Oktoberfest: Day 6

Oktoberfest: Day 6

9/26/2024

Munich: Dachau & Freising

Beers Drank: 2 liters & 2 train beers (3 liters for Jake)

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Woke up and meandered down to breakfast around 8am. It was lightly raining outside so we debated our plans for the day for awhile. We needed to return the motorbike, but do we come all the way back to the hotel to drop off our helmets and change for Oktoberfest Take Two or just drag our helmets around and see sights. We elected Option B.

We took the longer, scenic route to drop the bike off. It wrapped around Munich along the Romantische Straße (Romantic Road). We had a 300km limit for our rental and we made it with 20km to spare.

Then we jumped on the s-bauhn towards Dachau.

The irony of arriving at Dachau by train was not lost on me. The town itself was picturesque, even in the rain. Jake was ravenous so we stopped at another doner kebab place. A super packed town bus brought us to the memorial. With a crazy long line for audio tour rental, we elected to just meander and read the signs since there were English translations on all of them. Words can’t do the place justice. Depressing, heavy, profound sense of tragedy come to the forefront. I had to stop reading some of the exhibits because I was becoming nauseous. Walking through the gas chamber was physically, mentally and emotionally uncomfortable. As it should be. The beautiful grounds and fall foliage were a stark contrast to the atrocities done there. We spent four hours there and had to rush through the last parts because it was closing.

Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site

We still had a good portion of the evening ahead of us and needed something light to balance the heaviness of Dachau. I had found out ahead of the trip that the world’s longest running brewery was in the town of Freising on the northeast side of Munich and very present on my list of things to see while here. Dachau is on the northwest side of Munich and not at all an easy route from one to the other. After much pleading and batting some eyelashes, Jake conceded to going. So a bus, train, and another bus got us there by 7:30pm.

Weihenstephan was started in 1040 by Benedictine monks. While no longer run by the monks, it has continually brewed and served beer on site since. It was delicious, especially with my Bavarian pork roast and potato dumplings. I had two of the main flagship brew and Jake sampled three different brews himself. I couldn’t leave without a traditional stein.

Google maps was decidedly not helpful in figuring out how to get back to Augsburg, and there was not a little anxiety involved. We waited at the bus stop and a local directed us to a bus that I wasn’t super convinced was the correct one. We boarded while the local got on another that I was pretty sure was the one we wanted. That bus left while our busdriver sat chatting with us. He wanted to practice his English and did so with Jake for a bit. We missed our train by seconds.

Once we made it back to Munich Hbf we had 40 minutes to chill before the next train to Augsburg arrived. Central station was flooded with drunk Oktoberfest goers on their various ways home. Seeing the craziness Jake and I decided that we likely did not stand out and were in no way the worst this city has seen on Monday evening. We originally were going to take the high speed train but the ticket machine said it was canceled. I suspect a translation error since it did show up but likely fully booked (seats are assigned). Our normal Bayern was scheduled to leave 2 minutes later and would only be 20 minutes later in arrival at Augsburg Hbf. In the meantime, Jake discovered the 1 euro train beer. Translation: beers at Yorma’s cost a euro and you can drink in public.

On the Bayern, a young Canadian studying a semester in Austria approached us, asking if we were from North America with our accents. We chatted the whole way back to Augsburg. I suspect from our chat that he was feeling homesick and jumped at the opportunity to talk with someone from “home”.

We made it to the hotel just shy of 2am and passed out hard.

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