BackgroundWe wanted to do Oktoberfest while we were at University, and as luck would have it we could go the week before we started fifth year. Initially we looked at flying to Munich, but while working out the costs we realised it was far cheaper to drive (fuel split between seven people amounts to very little). We booked the ferry to get us home a couple of days before we were due to start back at University and planned the trip to take us straight to Munich and then wind us back to Amsterdam.
DiaryI am writing this too far after the trip to recall any fine details so what follows are the key details.
We arrived at the ferry at pretty much the same time but were put in different queues so ended up parking in complete opposite parts of the ferry (Newcastle to Rotterdam). I got off first and we parked up to wait for the other car. While we were stopped I left the engine running while I fitted the dipped light screens – UK cars shine the dipped beams off to the left which is no good for the continent when this becomes the opposite lane of traffic, hence having to stick stuff on the headlights to block the light – I didn’t realise at this point my electric fan had seized. When the other guys stopped to chat I continued to keep the car running and it started to let off a plume of steam. I switched the car off and let it cool done before checking the coolant level and finding it was low. We headed straight to buy some more, which was a challenge as it was all in Dutch. That bottle of coolant still resides in my car, I haven’t touched it since.
The biggest problem we then faced was keeping the car cooled in traffic jams; it certainly wasn’t pleasant keeping the fans on full heat when it was already hot enough outside. There were a lot of road works, but being Germany most of them didn’t affect the traffic flow at all. There were only two or three that actually caused jams and those were only for 15 minutes or so.
It was about an eight hour drive to our campsite, which seemed quite long at the time, but I have done bigger since. We shared the driving and it was fine. The next day we left the cars and took the train into Munich for Oktoberfest. It was fantastic, with lots of singing (in German) and dancing, and lots of beer. We were in the Pauliner tent and it was fantastic. I don’t remember much from later on in the afternoon. We had started at about 10iam and were kicked off our table at 3.30pm. After passing out on a hillside for a while we headed home for some proper rest. We got up again in the evening and wondered around Munich, seeing more of the Oktoberfest site and the city itself.
We decided to not follow our original plans and instead wanted to visit a nearby concentration camp. It was quite a haunting experience and was not a particularly pleasant place to be. I couldn’t really understand why people were taking so many pictures as I think there is a good enough record of these places anyway and why would you want it in your holiday snaps? I felt the same way when I visited the Killing Fields in Cambodia. It is, of course, well worth visiting these places as it really gives a great sense of perspective.
We then decided to head down to a big castle on the Austrian border, we parked up towards dusk and walked the road up to the gates. Unfortunately it was closed for some concert so we couldn’t go in, but it was great to be so close, it was massive.
We then decided to camp around that area somewhere, which was difficult as we were a group of seven guys and quite a lot of campsites don’t allow single sex groups. Luckily Phill speaks German and was able to sort us out with something and we set up camp.
We drove through Stuttgart on the way back and visited the porche museum, which was awesome and then headed over to the Nurburgring. We wanted to take the cars round but it was shut for a private race day. Instead we went to the fantastic restaurant close by and had steaks. We then drove quite far in order to be close to the ferry for the next day. It took us a while to find an open campsite but eventually we found somewhere.
The next day we parked up and spent the morning in Amsterdam before returning to the ferry for the trip home. The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful with the exception of being pulled over by the police as I approached john’s flat. They said they thought my number plates read different details which sounded a bit odd. Perfectly nice guys though and we unpacked the car to get the stuff up to John’s as they ran the standard checks (everything in order, of course).
-Diain
DiaryI am writing this too far after the trip to recall any fine details so what follows are the key details.
We arrived at the ferry at pretty much the same time but were put in different queues so ended up parking in complete opposite parts of the ferry (Newcastle to Rotterdam). I got off first and we parked up to wait for the other car. While we were stopped I left the engine running while I fitted the dipped light screens – UK cars shine the dipped beams off to the left which is no good for the continent when this becomes the opposite lane of traffic, hence having to stick stuff on the headlights to block the light – I didn’t realise at this point my electric fan had seized. When the other guys stopped to chat I continued to keep the car running and it started to let off a plume of steam. I switched the car off and let it cool done before checking the coolant level and finding it was low. We headed straight to buy some more, which was a challenge as it was all in Dutch. That bottle of coolant still resides in my car, I haven’t touched it since.
The biggest problem we then faced was keeping the car cooled in traffic jams; it certainly wasn’t pleasant keeping the fans on full heat when it was already hot enough outside. There were a lot of road works, but being Germany most of them didn’t affect the traffic flow at all. There were only two or three that actually caused jams and those were only for 15 minutes or so.
It was about an eight hour drive to our campsite, which seemed quite long at the time, but I have done bigger since. We shared the driving and it was fine. The next day we left the cars and took the train into Munich for Oktoberfest. It was fantastic, with lots of singing (in German) and dancing, and lots of beer. We were in the Pauliner tent and it was fantastic. I don’t remember much from later on in the afternoon. We had started at about 10iam and were kicked off our table at 3.30pm. After passing out on a hillside for a while we headed home for some proper rest. We got up again in the evening and wondered around Munich, seeing more of the Oktoberfest site and the city itself.
We decided to not follow our original plans and instead wanted to visit a nearby concentration camp. It was quite a haunting experience and was not a particularly pleasant place to be. I couldn’t really understand why people were taking so many pictures as I think there is a good enough record of these places anyway and why would you want it in your holiday snaps? I felt the same way when I visited the Killing Fields in Cambodia. It is, of course, well worth visiting these places as it really gives a great sense of perspective.
We then decided to head down to a big castle on the Austrian border, we parked up towards dusk and walked the road up to the gates. Unfortunately it was closed for some concert so we couldn’t go in, but it was great to be so close, it was massive.
We then decided to camp around that area somewhere, which was difficult as we were a group of seven guys and quite a lot of campsites don’t allow single sex groups. Luckily Phill speaks German and was able to sort us out with something and we set up camp.
We drove through Stuttgart on the way back and visited the porche museum, which was awesome and then headed over to the Nurburgring. We wanted to take the cars round but it was shut for a private race day. Instead we went to the fantastic restaurant close by and had steaks. We then drove quite far in order to be close to the ferry for the next day. It took us a while to find an open campsite but eventually we found somewhere.
The next day we parked up and spent the morning in Amsterdam before returning to the ferry for the trip home. The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful with the exception of being pulled over by the police as I approached john’s flat. They said they thought my number plates read different details which sounded a bit odd. Perfectly nice guys though and we unpacked the car to get the stuff up to John’s as they ran the standard checks (everything in order, of course).
-Diain