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Leaving the UK and the White Cliffs of Dover behind us -
as the ferry sets sail to Calais…
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The famous White Cliffs of Dover… and still a very long bus ride through France, Belgium
and Germany
to look forward to…
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After the ‘never-ending’ bus
ride, we arrived in Munich
for some sightseeing and joined the pre-beer fest party! A quick look at
‘Das Neue Rathaus’, the Marienplatz and the Mariensäule (an ornate 1683
monument to the Virgin Mary to commemorate the city’s survival of the
Thirty Years’ War – a bit of history) before the Lowenbräuhaus and Hofbräuhaus got the
better of us…
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The beer garden at the Hofbräuhaus – who
wouldn’t want to have a pint, sorry, a MASS, here…
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Insider view…
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Opening day of Oktoberfest in Munich at
the Oktoberfest grounds (Theresienwiese)… it was a long wait until noon
when Munich’s
mayor tapped the first keg… Most beer halls were full by 9:15AM!!!
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Campingplatz Thalkirchen… Don’t
ask… it did rain!
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The Ruhmeshalle (hall of fame)
and Bavaria…
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The Theresienwiese at night…
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The
beer still arrives by horse and cart… just kidding! The Hofbräu tent is
supposed to be one of the rowdiest beer halls… so true…
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An arty beer glass shot…
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Cheers Jenny!
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Simon in action…
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The Lowenbräu Tower…
complete with a roaring (or was it burping?) lion!
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The ‘Englischer Garten’ is
Europe’s largest public metropolitan park (larger than Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London) and it includes a Japanese tea
house, Chinese pagoda, Greek temple and (surprise!) German beer gardens!
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The infamous Dachau
Concentration Camp, north of Munich.
It was the first of its kind built by Hitler. Pictured here are the famous
‘Arbeit macht frei’ gate and a watch tower.
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Andech, where beer is being brewed since Middle Ages following the
founding of the Benedictine
Monastery on Andechs mountain.
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It’s the home of the famous Bock
beer and pork knuckles… The perfect way to celebrate my birthday!
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On the 5th day we
headed off to Austria
for a break (yeah, whatever!) Traveling trough the beautiful Tyrol
region to the ritzy ski resort of Kitzbüehl.
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t good enough to hit the summer tobogganing
run in St Johann…
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… so, we got to Kirchdorf a lot
earlier for our own beer fest BBQ with so really cool live music (and no,
it wasn’t the local kind of music this time ‘round!)
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One of the highlights of the trip
was the excursion to the amazing Neuschwanstein
castle - King Ludwig's fairytale castle on which Walt Disney based his
famous Disneyland castle. The fairy
godmother of all views of the 'Disney
Castle' Neuschwanstein (the left one) is from the Marienbrücke, a bridge that spans the gorge and
waterfall behind the castle! Want to see more Bavarian castles?...
look no further!
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