Back from Germany and back in the local time zone (slept till 4:30 this morning, yeah), finally getting around to posting again. This is one of the pedestrian walks leading up to the Hofbräuhaus, a required stop for any trip to Munich. We did miss the Octoberfest, but there was plenty of Octoberfest beer left, in many places drawn from wooden barrels. There’s just no describing the flavor an authentic Octoberfest beer has. Lets just say my first beer back home was a bit disappointing.

This photo was taking with my new 70-200mm f/4L image stabilized lens, hand held at 1/25th sec at 70mm (about 110mm if you include the crop factor of my Xti), focused on the ‘Fan Shop’ sign. I’m pretty pleased how the IS works. My choices were an f/2.8 or f/4 with IS (f/2.8 with IS was a bit steep). The IS gains you about 3 stops vs the 1 stop. Seems like a good choice.

We ended up with a BMW :) as a rental car, and I got it up to 220km/hr (almost 140mph) on the way from the airport to Munich, before I ran out of open road. The speedometer went up to 260, maybe next time we’ll have a little more road.

The atmosphere at the Hofbräuhaus is pretty cheerful. Everyone appears to be having a good time, whether a regular, or a visitor. The young lady is one of the Pretzel girls, not their official title, but just what we choose to call them. Being a Pretzel girl requires a stout build, because they walk around for hours with a large tray suspended around their necks, loaded with pretzels, while holding one up in the air (with a napkin of course). Doesn’t seem to dent their mood.

Second picture shows the band, which plays all day long, with breaks of course. They did once get up from their bandstand and marched around the Hofbräuhaus while playing.

Third picture shows one of the Stammtisches. Remember these are reserved for the regulars. The young guy in the middle must have been someone of importance, as people would occasionally come up and shake his hand. Or maybe it was his birthday.

Final picture shows a sight we’re not used to in the states. What appear to be boys drinking beer in public. The drinking age in Germany is 16 years, for beer anyway, 18 for wine and spirits. There is a debate in Germany about whether the drinking age should be raised. Here in the states we are having the opposite argument, about whether the drinking age should be lowered from 21 to 18. Personally I think if you’re old enough to go to war and die, you’re old enough to consume alcohol.

The original Hofbräuhaus is one of the most famous beer halls in the world, located in the center of Munich near the Marienplatz. Built in 1607 as an extension to the Hofbräu brewery, it was opened to the public in the early 1800’s. It’s history includes having been a meeting place for Hitler and his followers during the 1920’s, and having been rebuilt in the 1950’s after being nearly destroyed during WWII. This photo shows the section near the main entrance.

The Hofbräuhaus is a both a hangout for regulars and a popular tourist attraction. Regulars have reserved tables scattered throughout, each being called ‘Stammtish’, or stammtable (poor translation). Visitors need not sit down, you will not be served at a Stammtish. No one is rude about this, the waitresses will just ignore you until you finally call one over, where after they’ll point to the sign hanging over the table with a smile, and you get the message. The staff is very friendly, and also quite patient when it comes to dealing with crowds, which ranges from giggly Japanese groups posing in front of the bandstand for pictures to tables full of guests which have had more than their share of beer.

A band plays pretty much all day long on the first level. Second level is an auditorium like hall with a bandstand, and a large dance floor. There’s also a central yard with a dozen or so beer stands. Those were closed though for the winter. Must be a ton of fun in the summer.

My kick off photo from a brief trip to Munich this week. We were staying essentially in the city center, and were able to visit some of the more famous landmarks in the evenings quite easily. The weather was dreary so we didn’t wander too much. The food was excellent. Not one of us had a meal that wasn’t delicious. Wiener Schnitzel, Sauer Braten, Haxen Braten, Ente, Hähnchen, Bratwurst, the list goes on. And of course a bit of Beer.

We also made it to the Dachau Memorial, the first concentration camp, used as the model and training ground for subsequent concentration camps, the most infamous one being Auschwitz. Got some photos and will have some of those up, but only the less intense ones.