Oktoberfest am Bodensee with Kids

What would a late-September stay in Germany be without a visit to Oktoberfest? The original fest is in Munich and began as a royal wedding reception in 1810. The Munich Oktoberfest is now one of the world’s largest festivals, with parades and carnival rides, music, games, and it’s signature attraction - beer.

When we first planned to spend a month in Konstanz, Germany, we thought we might make a weekend trip to Munich for an Oktoberfest experience. As we looked into it we decided against it for this trip, but hoped to visit another of Germany’s smaller Oktoberfest celebrations. Luckily, Konstanz holds it’s own festival, called the German-Swiss Oktoberfest as the fairgrounds literally border Switzerland.

We arrived at the fairgrounds just before opening time - 11:00 a.m. - today. Our first stop was the crepe stand for second breakfast and coffee. Then we hit our first ride, which scared me to death and made me sick to my stomach. It was not a big ride, but I am completely afraid of heights and very prone to motion sickness. It wasn’t horrible as long as I kept my eyes closed.

We walked around some more, to see what we could see. It is a small festival, with a much smaller midway than the Howard County Fair. Around noon we went into the Paulaner tent for beer and pretzels. The band was fantastic, led by an incredible tuba player with a killer mustache who drank from his liter stein of beer in between songs. After a couple more rides and games, we went back to the tent for lunch. I had currywurst, which I took a liking to back in Berlin. (Actually, it was on the ferry between Denmark and Germany where I got my first taste, and I still don’t understand why currywurst isn’t popular in the U.S.) Theo had deep-fried pig’s knuckle, Tori had a pretzel and white sausage, Gianna had short ribs, and Zoe had chicken nuggets. There was a new band - less tuba, more vocals - and it seemed they got the party started. People in lederhosen and dirndls stood on their benches, waving steins in the air as they sang and clapped. I joined the fun. Tori and Gianna did, too. When in Rome, right? Today was good fun!

Two Months Done

We’ve recently passed the two-month mark. During that month we drove 2863 miles from Edinburgh to Konstanz. We stayed in a tilted townhouse, a luxury hotel, a houseboat, three apartments and a private home. In addition to driving all those many miles, we took the Eurotunnel auto train and three car ferries to get between waypoints. In the first month, we swam in the Aegean Sea. In this second month, we swam in the Baltic. (I still marvel at how improbable it is that I would ever swim in the Baltic sea, and yet, it totally happened.) Towards the end of this second month, we began a new phase of this trip - the staying put phase.

My sense of time has returned, but my sense of place has disappeared. I no longer have to check my phone to recall the date and day of the week, but I do get a twisted version of déjà vu in which I have to ask myself, “Wait, where am I?” For example, at lunch today we were eating Turkish food in an obviously European-style restaurant with the sounds of spoken German and American Jazz music filling the air. The view from the window included half-timber buildings, tile roofs and cobblestone streets, much like the view from every restaurant in Visby, Sweden. The weather was cold and rainy, like our July visit to the Kerry Way of Ireland. Yet, we were in Konstanz, Germany.

One of my favorite experiences of this second month was the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It is an incredible event - a month long - and I feel deeply grateful to have been present in that particular time and space. I couldn’t help but notice all of the love and passion and dreaming turned to action required to pull off each performance and connect with other people through art. I truly hope I can return for another EdFringe someday.

Another great experience was our super relaxing - luxuriously so, in fact - weekend in Amsterdam. It was luxurious not with fancy linens or gilded fixtures but more like the first bite of summer’s ripest peach. When I go back, I’ll make sure to visit the Anne Frank House, though. We’ve been listening to the audiobook of her diary on our long car rides. Although I had read it in middle school, I had forgotten many of the details of her experience and this “re-reading” holds new significance for me after spending a couple of days living on the same street where she and her family hid for almost two years.

Finally, I appreciate that we spent over two weeks in Sweden. It’s a big country, and we spent three full days in total traveling between our waypoints. Our accommodations in Stockholm and Visby had their quirks, which make for good stories. The variety of everything, from food to shops to activities to people in Stockholm made me very comfortable. One day, we walked several blocks from our apartment to the best burger joint we’ve found on this trip. As we passed other restaurants - a British-style pub here, a Greek restaurant there - I had a feeling of wistfulness for home, but in this case home was just an earlier stop on this trip and not actually my Maryland home. It seems all of my travel experiences are integrating into my identity and my psyche. Back when this trip was just a dream, even a pretty planned-out-with-tickets-booked dream, I thought of that type of integration as something I hoped for the girls to get out of this year. I didn’t really imagine how or even if it might happen to me, too. I’m glad it did.

A Weekend in Berlin

Our stay in Berlin marks a transition to a new phase of this trip. It was our first stop after saying goodbye to Michelle. It was also our first stop in a month-long stay in Germany, the longest stay in any country to date and the beginning of a new pace and set of experiences. The weather also seemed to begin the change from summer to fall.

There are things I really enjoyed about Berlin. First, I liked the food. Theo and I had the traditional Berlin dish of liver with onions and apples. It was very, very good. Mmm, I might like to have it again soon, but I doubt I will have the chance. I’m a fan of traditional German beer, so I enjoyed that. We had good pho and yummy, yummy sauerkraut and sausages. Oh, and I discovered currywurst, which I really liked.

There’s important sight-seeing in Berlin, too. Our apartment was next to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial. There are actually several memorials to the different groups of people slaughtered by Hitler’s regime, but we only saw this one. We passed the Victory Column and the Brandenburg Gate on our drive in, found ourselves at Checkpoint Charlie after a morning of running errands, and wandered past the Television Tower and Alexanderplatz on our way to and from dinner one night. I found all of these places, plus the section of the Berlin Wall still standing, to be heavy with history and significance.

We also went to Potsdamer Platz, which is a very modern section of the city, to visit Legoland with the kids. The displays were really intricate and cool. There was a little roller coaster-type ride, a section for kids to build with LEGOs themselves, and a Ninjago-themed exhibit in which kids could navigate through lasers and demonstrate other ninja skills.

All along our walks we found quirky parts of the city. Bubblegum all over a tree trunk outside the wax museum and on sections of the former Berlin wall. A currywurst truck that looks like a tractor-trailer went through the dry cycle and shrunk. Fancifully painted tiny cars.

The apartment was spacious and a bit spartan. The furniture wasn’t very comfortable, but nothing in the city really made my heart sing like sitting around together at night watching old episodes of Modern Family and The Big Bang Theory. Also, this wasn’t a classic Airbnb, but was instead a short-term apartment rental in a complex of short-term rentals managed by an on-site service. The Airbnb listing seems a little deceptive in light of this (and sloppy, too, since they addressed both my check-in instructions and their review of me on Airbnb to other people.)

So, I’m not entirely sure about Berlin. It has good food and interesting sights, but for most of our short time there my mind was occupied with other things, like resuming life as a family of five and taking care of some business related to our life in Maryland. I was also dwelling a little bit on the long driving days of the recent past and pressing future. I feel full of driving and tourism, so I’m looking forward to settling in to Konstanz and developing some “regular-life” routines.