Hi everyone!
I’m back again from another busy weekend of traveling. This trip was much quicker, but the weekend as a whole was still very packed. The last few weeks I’ve been leaving for my trips on Thursday mornings (I only have class Monday-Wednesday), but this weekend I didn’t leave until Friday, so it was really nice to have a day to relax in Madrid before taking off again.
Starting on Friday, I had another day trip for the art class I am taking here. We drove about an hour to El Escorial, a monastery and the former residence of the King of Spain. This was kind of like one big museum, with an old library, different historical rooms, and a chamber where all of Spain’s former kings and queens are buried. It was very interesting to walk through the various rooms that were actually used by former kings, and see all of the artwork and artifacts left there.
We then drove a few minutes to the Valley of the Fallen (Valle de los Caídos), a Francoist regime monument. This monument is already highly controversial, and just two days before our visit the Supreme Court of Spain declared that Franco’s body would be exhumed from the site. This made our visit even more interesting as the environment was changed and the controversy escalated, and as freaky as it was to be inside the monument, I am glad we were able to go before his body is removed and the history is ‘gone’.
Immediately after returning to Madrid we went straight to the airport and took off Friday evening for Munich, Germany. This was the second weekend of Oktoberfest, and by far the busiest. We didn’t land until about 11:00 PM, so we headed straight to our campsite for the weekend. Yes, that’s right – we camped. After a last-minute cancellation on our AirBnb and failure to find a hotel or hostel that wasn’t booked, we resorted to sleeping in tents at the Festanation Campsite. I wasn’t too worried about this to begin with, it actually seemed like a fun idea, but once we got there, the campsite completely exceeded my expectations. I went in thinking we would be sleeping in a tiny tent on the dirt ground in the freezing cold, but the company actually had great accommodations, I was so comfortable the whole weekend, and I would definitely stay there again if I were to return. It was definitely cramped and not the warmest, but for camping in the middle of Munich, Festanation did a great job.
Saturday morning was a very early wake up and a quick change into our dirndls and lederhosens before taking the train to Theresienwiese, the festival site for Oktoberfest. We only had to wait in line for about a half hour before the gates opened, and from there it was a crazy rush to the tents. There was one tent, the Hofbräu Tent, where pretty much all college students studying abroad went to, so of course we went there and met up with other friends from home and from BC. I had been told lots of stories about the festival before going, so it was pretty close to what I expected, just much much bigger.
We hung out in the HB tent for most of the day, which was really fun to be with everyone and experience the event. Early in the afternoon, we walked around outside for a bit, got some food, and went on some rides. My diet the entire day consisted of different types of soft pretzels, but they were so delicious. Coincidentally enough I’m allergic to beer so I wasn’t fully able to enjoy this part of the festival, but I tried all that I needed to get the full experience, and despite the pain that came afterwards, I think it was worth it.
Later in the afternoon we went back to our tents to rest, and then we put on warm, comfy clothes and went back to Oktoberfest at night. We got dinner and walked around some more, and it was way less crowded at night, but definitely a bit more crazy, since everyone that was left had been there partying all day.
Overall, Oktoberfest was SO much fun and I’m so glad that I went (despite how expensive the trip was). That being said, I’m glad we only did the festival for one day, because it was so exhausting and I think another day that busy would have been too much. It was such a cool place and environment, and I do want to go again when I can spend more time and money on the weekend, but for now I’m so glad I got to do it with all of my friends while abroad.
Sunday morning we explored the Munich city center for a bit before our flight home. The city isn’t too big so it was easy to walk around a couple plazas and see all we needed before leaving. Getting home Sunday afternoon rather than Monday morning was definitely a better move, since I could unpack and get organized for the week before going back to school. As quick as the weekend was, it was still very tiring and I’m glad to have a few days in Madrid to catch up before my next flight on Thursday!
I’m finally catching up on my vlogs from each trip, so feel free to check those out on the Videos page. Additionally, if you’d like to receive email updates when I post new blogs, please subscribe below!
xx,
Megan
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Megan Gilman 