Munich - Sunday

Sunday morning rolled around and we weren't feeling to bad at this stage. We had made the call the night before to pay to get the hotel's buffet breakfast, mainly as we couldn't stomach any more pretzels and we wanted a decent feed. We were not disappointed. There was almost every type of food you could think of at this buffet. A most excellent start to the day.

The weather was not kind however, it was cold, it was windy and just as we left the hotel it started to bucket down. We had previously decided to go on a free walking tour to get some culture before we had to go back to London, so we stored our bags at the train station and found the meeting spot.

The rain was still coming down, and the tour guide had the most annoying American accent, so we didn’t last long. We got to the Hofbrau haus (the proper permanent one) and ducked inside and escaped the tour. We found ourselves a wee table in the corner and soaked up the atmosphere. The Germans are crazy. You can imagine them just sitting in these beer halls all winter, mental. We shared a stein and had Pork knuckle and pot roast which were delicious, and the prices were really reasonable too.

Once we had warmed up we made the call to visit the BMW museum (as it was inside) which was a good call. The building was incredible, again uber stylish and swish. The branding team at BMW must have an astronomical budget. We had a nosey, and a hot chocolate, then did the exhibition of the old cars and motorbikes – Ronnie's old bike was there too.

Lou got the best one

Inside the showroom bit

Ugly car....

Nice car!

We were pretty stuffed by now so we went to the airport and tried to find dinner which was an experience that I would rather not repeat and got on the plane and went to sleep.

Highlight: Getting into the warm dry beer house and eating hot food…
Lowlight: The rain! Boo.
Interesting Fact #1: It's possible to become a regular at the Hofbrauhouse, you basically have to go all the time (usually 4x a week for 15 years) and then you get a plaque above a table that is essentially yours for life.
Interesting Fact #2: Around a quarter of million people attend the BMW museum every year.

Oktoberfest - Saturday

Another weekend away rolled around very very quickly, this time to the very cultural experience of Oktoberfest.

We touched down in Munich bout 9pm and hopped on the extremely efficient and effective train system to find our hotel. Not so efficient and effective was Google maps instructions to get from the metro station to the hotel. We ended up wandering for quite a substantial period of time but we got there.
Our hotel was flash. No other words to describe it. It was like being inside a rocket ship, all white and glass and crazy modern furniture. Uber stylish.

So we checked in, went to sleep on the most uncomfortable pillows known to man and woke up at the crack of dawn to get our Oktoberfest on. We had bought costumes off E-Bay in preparation for the big event, so it's fair to say they weren't the best quality. Hamish looked like a gay Peter Pan and Lou just looked like a beer wench, even with tights on.

We headed out, at first we were self-conscious but then we saw that the receptionists had all dressed up too. What we both didn't realise was that whilst we had bought costumes to kind of take the piss, the Bravarian locals dressed up in their Lederhosen and Drindl as their number ones! There were whole families dressed up like they had just stepped out of the Sound of Music , and they were actually attending Oktoberfest to meet up with their friends and family, not just drink beer and eat pretzels like the rest of us.

But before we go on – the history of Oktoberfest: Crown Prince Ludwig was married to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12th October 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event. The fields have been named Theresienwiese ("Theresa's fields") in honor of the Crown Princess ever since.
Horse races in the presence of the Royal Family marked the close of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria. The decision to repeat the horse races in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the Oktoberfest (yawn).
 
We again followed the crowds to the festival, we were blown away with how big the place was! We were proper excited by this stage, so we found our way to the Lownbrau tent which was the meeting spot for us and some London friends. We got there bout 8am, not realising that the tents didn't open till 10am and they didn't serve the first beer until noon! It was necessary though if you want to secure a table and no table equals no beer.

A long wait was on our hands, but we preserved and survived the stampede into the tent to find a table. We were tagging along to a big group through a mutual friend so it worked out quite well. So we sat and we waited. And waited. To be honest we were so bored.

Inside was like being inside a giant beer barrel

Lots of CHICKEN!

Eventually we heard the parade carrying on outside and then the main dude came into the tent and did a big long speech in German and announced that we could kick off. It was exciting. Unfortunately our beer maid didn't get the memo and she was late getting us our drinks, but I tell you what, when they arrived, it was amazing. The beer was cold, tasty and big.

 

Strongest beer wench ever..10 Steins

Happy Days!

Because we had been looking forward to this all day, fair to say we drank fairly quickly and the fun began. We drank and ate the afternoon away, making some new buddies and having a blast, including joining in with the brass band when the traditional Oktoberfest song came on. We didn’t know the words but "I'm boozing, I'm boozing" repeated over and over seemed to fit.

Pretzels bigger than your head

Hamish and I decided to take off on our own to explore a bit after sitting inside all day. We got ourselves a half roast chicken which was the best roast chicken we have ever had. Then Hamish decided we needed to get into the Hofbrau haus due to the initials being the same as his own…go figure. So we started playing the game with the bouncers of how to get in. We beat them by sneaking in the back door past security then bluffing our way past the doorman…

We also managed to confiscate one of the beer steins with HB on it, and then we were told later there is a 100 euro fine! The Bandits don't pay no fines.
We hung out in the HB tent and then decided we had had enough Oktoberfest for one day, we strolled out after grabbing a metre long sausage – that’s right it was a metre long. We also purchased one of the weirdest souvenirs that were everywhere, these heart shaped gingerbread cookies with different expressions on them. So we bought one that said Oktoberfest, mainly cos we knew what it meant.

A lot of people were worse for wear at this stage.

Some people just cant handle Oktoberfest...

We found our way home and were asleep pretty soon after. Big day! 
 

Highlights: That first beer, so nice. And so awesome being able to clunk your glass really loud with another one. Very rewarding sound.
Lowlight: The waiting! Uber boring.
Interesting fact #1: Stats from 2010 = Chickens: 505,901 units, Beer: appr. 7,100,000 litres, Visitors: 6.4 million
Interesting Fact #2: Only beer which is brewed within the city limits of Munich is allowed to be served in this festival. Upon passing this criteria, a beer is designated Oktoberfest Beer. Oktoberfest Beer is a registered Trademark by the Club of Munich Brewers.

Spanish Sojourn - Thursday

Having received some feedback from her traveling companion (Hamish) that we did more stuff that Lou wanted to do on holiday than what Hamish wanted to do (that's what happens when Lou books everything….), Lou decided to go ahead and rent a scooter for our last day in Valencia so we could cruise round the beaches.

Being Spain, nothing kicks off until about 11am so we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast before heading to the Scooter shop. Hamish got the instructions and we were off! Lou was a little apprehensive – Spanish drivers are mental and they drive on the other side of the road but Hamish did well.

Pink Bandit Lou with her sweet helmet.

We sped along to the 'City of Arts and Sciences'. This had been hailed in all the tourist information as a must see but we were pretty skeptical. The last thing we wanted to do on a gorgeous sunny day was to be stuck in a museum, but we thought we would give it a go and we are glad we did.
 

It is basically a row of 3 buildings that join up to the park that runs through the city, the buildings are L'Hemisfèric, El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, L'Oceanogràfic and the L'Umbracle and El Puente de l'Assut de l'Or are the walkways and bridges respectively joining the buildings.

We didn't even need to go in the buildings to appreciate the awesome architecture. The combination of the whiteness of the buildings and the blue of the water surrounding them and also the scale of the buildings compared to the little ramshackle buildings we were used to seeing in the city, meant it was definitely breath taking.

We wandered up and down this massive row of buildings for a good hour or so before hopping back on the scooter to hit our next destination – the America's cup village. Now, road signs in Valencia are poor at best so Lou was hanging on Hamish for dear life and trying to read a road map in her sweaty little hands at the same time. Not ideal, especially when Hamish just missed going down a one way road the wrong way…a few choice words were spoken.

We eventually found the village and we were a little disappointed to be honest, we had thought that it would be like in Auckland with a buzzy feel about the place. All we found was a "museum" type thing that was really just one room with some video footage playing and some photos, and one bar that had no one in it. The big difference is that the port in Valencia is quite far out of the city so the foot traffic is quite low. We did find the Team New Zealand base, but again it was a bit of a ghost town.
 

Hamish with the Boys

Next stop beach time. Valencia's beaches are picture postcard perfect and they go on for AGES. As far as the eye can see pretty much. We grabbed a bite to eat and found our spot in the sand. Lou got to pick where we sat this time, so interestingly we were not near the groups of Spanish ladies with their tops off this time around.

It was hot, real hot. We had made the error of not putting sunscreen on in the morning and we were burning while we were cruising round without realising it. We went for a couple of swims and used up the shots on our sweet waterproof disposable cameras.

Late afternoon we packed up and headed back to the train station where we found our way to the airport, had a bite to eat and hopped on the plane home. Another late night, another stress trying to get the last tube home, but all worth it.

Highlight: The beautiful beaches….bliss and being on a bike again albeit a 50cc scooter.
Lowlight: Trying to find our way round on the scooter, very challenging
Interesting Fact: 60,000 people attended the inauguration ceremony of the 33rd America's Cup in Valencia in 2007. 
Interesting Fact #2: Lou's and Hamish's version of "just missed" and "near death" experiences are worlds apart. 

Spanish Sojourn - Wednesday

Awake at 5.30am on holiday? You do when you're hardcore. We stuffed down some breaky that we had bought at the supermarket the night before and headed out in our fighting gear, not knowing what to expect at all. Fair to say at this point Lou was quite nervous and unsure about the whole thing but she's a trooper.

We felt instantly relieved when we saw large crowds of young folk like us dressed in their whites heading to the trains station, so we just followed them. Even at 6am the trains were packed, a lot of people probably hadn't been to bed the night before as there was a fair amount of alcohol going round! The train took about 40 minutes and then again we just followed the crowds, there was no organisation or signs or anything, just a whole lot of stalls selling sangria and San Miguel! We joined in, grabbed ourselves an early morning beer and ham baguette and chowed down.

The origins of La Tomatina are sketchy to say the least. In 1945, during another parade, young men who wanted to participate in the event staged a brawl. Since there was a vegetable stand nearby, they picked up tomatoes and used them as weapons. The following year the young people repeated the fight, only this time they brought their own tomatoes from home. They were again dispersed by the police. After repeating this in subsequent years, the party was, albeit unofficially, established.

We noticed our fellow tomato fighters were pretty much 70/30 split between foreigners and Spanish people. And out of those foreigners about 60% were Aussies, man they make some noise. As we had in Paris, they had this strange obsession with the "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chant. They needed to do it approx. every 10 minutes which got super annoying.

Anyway, we found our spot, little did we know that we were right on the main street where the trucks come past, so we just chilled out there for what seemed like eternity but it was actually about 3 hours. Our main source of entertainment was the "palo jabón", similar to the greasy pole. The goal is to climb a greased pole with a ham on top. As this happens, the crowd work into a frenzy of singing and dancing while being showered in water from hoses. Once someone is able to drop the ham off the pole, the start signal for the tomato fight is given.This sounds pretty straight forward but oh my god this took forever. Instead of working as a team and climbing on each other shoulders to reach the top, the stupid egotistical drunk men just shoved people out of the way and climbed over each other to get to the top. Eventually this young Spanish guy got the ham, (and it was a full leg of ham which would have been quite heavy) and the crowd went mental. He crowd surfed down the whole street (Hamish touched his foot) to great applause.

Then the chaos began, several trucks come down the road and throw tomatoes in abundance. The water hoses are also going full blast and that water is artic! Everyone is soaking wet by this stage and Lou got the shakes pretty early on and couldn't warm up which wasn't too fun. The tomatoes come from Extremadura, where they are less expensive and are grown specifically for the holidays, being of inferior taste, and believe me they tasted foul. And they hurt! A couple of big tomatoes in the back of the head and you know about it.

After exactly one hour, the fight ends with the firing of the second shot, announcing the end. To be completely honest Lou was quite glad it was the end. She was freezing, smelly and really needed to pee. Due to the sheer volume of people, it took us forever to get back to the station where we could get some food and go to the loo. A lot of people seemed to be keen to hang around and have a few more drinks but we were pretty keen to get out on one of the early trains.
As we were in Spain, there are always funny rules. Like at the train station, it really didn't matter how filthy you were, as long as you had a shirt on. And some of the stupid boys in the crowds think it's a good idea to rip their shirts off and throw them round. And so the enterprising locals in Bunol set up T shirt stalls right next door….

We got back to Valencia about 4pm and had long hot showers and a wee nap due to the day's excitement.
We decided to treat ourselves for our last night on holiday and went in search of an authentic Valencian meal. We set off around 7pm, pretty hungry at this stage and to our disappointment hardly any of the good restaurants were open (they didn't open till 8pm).

So we ended up settling for a cheap place that did a set menu that we could understand. We knew it would be poor quality but bread, a starter, main, pudding and a glass of wine all for 10 euros ain't bad. Lou had the paella and felt pretty good about how much better the one that she makes is. The rest of the meal was forgettable except for the Catalonian cream that Lou had for desert. It's basically the Spanish version of crème brulee, very very yummy.
 

We strolled back to our hotel and had a much deserved early night.

Highlight: Being part of a world renowned festival!
Lowlight: Lou froze for a good 2 hours. Not fun. Also the Aussies making noise….shhhh
Interesting Fact #1: The village cobblestone in the Bunol streets are pristine due to the acidity of the tomato disinfecting and thoroughly cleaning the surfaces.
Interesting Fact #2: 30,000 cram into the little village square and surrounding roads
Interesting Fact #3: 125,000 kilos of tomatoes are thrown in an hour.