Germany!

Proast!!!:)

 In short, Germany was AMAZING. And BEAUTIFUL…I fully intend on going back someday to further enjoy it's beauty and culture! Although almost nothing went according to plan, we were able to adapt to challenging situations and somehow make it out alive.:) To give an idea of how the weekend played out, before we even boarded the plane we came to the realization that the Frankfurt Hahn airport was NOT, in fact, in Frankfurt…it was about 2 hours away and we had a train to catch just two hours after we landed. Rookie mistake...

     Shortly into the flight, we started talking to a man in the army named James (he informed us that his Spanish name was Santiago since he was just visiting Madrid) who was living in Germany. We asked him if he knew of any way we could get to the train station within our designated two-hour timeframe and the first words that came out of his mouth were: “Oh man, you guys are screwed”. Grrrrreat...

      As the plane ride progressed Santiago started networking for us and asked one of his military buddies who lived in Frankfurt if he would be able to take the four of us to the train station. Within 30 mins into our plane ride we had secured a ride from the Frankfurt Hahn airport to the train station...our questionable motives and trust in humanity made it QUITE clear that we were determined to make it to Munich for the ever-anticipated and world-reknown beer festival, Oktoberfest. Our driver’s name was Peter (or Pedro) and we hung on for dear life as we watched the speedometer creep up to 170 kilometers per hour on the infamous Auto Bahn.

          It is still unclear if Pedro was actually that determined to help us catch our train on time, if he simply enjoyed driving fast, or both. But after a nail-biting hour and 15 minutes, WE MADE IT!  A 6 hour overnight train ride from Frankfurt to Munich had us strolling into our campsite at 7:30AM as people were just starting to stagger out of their tents to begin the day’s drinking festivities. Although a nap sounded much more enticing at this point, we kindly accepted the endless supply of beer and sangria offered to us as we checked in. 

     The next couple of days blur together a little bit because ONE, I was in AWE that I was actually at Oktoberfest and TWO, because it was just as AMAZING as I expected. Pictures do not do it justice—the atmosphere itself is what it is all about! The beer halls were packed with crazy Germans, Italians, French, Latin Americans, Australians, Canadians, Americans, you name it—and everyone was there for the same reason—to drink BEER, have a good time, and celebrate the culture and traditions of Germany! The chanting doesn’t stop, the drinking doesn’t stop, and neither does the good time!:) After the festivities at Oktoberfest were finished we headed back to our campground where the celebrating and chanting continued into the night. 

Walking around in Heidelberg:)

      
Next stop: Fussen, Germany. 

Transportation-wise, I think it is safe to say that this was the most hectic part of the weekend. Due to shortage of time (and misjudgment of time), we not only missed out on touring the castles (the only reason we wanted to go and one of the reasons I HAVE to go back to Germany), we came dangerously close to missing ANOTHER train…but this time Pedro wasn’t here to help and we were forced to RUN through the woods in boots, jeans, flip flops, etc., to catch a taxi that once again barely got us to our destination in time. A couple more delayed and missed trains later we arrived in Heidelberg around 10:15pm after many, many hours of travel. A brief couple of hours spent in this quaint, historic town the next morning was just what we needed before beginning our long journey back to Madrid.      
     
In a weekend packed with travel and activity, Germany proved to be more amazing than I could have imagined and I can't wait to visit the amazing people, landscape, and culture again in the future!!