Deutschland Über Alles: Day 2 of Oktoberfest

It was in the evening when my parents and I arrived at Theresienwiese once again, yet the sun was still shining in a blinding way. I was in the mood for ice cream, even though my throat got worst. But, I guess I was born a badass, so I ordered myself a scoop of Tiramisu-flavored ice cream that costed me 1.50 € and dig in. 

Met some fellow Asians at the ice cream booth

Tiramisu flavored ice cream, yum!

"A friend of mine is going to come here and have dinner with us," said Dad, "so, in the mean time, let's have some more beer!" Then off we went to a small beer garden. My parents ordered themselves half-a-liter beer, while I gulped down the fresh and cold tap water that I got from the hotel.

Filling those glass with some Paulaner weissbier

Keep 'em coming

He was very determined to finish his beer

The pretty beer lady

Another round, perhaps?

While my parents were busy eating beer foam, I was determined to find real food to eat. I was lucky to find a rather attractive food stand near the beer garden. They were selling sausages in a bun like always, but they also have pork steak! Can you imagine? They were very wide and thick, wider and thicker than my palm. There were three different kinds of steak  and each of them costed 5 €. I wasn't going to get myself some of those delicious juicy meat, but I couldn't resist the temptation. I went back to the beer garden with a big sandwich on my hand, and my parents went, "What is that thing?!". 

I made a wise decision on buying myself a pork steak because that steak tasted superb! There were minor fat on the steak. It was well-cooked, and the sauce that they used was spicy and savory. It was served with a handful of fried onion, which didn't tasted so bad. The buns were soft and it went well with the steak. All in all, it was a well-spent 5 €. 

Schlemmerhutte's meat stand

Steak numero uno

Steak numero dos

The steak lady, filling some buns with meat and fried onions

Good Lord, would you look at that!

My Pork Steak Sandwich, ready to be indulged with pride

foodporn

The sun set and my Dad's friends came. They immediately ordered another round of beer before we all go grab some dinner. Friend numero uno was Louis, a Spanish guy that looks somewhat similar to Robert Downey Jr, and friend numero dos was Rich, a guy whose homeland escaped me who works in a submarine. 

Never start a dinner without beer

As I mentioned before, here at Oktoberfest you will find lots of big tents. Now, these tents are rather exclusive because we can enjoy beer and some food that you cannot find at the food corners outside the tents. There is a big ipen space inside the tent for musicians to play songs, for the people to dance or sing-along to. Some songs that they usually play are "We Are the Champion" and "Dancing Queen", and they also play other songs in German which I don't know the title. When a tent has reached its' quote, the door will be closed by the security, allowing those who didn't manage to get some seats to feel envious and agonized. The thing is, can you imagine the situation inside the tent when everybody is drunk?

The inside of the tent during day time

If you think this is crowded, wait until night falls

I was lucky to be able to find a table inside the tent, despite the fact that we had to share it with other people. Behind me sat a group of adults who apparently drank too much beer. "Where do you come from," asked a bald guy with a beer stomach. Do take notes that he asked the question with a rather incomprehensible accent and in a state where he is dead drunk. "Indonesia," I answered. A second later, he started to howl for my mother country, "INDONESIA! INDONESIA! BRAVO INDONESIA!" with a glass of beer on his hand.

"BRAVO INDONESIA!"

I was too full from eating the steak, so Mom and I shared dinner together. We had a plate of what it seemed to be grilled chicken. I know, it seems inappropriate and disrespectful to eat chicken at a place where we should be eating pork, but the waitress recommended us the chicken because it's the number one dish inside the tent. We decided to just go with it.

Not long, our food arrived. The chicken was humongous, at first I thought it was a mutant-chicken, but then the fact that animals in German are fatter and bigger so I calmed down. Mom started to cut the meat slowly and smoke came out from the fresh-out-of-the-oven poultry. The meat was well-cooked and it tasted good, the skin was crispy and salty, and whole thing was deliciously juicy. Dad, who ordered a plate of Pork, gave us some of his side dish which was a potato dumpling. Believe it or not, the potato was very very squishy and chewy! It's like a dumpling, but it's a potato. If you cut the potato, you can see how elastic the texture is as the yellow carbs slowly multiply. It tasted good, but it has a rather funny texture similar to a bread pudding. Weird, huh? 

My humongous dinner

That is one funky potato

"We Are the Champion" roamed around the entire tent. Everybody stood up on the tables, dancing around and singing-along to the song with pride. It was hectic and it made me flustered, but it was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, so I had to suck it up and act happily drunk like everybody else. People cheered as if they were watching a game of soccer, and Arsenal is acing. You cn shout as loud as you can, "I LOVE WOMEN!" or "I PEED IN MY PANTS!", and everybody will cheered for you and clink their beer glass to yours. Inside the tent, we are all friends and family.

CLINK!

A glass of beer is never enough

How about if we change the chandeliers to disco balls?

Everybody dance now!

Put your-put your hands up!

Everybody felt like a G6 that night

Either he wanted to sneeze, or getting ready to go boogie wonderland

Who that be? Why, that is me feeling like P. Diddy.

Beer, anyone?

The festival ends an hour before midnight. As my parents and I walked to the Goetheplatz train station, we stumbled upon drunk people, vomiting and rambling all over the place. it was a fun scene to watch. Seriously, people, you have got to go to Munich and attend the Oktoberfest, at least once. It's a fun and awesome experience, even if you happen to lost some of your precious belongins at the site like I did, and you will not regret it. Just don't lose your passport, okay?

Deutschland Über Alles: Touring the City

Second day of our stay in Munich, my parents and I decided to go for a tour around the city. It was around six in the morning when I woke up, and it was still dark outside. A couple of hours later, the three of us headed downstairs to the hotel's cafeteria to grab breakfast. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet, woohoo!

I was a bit disappointed by the fact that the hotel didn't serve any crispy bacon strips, instead they had a tray of sliced ham and different kinds of cheese available for us, and cereal with milk as well. There were four kinds of bagel; which were poppy seeds bagels, plain bagels, sesame seeds bagels, and mixed-nuts bagels. I grabbed myself a poppy seed bagels, then filled my plate with each kinds of cheese and sliced meat that were provided on the trays. Then I took some cereals with fresh milk, along with a glass of hot chocolate for my sore throat and runny nose. 

The bagel was very stiff and rocklike on the outside, but the inner part was rather chewy and somewhat soft. I cut it in half and stuff it with cheese and meat. I didn't know, and still don't know, what kind of cheese and meat that I had for breakfast, but it was a damn-good Bagel-wich. The entire Bagel-wich was not that light, but not that stuffing either. 

What I had for breakfast

I only tasted three flavors out of eight, which were #3, #5, and #7

Our first pit stop was at a concentration camp memorial site located in Dachau. It was a big big place, surrounded by trees and grass, yet it has this dark and gloomy atmosphere. A lot of people were murdered in this place, either it be shot to death or tricked and gassed by Hitler's minions. It's a good thing I don't posses the ability to see those who ceased. Imagine what I will encounter at the very place where people were tortured and tormented. To be honest, the memorial site was very beautiful because it's decorated with big trees and flowers, pine trees and palm-sized mushroom which name I don't know, wild berries and dandelions, and it was chilly at the moment so it gave you the impression of being at a camp site inside a forest. We spent hours at the memorial site, it was at around one in the afternoon when we hopped in to the buss that will take us back to the train station.

The Concentration Camp in Dachau

We rode a train to Marienplatz and headed to the center of the city. "I know a place where you can eat delicious wurst," said Dad, "so, hold on a minute, okay?" It was two in the afternoon and we hadn't eat anything since breakfast. We spent the entire afternoon walking around, with only tap water as our source of life, so that's why Dad told me to stay sober. 

The name of the place was Schlemmermeyer's Lecker Bissen, God knows what it means. My Dad usually comes to this place, every time he get a schedule to fly to Munich, when he get a chance. This particular food corner is rather small, and is run by one person only. You can get yourself some bratwurst at Schelmmermeyer's Lecker Bissen and other authentic German cuisine, like sliced ham for examples, potato pancakes, and fresh salads. 

The weight of the food that you chose will be measured with a scale, which then will determine the amount of money that you will have to spend. For example, I bought myself a portion of crispy pork skin, a cheese-filled sausage, and a bowl of fresh salad, then the lady measured the weight of my meal and said, "4.20 €, please". It's pretty cheap for meat in Munich, because most bratwurst vendors would sell a sausage in a bun for around 4 €. 

Schemmermeyer's food corner is located at the center of the city

People were queueing to get their food

Look at those pork logs!

The sausages and salads come in different kinds and flavors

Boy, would you look at those crispy wurst!

Some salad to your liking

Chewing on pork meat like some kind of an ogre, I enjoyed every bite of it. The pork was very thick and juicy, not to mention it tasted deliciously savory especially if you eat it with the crispy skin. I even ate the fat that was still attached to it because it's beyond delicious. The wurst, man don't get me start on the wurst, is very crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside! The melted cheese would just squirt out when you take a bite. Careful though, it's pretty hot because it just came out straight from the griller. The Potato Pancake, on the one hand, was also delightful. It went well with the sausage and the pork meat. 

When you have finished your meat, it's time for the salad. There were chunks of bacon inside of the salad, which will make Vegetarians scream in agony if they didn't realized it sooner because bacons tasted awesome. The salad was sour, yet refreshingly juicy! I enjoyed every scoop of it I even bought another portion. A definite must-try if you happen to visit Munich!

Pork meat with crispy pork skin for lunch

Some fresh and juicy salad for your colon

Nicely grilled sausage

Melted-cheese-filled sausage!

Potato pancake as side dish

After we had lunch, we settled down at a place named Paulaner Im Tal for some beer. Well, at least my parents were. Mom had a liter of beer, while my Dad had a couple liters. I was busy chugging down the tap water that I brought from the hotel while glancing through the menu, which I didn't understand because it was written in German. 

Paulaner Im Tal, adjacent to Burger King

A glass of Paulaner Weissbier 

An authentic German product

When we were on our way to Paulaner Im Tal, I spotted McDonald, Burger King, and Haagen Dazs. At first, I was going to buy myself a scoop of Haagen Dazs' ice cream, but then I spotted McDonald's Snickers McFlurry that looked more appealing. Despite my sore throat, I went inside the fast-food restaurant and ordered a portion of those mouth-watery McFlurry.

I was expecting a half-full plastic glass, white small amount of topping inside, just like how McFlurry in Indonesia are, but I stand corrected. The plastic glass was full with soft and creamy ice cream, complete with a generous amount of caramel sauce, nuts, and diced chocolate. I went, "THIS IS A REAL MCFLURRY, MOM LOOK!" It was simply delicious! The ice cream tasted so much better than the ice cream in Indonesia, and the roasted nuts went along perfectly with it, as well as the diced chocolates. I thought the McDonald staff use cut Snickers for the McFlurry, but it turned out that they use the basic ingredients instead. I didn't complain though, I think the ice cream was perfect!

My Snickers McFlurry that tasted superb

Took a peek inside and I was mesmerized

A glass-full McFlurry, what is this sorcery?!

I finished my McFlurry, but Mom and Dad were still busy sipping their beer, so I took the advantage to stroll around the city center. There were so many food vendors, I got flustered because the food looked appetizing. I spotted some cheese, fruits, chocolates, homemade jam, and many more! Then, I discovered a small bakery that sells pretzel. Pretzel, you see, is baked dough that has a rocklike skin and a chewy inner part. The pretzel that I bought was small-sized, costed me 0.55 €, and it was decorated with sea salts. Man, it tasted awesome!

Trays of pretzel, fresh out of the oven

The sight of the sea-salt-topped pretzel

The pretzel was savory and salty, and without-doubt delicious

The clock stroke five and we continued our journey in the land of beer. We were heading to the train station, but of course we made a few quick stop at some food stands, such as the fruit stand where I bought myself a box of giant strawberries for 2 € and the chestnut stand. Those strawberries were very big and ripe, not to mention it tasted sweet and very very juicy, unlike the strawberries that we usually find in Indonesia. Unfortunately, the chestnut was still small, so they were not as full-of-flavor as the big ones. But they were quite enjoyable and already has a hint of the flavor somewhere inside.

The sight of the fruit stand

Those strawberries were on sale

Purchased myself a box of strawberry and I regret nothing

Look how big those strawberries were!

Freshly roasted chestnut

Crack open the skin and you will found a golden-colored chestnut ready to be consumed

We rode a train from Marienplatz to Goetheplatz to, once again, attend the Oktoberfest. But that's another story..