Oktoberfest!

We've had a great first few days. After our long travel day we made a slow adjustment to the new time zone getting a late start on Friday morning. While Chelsie was at work we headed into Ramstein to see the base and the local area. I'm always so impressed with how self sufficient military bases are. They create these little towns that make it so you never have to leave if you don't want, you even pay for everything in US dollars. Everything also looks the same. Tan buildings with dark brown signs - why not make the post office look different from the grocery store? We got lunch, walked around, then rented Blane a mountain bike and then headed back. It was really fun just walking around the trails of their little town, Chelsie says no matter what size a village is it will always have a bakery, tanning salon and a butcher. On Saturday we were able to peel ourselves out of bed at a decent time and the boys went for a mountain bike ride while Chels, Gaige and I headed to K-town as the Americans call it (kaiserslaughten) to see the area and hit the pumpkin fest. The fest was a dud but the park where it was held was amazing - all these different areas for kids to play and for all different ages, a stream to play in, ropes course, huge slides, forts,monster sand pit and on and on. That night Blane made homemade spaghetti and meatballs and we played cards then hit the racks to get an early start on the road trip.

Day one we stopped in Rothenburg, the cutest walled city. It was exactly what I pictured a small German town to look like. Lots of color, beautiful flower baskets and tall narrow buildings painted in yellows, blues, grays, and reds with exposed wood beams. We walked the fortress wall, grabbed some pastries and enjoyed the warm sunny weather. That night we had a traditional German dinner then met up with the night watchman tour. It's a local guy who guides a group around the city telling of the history while in a dark cloak and carrying a lantern and staff. It was fun to see the city at night and learn some history.  Tis morning we grabbed some souvenirs and more pastries before hitting the road.

We made our way to Dachau where we parked to train into Munich for Oktoberfest. Once there you quickly realize its much more than just beer and the chicken dance. It's literally like their version of a state fair - put the Puyallup fair and Leavenworth's Oktoberfest together and that's what it's like, just bigger. We skipped all the rides and booths and headed straight into the first beer hall we came to. Each beer brand had their own house that you can bounce between. Im so glad we ended up where we did and came at the time we did. People generally make reservations but we happened to be able to squeeze into a table next to a really nice German family. The son, who was probably our age, saw Blane's coug shirt and said he went to UW for grad school so he spoke great English and had fun telling us about what to eat, etc. Gaige was with us and while there were definitely kids around he was a bit of a novelty and everyone was enjoying waving and cheers'ing him! After we hung out for a while headed out to see about stopping at another house but by that time people were starting to get a little faded and it was a little nerve wracking with Gaige. So we hit the road and made our way to Salzburg Austria. After few wrong turns we made it safe and sound and from what we've seen tonight it's going to be a really cool place. We have a cute apartment in a posh little neighborhood. We're here for a for a few nights so looking forward to being in one place for a few days and exploring.