Amsterdam, Prague and Oktoberfest

wow

This past week has been one of the craziest I have ever had. There are way too many stories to place here as well as some that can NOT be placed here to protect the innocent. I will try and break it down city by city so here it goes.

Amsterdam

It is everything you think it is. Dr. Seuss had to visit before he wrote some of his books. Not one straight line or right angle in the whole place. Builders must have visited a few "coffee shops" before drawing up their plans for sure. We spent hours sitting in the parks sipping beers watching people. Lots of English language as well so a good break in session for Ryan, Dave, John and Brian.

We spent a lot of time in the Nine Streets area where they filmed Ocean's 12. We found some places that the crew (Brad Pitt, George Clooney etc.) We had some Chinese food. Some Brazilian steaks. Some Thai. And of course, some Mexican.

Brian had to skip out on Prague but was going to meet us up in Munich. It's good for him because the following happened.

Planes Trains and Automobiles

What happened Tuesday was straight out of the movie. After getting a late start, we had to make good time to get to Wiesbaden to catch out train to Prague by 3. About 2/3 of the way home, stuck in a traffic jam, in the far left lane of the Autobahn, my clutch fails. We crawled off the next exit and were in the middle of German cornfields. The police came by, two trucks tried to drag me to the shop (for quite a few Euro). Luckily, Audi roadside service is pretty quick and they got us to a service shop where virtually no one spoke English. After throwing all of our things in the dealership manager's car, he sped us off to the rental car place and off we went in a beautiful VW Golf. Let's just say this was not the fastest car on the autobahn, especially with 4 guys and a bunch of luggage.

We missed our train and had to settle for the overnight train to Prague that left Frankfurt at 11:30. All ended well as we could chill out a little bit, catch dinner and drive around to see some castles.

Prague

Getting in at 9 am, we headed right out and did some sightseeing for a few hours. Saw Prague Castle, Charles Bridge and St. Nicholas Cathedral. Got a phone call from another friend from MSU, Jeff Place telling us that he was in Prague for a few days. Very cool to hang out and catch up.

Sat in a lot of Beergardens as the weather was perfect. Ended up hitting some clubs and barhopping throughout the night.

Oktoberfest

It is bigger than you think.

There were three Cedar Point sized roller coasters that they set up and tear down each year. I still had not seen all of the rides before we left. The tents are MASSIVE. Each holds about 6,000 people and each was nearly full all of the time.

Got in at about 5 pm and headed straight for the Fest. We met up with Brian and one of his coworkers in the Kafers tent. Ended up "tent-hopping" for the night and meeting and talking to a bunch of local people.

Kelli joined us the following day (Friday) and we spent the better part of the day in the Hofbrauhaus tent. Utter mayhem. The band was jammin and the "Prosits" (toasts) were flying everywhere. We stood in the center section around all of the high tables. Giant beer after giant beer and bar maids with big baskets of sausage and pretzels. People were chanting, clapping, yelling, passing out and hugging. We ended the night at the actual Hofbrauhaus in downtown Munich sitting down for dinner. Great day.

Saturday was our final day, so we were primed to go out with a bang. I had organized a table for us with a friend from work (Thanks Axel!) at the Ochsenbraterei tent. We had to be there by 9 am and the beer started flowing right away. In what became the highlight of my year, Wolgang (one of Axel's friends) asked Kelli to go on stage with him and sing "Country Roads". Yes THAT Country Roads by John Denver. For some reason, Germans have taken a liking to that song. I was expecting them to be with a group of people singing or dancing around.

I could not have been more wrong.

There was Kelli, all by herself, perched on Wolfgang's shoulders, wearing a black top hat conducting the Oompah band and the 6,000 people in the tent. Absolutely amazing. I have been promised video from Axel but I doubt it will do the scene justice. The day continued on as you would expect, lots more singing, more friends as we also met up with Jim Heskett from MSU as well.

All in all, I can't wait to do it again......just not right now