Oktoberfest: Day 8
Oktoberfest: Day 8
9/28/2024
Augsburg - Munich - Istanbul
Beers Drank: 2 train beers, 2 plane beers & 2 rounds at dinner
The alarm went off at 5:30am but my sleep had been very unrestful so I ignored it and got up shortly after 6am. I had the ambitious plan to go to morning mass at the cathedral across the street from our hotel. Research from the previous night stated it was originally built in the fifth century. It was huge, and beautiful. Service was in a side chapel with big wooden pews that made the loudest noise everytime I moved, and apparently only when I moved and no one else. It was a short and sweet service despite my groaning wooden seat. On the way out I peeked down the stairs into what I assume are the catacombs.
I woke Jake up when I got back to the room and started packing. We headed down to our last breakfast in Germany and ate like kings. We felt unrushed because we had given ourselves ample time, shocking, I know.
Last breakfast at DomHotel
We headed back to the train station one last time to take the Bayern back to Munich. If yesterday was crowded, it had nothing on today. This time we also had our two suitcases with us. Thankfully, they added two cabins so we were able to grab a seat and keep our luggage out of people’s way.
Last train beers of the trip
Check in was unideal, we spent almost 90 minutes in line to check our luggage. TA staff was great, it was all the passengers that seemed to fail at grasping the basic instructions on weight limitations of luggage. The amount of people who were shocked and upset when the staff told them they needed to pay extra because their six suitcases exceeded the weight limit by double. If you think I’m being dramatic for effect, I’m not. The guy in front of us had six giant suitcases.
Thankfully security was quick. Then it was passport control and we almost panicked at the sight of the line. Almost. The line wrapped around all the tape lines and up the stairs. I saw a side line that was empty but when we arrived it was only for EU citizens. Having nothing to lose except missing our flight, I went up to the agent at the end of the empty line and asked if American citizens could use that line. With confirmation I went back to get Jake and we breezed through.
We found our gate and had some time to burn so we looked through a gift shop and enjoyed a sandwich. Our plane needed its current passengers to debark before letting us on, so the flight was pretty delayed. I napped a bit on the flight and then we were served dinner and enjoyed some free plane beers. Beef for me, pasta for Jake.
Our layover in Istanbul was just over 20 hours. Turkish Airlines partnered up with some local tourism companies to promote the tourism trade in the city. All layovers over 6 hours can get a free tour and any layover over 21 hours gets a free hotel stay. We just missed the hotel offer but had signed up for the tour. It was scheduled for 8am tomorrow morning at the airport.
Having a delayed flight meant we landed roughly an hour behind schedule. Our checked luggage which we had hoped would be automatically sent to our next flight was actually sent to baggage claim. The staff member told us this when we checked in at Munich. So after landing and getting through Turkish passport control we collected our luggage and went back to the check in desk to see if we could recheck our luggage. No luck.
Now pushing 9pm, we elected to just get to the hotel, get our bearings and come up with a game plan. We found the metro station easily enough but the ticket machine was not very tourist friendly. There was a group of six of us with long layovers trying to figure out the machines. Hint: the ticket which has a chip reader does not in fact get tapped on the chip reader for credit cards, it goes in its own slot that is unlabeled.
This metro system was not quite as easy as Germany’s. It was two steps forward, one step back every step of the way. Wrong ticket type, wrong stop, etc., but we made it to our hotel in the Sultanahmet neighborhood around 11pm. After mild moderate debating about how to get back to the airport in the morning, we temporarily settled on paying the expensive fee for a taxi at 5:30am in order to check our luggage and make our tour at 8am.
Once in our room, Jake took a shower to cool off, it was super humid and muggy. Once cooled down, temp and mood-wise, we ventured out for a very late dinner. After a few laps akin to finding a campsite (if you know, you know) had us parked in a kebab place across the street from an Irish pub. Yes, Jake had wanted to do the Irish pub but the kitchen had already closed. Yes, the kebab place across the street was just a random pick since the first pick didn’t work.
On a side note, this was Jake’s first time in a country or area that has touts. Every restaurant/shop/bar had a guy outside soliciting business. Jake is a very nice midwesterner at heart and stopped to talk to each and everyone of them. Our second lap around had the touts looking rather confused at us, but the third lap they were shaking their heads and didn’t even bother. I’m only partially exaggerating.
So there we were sitting in the kebab grill enjoying some beers discussing our options for tomorrow. My anxiety was climbing since I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to check our luggage so early in the morning and there would be no time in the two hour gap between the end of the tour and our flight departure. Add in a super early wake up after such a late night, I was on the brink of crying. Jake settled us back in reality. Attempting to make this tour at 8am was going to, and was currently, making us miserable. We are at our best when eating and drinking on vacation. So scratch the expensive, crazy early taxi trip. Forget the tour. We would get up, have brek, and make our way back to the airport at a reasonably early time to check luggage.
Blue Mosque at night
Kebab dinner
Turkish Tea nightcap
With that in mind we finished our delicious kebab dinner, had a second round of beers and the restaurant guy gave us a complimentary round of Turkish tea.
See all Oktoberfest posts
Our hero and heroine make their way through Sultanahmet neighborhood en route to the airport for one final flight back home to an awaiting Leinie Trail Dog.