Oktoberfest and English Breakfast in Österreich

A group of 6 of us (5 of us dirndl/lederhosen clad which I consider a pretty impressive statistic!) met at Salzburg station at midday on Friday, ready for the 2 hour train ride to Munich for Oktoberfest. The train ride was fun and went quickly, along with some beers and before we knew it we were there. We followed the general crowd of dirndl and lederhosen, which led us easily to all of the action. Once there, it was quite similar to what I'd been expecting. There were lots of food and drink stalls, quite a 'carnival' atmosphere with lots of fairground rides, beer gardens, and, of course, the big beer tents!

We wandered around for a bit soaking up the atmosphere and getting our bearings before attempting to get into a beer tent. Unfortunately we'd left it a bit late, especially as it was the last weekend, so we had no luck getting in anywhere despite spending over an hour queueing outside. Our queueing style was very British and we waited patiently in line. Some others had a very different approach, especially if they were a few beers down the line. Quite a few tried running past the bouncers to try and get into the tent. The bouncers had a very 'no nonsense' approach, and essentially picked these people up and threw them back into the crowd!

We eventually gave up and decided to try our luck in a beer garden. After about only 5 minutes someone in our group had spotted an English speaking group that were about to leave, and they agreed to let us have their table. All 6 of us squeezed on as you are only allowed to order beer if you have a table and were able to order our first Mas (3 pints in a big big glass). We had a great spot directly under the heaters, the evening sky was a beautiful red, the atmosphere was just incredible, and we all get on so well that it was a really enjoyable evening. I left to go back to the station a little bit early as one of my best friends from Durham, Toby, was also in Munich for Oktoberfest and we'd agreed to meet up for a bit. It was lovely seeing a familiar face. The others stayed at Oktoberfest until their table got turned over to mark the end of the evening, and then we all made the sleepy journey back to Salzburg. It was a great day, and I'd love to go for a whole weekend another year and hopefully get into a tent.

I woke up (too) early on Saturday morning as I was travelling with my host family to their house in Wagrain. I've definitely felt better, but luckily it was less than an hours drive and by the time we got there I'd started to feel more human. Their house in Salzburg is quite modern, but the house in Wagrain is exactly what I'd imagine a typical Austrian house to be like. Surrounded by mountains, a stream running through the garden, flowers growing from the front of the house, it was just idyllic. We chilled for a bit and then set off for a mountain walk. Now, last time the family used the word 'walk', they definitely meant walk. Unfortunately it seems I was lulled into a false sense of security, as this was a full on Austrian hike, in all senses of the word! More than half of time was spent on my hands and knees as I was following the son, Jakob, and his best friend. Instead of taking the mountain path, they were being typical boys and climbing up vertically through the rocks and stones. In a word I'd call their route was 'direct'. We got to the top and had a picnic by the most beautiful lake. I was pretty knackered, but thought to myself that after a few more hikes like that and I'll be in great shape!

I walked back down with the parents, who were much more sensible and followed the mountain path. Once home, I continued reading my book of choice at the moment which is Bridget Jones' Diary 2 (jn German, it's a good level of language and the humour isn't lost at all), and we sat down to dinner. After dinner, we all played 'Singstar', which was hilarious. I definitely had the advantage of being a native English speaker when singing the rap of 'Jenny from the block', but hearing the Austrian attempt was also sehr lustig.

We had a lazy morning on Sunday and didn't have breakfast until 11ish. I'd been telling them about English food, and how my family like to have a good old English fry up when we're together at the weekend. The mum had gone to the supermarket especially to buy bacon, eggs, tomatoes etc, which was really thoughtful, and we all enjoyed an 'English Breakfast in Österreich'. Afterwards the children were desperate to go swimming. Funnily enough, a swimming costume hadn't been on my list of 'things to pack for a winter in the Austrian mountains' and so I ended up borrowing the mum's one (which was a lot racier than I was expecting!). The swimming pool was a short drive away and as well as the diving boards and slides (or Rutschen), there was a heated outdoor pool. Apologies for my incessant emphasis on how pretty everything here is, but swimming in a heated pool in the middle of the mountains is pretty mind-blowing. It also started raining, which was awesome! They've said we'll come back when it's snowing, which I imagine would be such an experience. After 4 hours swimming, as well as the hike the day before, we were all pretty done in for so headed back to the house, packed up and drove back. Needless to say I slept very well that night.

It was such an enjoyable, and varied, weekend. I'm starting to feel more and more at home here and as this has all happened in just the first two weeks, I'm really excited to see what the next four months will bring.

(Also, at some point in the weekend, the family have switched from calling me 'Alice' to calling me 'die Coxy'. I find this pretty hilarious, and they think the name is 'voll lustig', so for now it looks like it's going to stick!!)