Day 46- Munich

Day 45- 30 September 2008 Today i woke up with the effects of Oktoberfest and i headed for the train station and went on a 25 minute train journey to Dachau. After a short bus ride i ended up at Dachau concentration camp and memorial. I went around with an audio guide which was interesting. Most of the site had been destroyed but they have recreated two huts and there is still the prison barracks and crematorium and death rooms still there. I then did some site seeing and shopping around Munich and then went down a side street and ended up near Oktoberfest. I thought, well it must have been fate that brought me here so i decided to go in to Oktoberfest. Instead of heading for the Beer Halls i thought i would explore Oktoberfest to see the other side of the event that attracts so many people that it brings in 1 billion euro a year to Munich's economy. The first novel thing i found was a carousel ride. But this was no child's ride, it was a revolving bar !! So i had to try it out of course... I then followed the ride laden street and came across this other carousel ride. So i had to try it out of course... On the carousel whilst enjoying a cold beverage i was accosted by 3 Germans who wanted to chat. Unfortunately one of them could not speak English, the other could speak words like "Linkin Park" and "gwen Stefanie" whom he wanted to marry, and thats about his total vocab in English. The last guy spoke a little more English but it was troublesome to say the least. But a few more drinks later and we were all good friends. One thing they wanted me to convey to the Australian population, which i do now, is that people who are not from Bavaria (like these guys from near Frankfurt) are nothing like Bavarians. With that said they were like every Bavarian person i have thus far met. From here i went to the far end of the Oktoberfest grounds and found the statute of Bavaria (a woman) and a lion which stands proudly atop a hill. For 3 Euro you can climb inside her and climb into her head which is about 130 meters off the ground. So i had to try it out of course. So i walked up the multitude of steps and arrived to a small ladder which gets you inside her head. This has a small seat and is about 1 metre wide by 1 metre. There were 6 of us inside this head and there are 3 holes out of the head in which you can look through to see the festival grounds. It was quite amazing. After this i headed for some food and found 1/2 metre of bratwurst and roast pork rolls. Yum... I then found the Sky wheel, which is one of those rides with chairs attached by very thin wires and the part the wires is attached to spins around really fast. Well this one does more than that and actually goes up a 150 metre poll and swings you around precariously giving a fantastic view of the grounds but also a thrill and aprehension on whether you will see another beer stein again. Thankfully i survived another Oktoberfest night...