Oktoberfest

I was really excited to see Munich and experience one of the world's best parties when we booked our trip for Oktoberfest.  Interesting fact: Oktoberfest starts in September. So we decided to show up a few days before the beer party started to see the city and its surrounding countryside.

We have seen some very pretty cities lately.  Munich is definitely one of the prettier ones (although Vienna is still at the top in my opinion).  Munich did not have that cold, Nazi-ish feel that Berlin did. It is a very laid back, young city.  It is also super easy to navigate and most of the tourist attractions are in one main location that is walkable.

One of the first things we did once we got to Central Munich is take a selfie in front of the Rathaus Glockenspiel (the Town Hall Clock). More about the clock below... 

 The Rathaus Glockenspiel 

This building looks cartoony to me...

Especially when you go around to the back of it and see the happiest clock in the world! It's buildings like this that make Munich an interesting place to visit.  This is all in the Marienplatz area.

We stumbled into Sankt Peterskirche which is uniquely decorated with doves flying from the alter out towards the congregation. 

One of the must-see attractions in Munich is the Residence.  This is where the kings of Bavaria ruled from.  There are some very interesting rooms.  I learnt that Gaudi (the architect and designer of the famous church in Barcelona (the Sagrada Familia) is ripping off designs from 1581.  Inside the Residence is a Perseus Fountain.

The Residence also has a very impressive room called the Antiquarium.This was used as a library at one point.  The king used to dine here as well while his subjects watched.

One of the attractions that I just had to see was not in Munich but 2 hours outside in Bavaria. I just had to see the castle that inspired the Disney Castles and the company`s logo! Schloss Neuschwanstein was ordered to be built by King Ludwig II in 1868.  He had grown up in a castle basically "across the street" and had created plans for a fantasy castle as a child. Neuschwanstein is based on these plans.  He grew up having no sense of money (like many royals) which explains the ridiculous costs associated with this castle.  Ludwig became king at 18 year of age and was fascinated by the music dramas and writings of Richard Wagner. He eventually became engaged to his cousin but postponed the wedding numerous times and eventually calling off the engagement.  Through his personal letters and diaries, it is known that he had homosexual feelings that he struggled with. He never married.

Because of the debt to create this castle, Bavarian parliament was not happy.  A medical report was signed stating that Ludwig was mentally unstable before the doctor (Dr. Gudden) who signed the report even met with the king. The document was presented to him and the king was removed from Neuschwantein to the shores of Lake Starnberg, south of Munich.

The next day Ludwig asked Dr. Gudden to accompany him for a walk. Their bodies were later found, head and shoulders above the shallow water near the shore. The king's death was ruled a suicide by drowning but no water was found in his lungs during the autopsy report. He was known to be a very good swimmer. His clothing showed a gunshot hole as well.  Gudden's body showed blows to the head and neck. There were also signs of strangulation. No weapons were found at the scene.

The government immediately took possession of all Ludwig's assets shortly after his death and stopped all construction on Neuschwanstein.  Only 14 rooms out of the 200 planned were complete when construction was halted in 1886. Each royal room is somehow connected to one of Wagner's operas. There are also swans throughout the castle, paying homage to Swan Lake which is found below the castle.

We took a bus/bike tour to see Neuschwantein which has got us hooked on bike tours now!

Shea looking happy at the beginning of the bike tour.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Another selfie!

We got to ride these old school bikes. The best part was all the boys bikes had a basket and none of the girls bikes did. So Shea got to carry my purse around!

Neuschwanstein Castle

Swan Lake

I see a lake, I must go into the lake!

 After a nice bike ride, we then had to hike up to Neuschwanstein Castle. There is an option to take a horse buggy ride up but it costs a pretty penny! The hike is not an easy one btw!  

At the top, beyond the turn off for the Castle, you can go onto this bridge and get views of the Castle. 

So worth it to go onto the bridge!

We are a little sweaty from the hike but still smiling!

The bridge you go on crosses a waterfall that is right below you!

A shot of the bridge. It is super crowded but so worth it! Unless you are afraid of heights that is...

This is the castle that Ludwig II grew up in "across the street." You could create a can phone from one to the other.

Inside the courtyard of Neuschwanstein Castle.Because there are only 14 rooms done, the tour is less than 30 minutes long but worth it! This castle is the original fairy tale castle!

You are not allowed to take pictures inside but I found some from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle

I love the rich mahogany throughout. It is a castle like no other I have seen!

Hall of Singers. Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle

Royal bedroom. Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle

Here is a picture from inside the castle towards the bridge and waterfall. 

Our next activity was Oktoberfest! I am not a big beer drinker but I did enjoy this event. To open up the party, a parade of the beer waggons take place. Each brewery will have a beer waggon in this event.

Everyone dresses in traditional Bavarian attire for Oktoberfest!  The men in their Laderhosen and women in their Dirndl.  Interesting fact: If a woman's dirndl does not cover her knees, its really slutty!

One of the beer waggons.

The entrance to Oktoberfest. It was raining in case you couldn't tell.

In order to fully experience Oktoberfest, one must get into a beer tent.  Each brewery will have a tent and/or a beer gardens where you can "sample" their beer. Now, you can book tickets in advance to get a table in a beer tent.  This is what the locals do so they basically have all those tickets booked before us tourists can get organised and decide what date to book for.  Oktoberfest is a big deal to the locals.  Its a time to get together with friends and family and celebrate their heritage.  For the tourists, its a time to get hammered.  I did not enjoy this part of the event.  So if you ever plan to go to Oktoberfest, book tickets well in advance so you can sit with some locals, eat a nice meal, enjoy the music and have a beer.

We stood in line to get into a beer tent. This meant we were with all the drunk tourists which was far from enjoyable. There was standing room only and people were drunk by noon!!! Plus, you are enclosed in this tent.  One of the first things I did was find my closest fire exit!

Inside the tent. It is huge but it is loud with drunks!  The band eventually stopped because it was so loud!  The tent is decorated nice though.

After locating our fire exit, we had to track down a beer maid and buy a beer. They only come in 1 liter steins!!!  That is a lot of beer for someone who does not drink beer often.  But I managed to drink 2 liters. We drank one in the beer tent then left and found a nice beer garden.  Beer gardens are much less loud, less drunks and far more enjoyable! At least Shea had a wonderful time! 

Vienna: The overdue visit with the brother

It has been about 3 years since I had seen my brother and his family.  They even managed to have a new baby in that time that Shea and I had never met.  So off we went to Vienna to see everyone!  

Vienna is the second most livable city in the world right now.  It has been one of the best cities to live in for quite some time actually.  Right off the plane, you could see why! The train system was very easy to figure out and the transportation links were very accessible.  The city is also very pretty. It was definitely created to show the wealth of the Austrian aristocracy.  

The Stephansdom. A very beautiful church with a tiled roof. 

The city at night.  They light up most of the buildings. 

One of the many beautiful parks throughout Vienna.

Schonbrunn Palace.  The summer home of the Royals when there were royals in Vienna.

Inside the Museum of Military History.

A statue of Mozart.  For a guy who never really lived in Vienna, they sure to love him!

Unfortunately, Arthur was still getting over pneumonia and was not able to join us much during the days.  But we had some great tours thanks to Vera.  She was very knowledgeable of the city and knew all the great places to eat! Plus we had constant entertainment thanks to the kids! These two kept us laughing!

Shea and Little David hiding!

Vera and David waiting for cake! 

Jessie decided she did not want her picture taken.

But then she changed her mind! All smiles.

Vera and the kids exploring the gardens at Schonbrunn Palace.  The ducks were a huge hit for Jessica.

The kids loved looking through the stone rails and waving to the ducks.

Of course, we had to take a selfie!

And another one with Beautiful Vienna behind us.

David took this one!

The three of us enjoying the view!

There are lots of great German signs to make you giggle!

Because Arthur could not join us much, this is basically the only picture I got of him.  Isn't Jessie silly?!

We had a wonderful time visiting Vienna!  I don't think it's that livable though because no shops are open on Sundays and all the stores shut down at 5pm. London may not have as many parks, but at least we can buy groceries and alcohol whenever we want!

We can't wait to see these guys soon!

Home Sweet Home

So after enjoying a great time in Canada, it had to end and it was time to go back to London.  That also meant it was FINALLY time to move out of tiny, crap flat to new, clean condo!  The best part: it was time to say goodbye to the slugs that always found their way into our place and never drowned in the beer I left out for them. The move went great (considering all we had to move was a bed, TV, coffee table and one dresser) and the place was home even without furniture. That also meant we were moving to a place where we had no furniture.

Basically, we regressed back to a college lifestyle while we waited (and continue to wait) for furniture to arrive.

We are waiting for blinds to be installed.  Because we have a west facing view, it gets kind of hot when the sun is up.  To help keep it a bit cool, we decided to go with a cardboard box/blanket theme that screams white trash.

This was our couch for a bit.  Yoga mats, blankets and pillows do not make hardwood floors any softer. 

Our coffee table had to be used as a TV stand. At least the cats had their precious scratching post!  They were pretty comfy without furniture. 

We did get our kitchen table and two chairs in the first week!  We also had to install some temporary screens on the doors to keep our cats inside. That way, we could get a breeze through the place to cool things down.  

This is Evea looking down from the second floor.  She has great views of where the London Olympics took place from up there.

We did eventually get a couch after a week and a bit.  Samson loves couch!

We have slowly decorated the place but it still looks pretty trashy seeing as we have suitcases everywhere.  Blinds and screens have also not arrived along with the shoe cupboard, TV wall unit.. Currently, I am waiting for the area rug to arrive.

But it feels like home and we are all pretty comfy and happy here so far!

Our sunset view of The City.

My First Football Match

Apparently, football (soccer) season has just started here or something. Not really my sport but Shea jumped at the chance when a colleague at work had extra tickets for sale.  So we went and watched Arsenal play Crystal Palace. I figured I would go and get my drink and eat on while watching the crowd more than the actual game.  Turns out they do sports a bit differently here!

The outside of the stadium.

The first noticeable difference is how much merchandise was sold. These fans were already showing up decked out in Arsenal crap.  And yet, they were still buying more stuff.  It would be like going the a Flames game wearing the jersey, hat, scarf and foam finger and still needing to go drop money on more paraphernalia!  

The second difference were the special doors for Away fans (in this case, the Crystal Palace people).  They cannot enter the stadium with the Arsenal people!  That is how crazy these fans are (more on that later). 

Once we actually got into the stadium, it was very nice and designed in a way where they could basically hose down the halls at the end of the match.  As we walked around looking for popcorn (because at a Flames game, I would have eaten some popcorn), it became apparent that snack food was scarce.  You could get a small bag of various flavors of chips (like 3 choices), a hot dog, a burger, three choices of pop or a beer.  No popcorn for me!

Another difference we noticed while hunting for popcorn is that we have finally seen a place you CANNOT drink at in London: the actual stadium.  You cannot drink a beer there.  You must drink it in the concourse part.  So you start to think or reasons why this rule would exist and you remember back to those crazy dressed fans.  You two and two together and voila; these guys are so crazy that they cannot be trusted to behave themselves drunk while watching soccer.  I guess they have actually just re-allowed alcohol to be served in the stadium again because people were getting so drunk and getting into fights.  CRAZY fans, these people are.

The field.

So we go and take our seats and wait for the game to start.  As the players enter the stadium we notice all these riot police surrounding this one area of seats.  That's when you notice these people are not dressed like fools in Arsenal colours (red and white) but are decked out in another jersey colour.  Bingo, found where the Away fans have to sit!  They are segregated into their own area and separated from the Arsenal fans by a lot of riot police. These people cannot be trusted to behave like human beings to others who cheer for an opposing team!  Again, soccer fans are crazy!

The stadium full of fans.

As the game progresses, I did my people watching.  Arsenal fans are kind of boring.  They just sit there and every once in awhile they chant "Arsenal" three or four times and then they return to their silent watching.  The Crystal Palace fans were way more fun!  They had 20 different songs and chants that they shouted throughout the match.  They also stood the whole game.  They are still crazy soccer fans but at least they are having fun! 

This is a shot of the Crystal Palace fans.  All the guys wearing yellow and red jackets are riot police. They surround the three sections on the main floor of the stadium. 

Because the Crystal Palace fans were having so much fun, I had kind of wished their team would have won (Arsenal won 2-1).  But they were still cheering right to the end and beyond.  They gave their team a standing ovation (because they never sat) until they left the field.  Arsenal fans packed up and left as soon as the game was over. 

One highlight from the day was I got to watch my first fan fight!  They were both Arsenal fans and yet they still started punching each other.  One guy was knocked out, hit the ground, cut his head open and had to get treated by police and medical staff.  

Back to Canada!

Summer is always the best time of year in Canada.  Well, at least it is where I live.  It gets all nice and warm. The sun stays out till past 10pm. Things are green and growing. And there is a little lake I like to visit.  How could I not come home for a visit?

I was lucky to spend a month back home with my wonderful friends and family (and one little cat).  It was during the time of year where the grass is still green and has not yet turned brown from the heat and lack of rain.  The weather was fabulous (although I was secretly hoping for a thunderstorm).

So excited to be back at the lake!!!! Also, had to re-learn how to use my GoPro...

How could I not come home for this view?!

DouShea transformed back to Canada Shea!

We created a new way of surfing this year!

On your stomach, it's kind of bouncy.

Some were a little more enthusiastic about it than others!

KCCO!

Some family members attempted to surf.  Unfortunately, Uncle D's surf career ended about the same as his water-skiing career.

Others had a perfect starting position (when not behind a boat and with no rope).

We did get one newbie up this year! Even with his broken finger.

 

I'm now surfing without a rope!  

Got a little bonding in with my wonderful niece. It was such a treat to spend so much time with her and see the awesome person she has become. 

We did do some work this year.  I helped hang a birdhouse.  Actually, I just watched my Uncle do it. I did hand him a tool though...

I didn't spend my WHOLE time at the lake.  I also saw a baby penguin at the zoo!