Back onto a PC and able to reflect on the past week. Last start with Vienna...
Vienna is a very cool little place. Everyone walks with a purpose, they have somewhere to go and someone to meet. There is no dawdling and if you stay out of the main touristy areas not a hell of a lot of tourists taking pictures of of their wife and son in front of an ice cream store. In order to keep up their energy and focus the Viennese love to drink coffee. They do it well too. The second biggest coffee drinking country in the world and they know how to make a good brew. Not nearly as good as the Brother Buba's, St Ali's and Proud Mary's back home but not nearly as horrific as the coffee in the other parts of Europe Ive visited thus far.
There are amazing sights with palaces, cathedrals and museums. Most of the Palaces are now in fact more museums). But by that stage in my trip I had seen enough beautiful architecture and just felt like settling in. Drinking coffee, eating schnitzel and relaxing in a city where I felt the more at home than any other place in Europe so far.
Even got a training session in:
4 Rounds
10 Dh Pull up
15 Bar dips
10 Burpee Bench Jump
400 Meter Run
2 minute rest
18:something
Felt good but very tough.
Along came Ocktoberfest. I'm not going to even try to tell you what the city of Munich is like because I honestly saw very little of it. I can however tell you that Ocktoberfest is completely out of control and absolutely awesome. You have fantastic beer which has been brewed especially for the festival by each brewery, you have amazing roasted meats and you have these lederhausen dresses that seem to accentuate a females "appearance" in a way that I've never seen before. For a male this is the perfect combination for an unbelievable time.
The first beer was poured on the 200th annual Ocktoberfest at 12 o clock on the Saturday. I was there and shortly after a woman with a terrifyingly strong grip slammed 8 1 L steins of the freshest goddamn beer you've ever had on our table. 6 in one hand and 2 in the other. What a machine. After the first sip we knew we were in trouble. This beer was floating down way too easily and after an hour I think we were well into our third stein. By 5 o clock I was close to being passed out on the table even after slowing it down a bit and by 7 o clock I WAS passed out in my hotel room.
The first beer of the second day was rough. I also noticed that I had developed a deep bruise on both hands where the handle of the stein had been pressing down every time I took a swig of the sweat brew. A later start, a slower pace and a properly lined stomach helped me last the distance on day two and in the end it was Mick, Bargs and I left in the tent. What to do? What to do? Buying three cigars, lighting them up and smoking them on a 6 loop roller coaster was an option, an option that may or may not have been chosen.. There also might have been a take a hanger on an Italian competition but the details are a little blurred. The night ended in Burger king and it was a night that had its highs, lows, loops and everything the three of us had hoped for out of Ocktoberfest.
The next day we all met at the same burger king to say adios and my journey continued on to Athens for the Grecian leg of my trip. After a couple of nights at Ocktoberfest I was keen for detox. The boys at the hostel bar had other ideas and the drinking continued for another night. A few strawpedos later and my detox period before the greek islands had been cut down to two.
So two more nights in Athens to rest and recuperate before what could prove to be an even more devastating 8 nights for the temple than Ocktoberfest.
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