Day 21 and Day 22 – Obertraun, Munich and Malaga

We had an early departure from Obertraun this morning, wanting to get the car back to Salzburg on time for us to catch a train to Munich. Everything went well and there was a spectacular view all the way.

We arrived in Munich with plenty time for some walking around before going to Theriesenwiese for the Oktoberfest. Martin had some left over freelance work to finish so he went to the internet café for what turned in to a bit of a technical saga while Edu and Simryn went for a walk around Marienplatz and surrounds and I did some shopping for closed shoes and long sleeves as it was very cold!

We eventually made it to the festival where we walked around the grounds eating pretzels and looking at the overpriced rides, souvenirs and curios. We had not made any reservations so we walked from tent to tent till we found a seat outside the Lowenbrau tent where we sat down and ordered four steins. It must be mentioned that Simryn and I are not beer drinkers, but we definitely gave it a fair shot!

On route to our second tent Martin and I were tempted by one of the rides. It is a straight pole structure with chairs attached to the bottom. Without warning you’re shot in to the air, bounced around at the top for a bit before being plummeted to the ground again. It is exciting and provides great views!

We found another tent and managed to find somewhere to sit,although not much sitting was done! By this time of the night, everyone was dancing and singing with the oompa band and every rendition of ‘Ein Prosit’ is heartily agreed and cheersed and clinked. The atmosphere is great, everyone is happy and friendly and everyone is everyone’s friend. (I wondered to myself what would happen if the UN summit in New York was moved to a table at Oktoberfest)

At 23:00 the music dies and the security guards come around encouraging you to leave immediately, so everyone pours out into the grounds making their way back to wherever they go. We found some stekkelfisch, fish which is skewered and slow roasted over open coals and is totally delicious.

We walked back to the train station with plenty time to spare for the 00:58 train to the airport where we were planning to find a place to snooze while we waited for our 05:30 flight. Unfortunately the scheduled final train to the airport decided not to go there but in fact to stop 3 stations short, so there we sat, 1 something am at a train stop in the middle of nowhere with not a thing to do in the area, freezing cold, all our luggage with us and two hours to wait for a train! We did all try to sleep a bit, especially Martin who I neglected to mention has a stinking cold! Curled up on the station floor covered in towels, scarves and jerseys and using my swimming costume and sarong as a pillow (it’s only use so far this holiday!) and the rest in similar conditions, those were two very long hours. The train finally arrived and we thawed out en route to the airport.

By now exhausted and desperately thirsty we thought we’d check in and then try for some sleep, but Condor Air had different ideas! We arrived at the check-in counter to find about 300 people waiting to check in! There were 6 open desks, but that airline had three flights leaving for different Spanish destinations within 30 mins of each other, and no indication of which desk to use for which destination! It was not only utter chaos, but incredibly slow too taking us over an hour to check in!

We passed through security, where as it happened both my and Simryn’s bags were checked and unpacked! We finally got on the plane and I don’t know about the others but I was asleep before take off. Later today they were discussing the worrying take off, extreme turbulence and shaky landing and I was very surprised! I missed it all!

We seem to be catching the tail end of all of Europe’s bad weather at the moment because we landed in Malaga in torrential rain and driving to our hotel saw storm drains overflowing, water bubbling up through manholes and rushing in torrents down the road! We stopped for some groceries and very soon after, Martin and I went to sleep while Edu and Simryn went for a walk.

Waking up remotely refreshed Martin made a delicious chicken and proscuitto with mozzarella salad and now I think we’ll finish the dishes and go back to bed!