European Adventures: Germany

Oktoberfest! Oktoberfest! Oktoberfest!! If I say it often enough, we might be in Munich again 😃.

Here we are in #Germany, the last planned leg of our trip! At this point, we were considering a day trip to Vienna since we were close. But decided not to plan the trip until we saw what Munich had to offer.

"Getting to our rental wasn’t too difficult. It was within walking distance from the train station so we walked, and were pleased to know our rental was in a quiet and nice neighbourhood. However, we were not pleased when we got to our room and found a doll facing the bed. You see, the doll was present in the online photos but somehow, we hoped (and maybe prayed) it would be cleared for guests. We promptly covered it with one of the extra sheets provided. We’re two Nigerian girls and we grew up in the times of Chucky – we don’t play random dolls. Plus, add that we would be waking up to something staring at us. Mba, not at all. 

We freshened up and decided to go get dinner at a restaurant we had sighted earlier. When we were passing by, the restaurant was packed. So, we went with the crowd suggestion mentality. The crowd was right! If you’re ever in a pickle choosing a restaurant in a new place, try the crowd suggestion. Hasn’t failed me yet 😊. I got a very yummy chickpea curry – Pinterest recipes, I’m coming for you. We were stuffed after dinner and went back to crash."

Day 8:
We managed to scare our poor host by not emerging until early afternoon. Apparently, she had come up a couple times to check on us and was afraid something had happened to us. Homegirl didn’t understand the exhaustion we were battling 😁. Plus, we spent time gisting and were in no hurry to leave.

"Off to the fest we went! It was so easy to find. As soon as we got off at the closest train station, it was very hard to miss all the people dressed up for the fest. It was a flurry of traditional outfits (Dirndl and Lederhosen)! It made us so happy to see it worn everywhere. We even sighted bankers wearing the outfits at work. It was basically like wearing Nigerian trad to the office (which happens more often now). On reaching the location, we were blown away! We hadn’t expected to see a full-scale festival since talk of Oktoberfest, was synonymous to beer/drinking. We were uber excited to see the fest and our outlook changed from just wanting to see the fest, to fully participating in it. We’re both not beer enthusiasts so you can imagine the appreciation we had for the bonus. 
Everything and anything was at the festival. Tons of food, drinks, beer tents, freshly made Bavarian nuts, rides, souvenirs, etc. We decided to get some grub and later tried to enter a beer tent. But were told we had to have reservations to go in. We wrongly assumed this applied to all the tents. We were totally stuffed when we left, and decided to go plan our tomorrow. On our way home, we stopped by the mall and marked stores we would visit tomorrow."

Day 9: 
With our new discovery of the Oktoberfest, we decided against a day trip to Vienna. Instead, we would return to fest for some more fun and souvenirs. Vienna, we hope to see you someday.

"Today, we woke up early and revisited the restaurant from dinner for breakfast. Breakfast was a buffet and I think it’s safe to say, it’s the best breakfast buffet I’ve ever had. They had meals spread out in various dining sections and our meals came with freshly squeezed orange juice. Everything was yummy and we were nice and stuffed. Oh by the way, it was only 9 bucks each. Can you beat that?! We headed to the mall and shopped until we almost dropped. We got a lot of great items for great prices. A new store on my list is C & A (thank you Patty!). We went back home to drop off our buys and headed back to the fest. We were on a mission to eat the things that caught our eyes yesterday but were unable to eat, and to see the grounds we didn’t cover. I had also said I would try some beer (for the experience) so we eventually tried to enter another beer tent. And we were allowed in! Apparently, not all tents are reservation only. The tent was much bigger and livelier than expected. When I saw the size of the beer glasses floating around, I totally chickened out of beer consumption🐔🙈. We got some souvenirs and just soaked in the feeling of being there. We had to go back to the mall to pick up an item so we bid Oktoberfest goodbye 😢. 

By the time we made it to the mall, our legs were exhausted and giving up on us. We were so tired, we just sat and mentally willed our legs to move. The mall was closing so of course, we had to move. But not before we decided there was no way we could make it the whole way back. Supporting each other, we managed to walk to the train station to hail a cab. When we showed our cab driver the address, you could feel the judgement. She obviously couldn’t understand why we would need a ride to somewhere so close 😂. 

When we got back, we forced ourselves to repack our suitcases as an early morning awaited us. We managed to find the strength and we even took our suitcases downstairs this night. We stopped by to say bye to our host, and to let her know we would be leaving very early. But after we had said our goodbyes, she had a surprise for us! She told us she had our sisters. Confused, we looked at each other. Then she motioned for us to come closer into the living room to see what she was referring to – she had two black dolls. We awkwardly backtracked because again, we’re Nigerians and calling dolls our sisters is going too far 😒. We weren't offended though, since she wasn't trying to insult us. I think she just wanted to show us her dolls. 

We unwound and reminisced about our vacation wishing it were longer. But alas, we had to get back to our lives and the grind of work."

Day 10: 
Have you ever been happy-sad? That was us today. Happy that we had a great time and would be returning to family and other aspects of life. Sad that we would be saying bye to adventure time and probably wouldn’t see each other for a while. Sigh.

"Going back was not without hiccups. T’s flight was supposed to leave way before mine but unfortunately, her flight got cancelled and it took almost all day before new travel plans emerged. I on the other hand, got tons of candy at the airport for the children and some Capri Sonne for me (because Capri Sun doesn’t cut it). I also managed to almost board my flight without my backpack. I was almost at the door of the plane when I realized I didn't have it - no back ache was my reminder. The awkwardness of explaining to the agents why I had come back to the boarding area to get my bag, is one I’d like to never repeat. 

Goodbye Europe!! You were so nice to us! We miss you dearly! I don’t know when next we’ll see you, but we’ll be back for sure 😊."

That’s it Bloggie! Thank you so much for reliving #Europe with me :).
Tonia

Picking this jam (Timaya's "Dem Mama") was difficult. I believe this one was T's ringtone years ago. This was before we knew our phones would mostly be on silent. I miss my obnoxious ringtone days! Anyways, enjoy!