PROST!!!

This post comes from Munich where I am managed to survive a raucous 12 to 15 hour stint at Oktoberfest yesterday.

My Observations \ Thoughts:

~Many old people, more than I expected, guess they have nothing better to do maybe, which is awesome
~Next time I go, I will be in traditional Bavarian garb, the only way to fly, I bought a hat and managed not to lose it, but I need the shorts
~The beers are large and taste good (did not take long to figure that out)

Will and I arrived at around 11am probably and went to the Hoffbrau tent for an opening beer, we found a table easily and were next to some old german people, we couldn't communicate other than Prost!, which was fine with all of us I think. We drank that beer and then wandered around. It's like a fair too, which I did not realize, and Will wanted to ride a ride, so we did. He ended up riding a rollercoaster later on after a few more beers, I abstained.

After the ride, we went to another tent, which was packed, we found a spot with a german guy and two german girls who all spoke english and could speak our german for us if necessary, we hung out with them for probably the next 4 hours before splitting ways, dont know where they went, but we went where else? to another beer tent of course. By this time it was rowdy and table dancing had commenced. We ended up with a group of young people, mainly from Switzerland if memory serves me right. I don't know why they insist on the tables moving when you're trying to dance on them, but it can be pretty dangerous. Maybe it was just me. I now have a bruise on my shin, but it was worth it. Will and I got separated here somehow, I hung out for a while longer after I realized he was gone. Then i went searching for him, which clearly did not work. I ended up getting lost, going into a random bar by myself and hanging out for probably an hour and then getting a late night gyro before managing to find my way back to the hostel. Will was there when I made it back. He had taken a cab one and a half blocks and the cabbie laughed at him and didn't make him pay. I managed not to lose anything, a little miracle in and of itself. Allright my interenet time is just about up, just wanted to get this up here. Oktoberfest has my recommendation and for those who have not been, check it out. For those that have been, let's go again. Catching a train to Zagreb, Croatia tonight, hoping to be on the beach in a day or so. Wish I could post some pics to this site, but very time consuming. I had a mohawk for a day but it was rather high maintenance and pretty attention drawing.

Prost!!
Brian

This is in the Sierra Nevada mountains outside of Granada, Spain in a small town called Monachil. I can't really see the picture that well but that is my friend Arturo, an Aruban writer who talks like Christopher Walken, sitting on the front right and a Jordanian guy named Arabi in the back left. We hiked around for a few hours, got lost for a while, got surrounded by barking dogs, trespassed on farmers' lands and picked some grapes.

Travel Entry 1: Things Learned to Date

Some things I have learned so far on this trip:

1) The Europeans are very proud of their internet connections. I know this because I pay ridiculous amounts of money to use it. No mindless internet browsing, emailing can be quite stressful

2) These keyboards SUCK, adding to the already pressure filled atmosphere

3) I should write a guide book of clean bathrooms in cities around Europe (and probably around the world for that matter) because they are few and far between. Soap must not be seen as a necessity, a comforting thought.

4) Australians do traveling right, the Americans need to step it up. It seems to be part of their culture to get out and about in their early twenties and tear it up.

5) I am old. It's all relative, but i feel old at times.

6) Zero people in Europe like George W. Bush. That's pretty obvious though.

7) 100% of people in Europe like Barak Obama.

8) The EU is a nice setup for Europeans because they can work in any member state for however long. Maybe we should join...?

9) I prefer the smaller cities to the big ones, easier to get around and get to know, need more time in the big cities, plus I feel like they are somewhat the same once they reach a certain size

10) If I ever open a restaurant I will put bread on the table and charge you for it whether you eat it or not (Spanish style). Also, we overtip in the U.S. No more of this 20% for me; I'm backing it off 5 or so %. I will say the service in the U.S. is about 3000 times better than here.