Oktoberfest

I could have put up a different photo, but this is the "reality" of getting to the train station at 6:00am :-)

Inside one of the beer tents (they are called "tents", but really they are constructed buildings that take 2 months to assemble)

Oktoberfest!

Bryan and I in front of the Paulaner Beer "tent"

I was able to take this picture from the upstairs (A nice policeman let me by). Quite amazing to see!!! In order to get a table, you have to make reservations in advance!

Mia checking out the goods :-)

I couldn't resist this photo - as we were waiting for the parade - this cute little Asian Family was watching across from us - wearing Lederhosen and Dirndls - so cute!!! (My kids called a me a bit stalkerish for taking the photo :-) - I couldn't resist though!

Typisch Bayern (typical Bavarian)

Parade Route...

Lots of traditional dress and lots of beer!!

Each Brewery had several floats

B, C, and M overlooking Munich

I loved this little Graffiti  in the Bell Tower

This was funny - a random Goose was walking in the Old Town. He liked some people that walked by him, but others he would totally "quack" at and chase...

View over Munich

We stopped in at the famous Hoffbrauhaus

Camden overlooking the square from inside the Hoffbrauhaus

Most German Cities have a Market - I loved the flowers that people added to the Statue. I also took the photo because there is no open container law here in Germany (you can see people just walking around freely with their drink)

Mia loved this one - Bayern Munchen (the soccer club) has a famous saying "Mia san mia" - translation: "We are who we are"

Many European cities have this ... a part of the statue that you rub for good luck!

I was surprised by this... Munich only has 6 Breweries, While Bamberg (which is about 15 times smaller) has 9!!!

 A fun day!

I remember when we first moved here, I had asked a German friend if they had ever been to Oktoberfest - their reaction was funny...something like.."Why would I go to Oktoberfest? It is:  expensive, too crowded and the beer is not as good as in Bamberg." I have received the same reaction from numerous people over the last 5 years, and honestly had absolutely no desire to go. Bryan had been with friends a couple times, but it really wasn't something I was too keen on. Now however, being in the stage that we are (not knowing where we will be next year), I felt like it would be something I might regret not doing. I even thought of the question that would be presented to my kids for the rest of their lives when people hear that they had lived in Germany for several years..."Did you go to Oktoberfest?" and Soooo... WE WENT. Our experience, was of course nothing like it would be if we were 22 years old, single, with no kids. We went as a family, and meandered around a bit, watched the parade, ate a little bit, peeked into the big beer tents, and people watched - and you know what - we had a really fun time. We were there in the mid day of opening day- which meant people were just getting started (no drunkenness yet). We took the train from Bamberg, which also gave us free u and s bahn privileges for the day (Subway). We went to the old city and walked around too - including having a stop at the famous Hofbrauhaus. We heard English nonstop throughout the day - which reminded me that - yes - Oktoberfest is a huge tourist trap. We were pretty much disgusted at our fellow English speaking counterparts on the train (it really gave Americans a bad name). Our "family" day was fun though - and now we will never regret not having gone to Oktoberfest :-)

Learning English as a German

So Mia had her first official "English" class today in her German school. I laughed so hard when she came home and told me all about it. She told me they learned to say, "Hello, how are you doing? What is your name? My name is..." What was so peculiar about it was the fact that when she said these phrases in English, she had a really funny way of saying them (it was like she was speaking German using English words). Here is an example... When Germans say "happy birthday", they pronounce it "Heppy Bearthday." The way their language tells them to pronounce words is different than ours. I went on to ask Mia about this strange English Dialect that she was speaking, and she went on to tell me that she had to speak funny or her teacher wouldn't understand her. I thought it was hilarious! I guess being "re-taught" a language as a German changes things up a bit. The other funny thing, is they use the Oxford English - maybe she will come out of this year with a British accent - SO FUNNY!

Never know what you'll see...

I LOVE taking the back roads here. You truly never know what you will see. We were in the car the other day and as we were going by a little village, we saw a ton of people all gathered, looking at another group of people that were sitting on "boats" in a river. We immediately swerved over (literally)  to check it out. As we were standing, watching all of these people sitting on long "log flumes", we asked another spectator what was going on. .. She explained that each Saturday in the summer, people ride these flumes down the river for about 1 mile and a half and have lunch. They have a guide, but it is definitely not quite what you would expect (See photos). It looked like tons of fun though and now it is just something to add to our long list of "things that we want to do." I guess this is where Disney and other theme parks got the idea for a "log flume.

When we first arrived, all of these people were just sitting on these long boat things.  Straight ahead of them was this little dam - we couldn't quite figure out what was going to happen....

This is the dam that they would somehow open up and go through

This is one of the boats heading through the dam...

They got completely soaked up to their waists (by the way, it was quite chilly)

This is the paddling after they got through the first dam - you can see spectators looking on....

Looked like so much fun!!!!!

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Mödlareuth, Germany

On Saturday, we went to the Deutsche Deutsches Museum in Mödlareuth. The village of Mödlareuth is located only about an hour from Bamberg, but was greatly changed when the Soviets put up the Wall. The problem was that the village was split down the middle between 2 German states (Bavaria and Thuringen). The Soviets had the Thuringen side, and so when they put up the wall, they actually divided a village completely in half. Families, friends, and neighbors were divided for 28 years!!! This little town is one of the only remaining signs of the Wall today. They have preserved it into a really nice memorial to the realities of the way life was for this village. It was an extremely educational and eye opening visit.

"the wall" - We were standing on the East German side, the houses that you see (to the right of the photo) were on the West German side...

Former East German Geese

When parts of the wall came down in the village, many residents took a piece and had it officially stamped (this is a stamped piece in the museum)

In the Blue section, you can see how close Bamberg was to the Thuringen Border. The Wall dividing East and West Germany stretched along the peach colored border.

An old German police car

The watch tower on the East German side

They even let us climb up into the watch tower to look over the wall onto the West German side.

I'm always surprised with liability, what we are allowed to do here :-)

The "Secret agents" posing in the East German Watch tower :-) (We are a goofy family :-))

Hold on tight!

Mia is standing in the former "West Germany", Bailey is standing in the former "East Germany"

Bailey making a quick escape to the West (OK... I know we are REALLY goofy :-)

Climbing another watch tower...

A trap door (Bailey, Mia and I are standing in the "West" looking into the former "East"

Again, you can see how this little village was divided - crazy to think that this was only 24 years ago!!!

Need to catch up....

I have been WAY behind posting photos. We have been quite busy with; school starting, activities starting up, trying to catch up from summer, birthday celebrations, day trips etc. A good busy, but busy none-the-less. Here are a few photos from the last few weeks...

 I celebrated my 40th birthday this year. I am usually the one with the camera - so I do not have many pictures, but I had a great time celebrating with our friends. In Germany, the birthday person is ALWAYS the one that hosts the party. I am not such a great cook or a great party planner, but we decided to have an American Barbeque on our roof. It was a really fun evening and such a nice (and memorable) way to celebrate 40 years!!!

The bad thing about the German tradition of having to host the party, is that you spend your entire birthday day getting ready - luckily I had Mia to help! (of course, this photo is prior to the party - when I still had the camera :-)

We needed lots of flowers and lots of coctails :-)

Just before school started, Mia took a 2 day bike course (6 hours). Bamberg has an entire "fake" street course that they teach bike safety on. Mia would take the course with her class in 4th grade, but now knowing where we will be next year, we opted for the early bird course :-) 

Mia getting her certificate from the Polizei (Police) for completing the bike course successfully :-)

I thought this was too funny. It is political season here (aka election time). Legally, you can only post signs for something like 6 weeks in advance of the election (that is the case even with the Chancellor position at stake). Even without knowing German, you can figure out what someone is trying to say here :-)

A few weekends ago, we went to Nuremburg one evening for the largest fleamarket in Germany. It only occurs 2 times a year. The neat thing is that it starts at 4:00pm and runs until midnight - so the ambiance is quite nice. They even had candles set up everywhere, so you could see what was for sale :-)

Some of the goods... (this lucky vender was set up right under a street light - no candles needed)

I took this photo because I thought it was crazy that at the flea market they had lots of candles set up on the ground like this (I STILL always think about liability) I am just now noticing the leg in the photo - looks a little weird, but I can promise you, it is just a random person in shorts and flip flops walking by one of the stands... :-)

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Of course they have delicious food too :-)

Camden celebrating 13 years!!!

Bryan and Mia at the Onion festival

Just one of the hundreds of the adorable streets in Bamberg

Bryan, Mia, and I out on an early date night

Sheep!!!!

Bryan and I dragged Bailey, Camden, and Mia out to see the sheep that we often run by on our runs - there is something about Sheep that I absolutely love!

I got the biggest kick out of this... Mia and I went out to breakfast one morning after Bailey and Camden started school. They had this little corner with kids things - including a computer kiosk....

When I looked closer, I was surprised to see how difficult the little kids computer game was.. I was thinking more in the lines of 8 +7 ....I guess the kids can handle it though :-)

Making fresh squeezed lemonade

stirring it up...

sampling the finish product

Prost!!!

Camden and Mia rollerblading - One of Mia's very favorite past times...