. We brought them back to the hotel, ate and have been getting ready for our train ride to France tomorrow. Fortunately the train doesn't leave until 11:30am so we have plenty of time to get packed up in the morning. We also have some leftover pizza we can eat for lunch.

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Tags: germany, munich

Posted from: Germany