Oktoberfest

Mothers make a lot of sacrifices for their kids like catching vomit in your hands and cleaning up poop. I almost made the ultimate sacrifice--missing Oktoberfest :-O Gianna was über sick on Monday, with what I presumed was schweinegrippe, but turned out to be a simple rhinovirus with 105°F fever. Dan went to Munich without us while Gianna saw the doctor and recovered. By Wednesday morning she was feeling fine and ready to party, asking to go see Bố. So, in classic Marvin Landis* fashion, we did Oktoberfest in one day, catching an early Munich-bound train and arriving at the festival before the beer tents opened.

Dan met us at the gate with a Löwenbräu stuffed lion for Gianna. First stop: the beer tents. They were indeed large and I was amazed that they were actually modified tents and not completely solid structures.We ate breakfast at the Löwenbräu tent: weisswurst, a large doughnut, a beer, and mineral water in one of those huge beer mugs. Afterwards, we strolled around the fairgrounds, going on the slide and the ferris wheel.Shortly before lunch, the pony rides opened up. Gianna overcame her fear of horses and rode a pony without crying! It was so cute to see her bobbing up and down on top of that horse wearing her dirndl, she looked like a real cow girl...well a German cow girl, I guess. She also got to pet a lot of horses that were pulling wagons full of beer barrels. For lunch, we ate roasted chicken and bratwurst with some friends at the Paulaner tent. There was lively music and beer of course; Gianna was dancing and having a great time.Thereafter a novelty hat was purchased.By the end of the day, Gianna's dirndl was messed up with chocolate ice cream and whatever was all over the floor in the beer tents. We were ready to say auf Wiedersehen to Munich and head home to Frankfurt. Oktoberfest: mission accomplished!

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Oktoberfest

*Marvin Landis is my intrepid Dad. He believes whenever possible, all trips should start and end within a 24 hr period, thus eliminating the need to pay for a hotel room. The earlier in the morning you have to leave the better, as this accomplishes the task of "beating traffic". He has inspired such trips as driving a moving truck from PA to AZ without stopping to sleep, and driving a moving truck from MD to FL, again without stopping to sleep. Sleep is for sissies. Suck it up and keep driving!