After a late morning, we wandered back to the fairgrounds to enjoy more Oktoberfest.
Some rowdy, but nice, Australians let us cram into their table.
Country Roads. No one knows the words other than the refrain.
Also, not a song you'd expect at Oktoberfest.
That's my forehead in the corner. I was very concerned about this noise behind me.
Sometimes people fall down.
We found out other friends from California made it to Oktoberfest and we went in search of them. Despite really terrible cell service, we actually managed to find them. Which is an Oktoberfest miracle. Seriously. The tents are so packed you could walk past your own mother and not realize she was there. So the fact that we found them, and fairly quickly is nothing short of miraculous.
A photo with someone who's not Dan. This is Veronica.
Group selfie!!
The beer was trying to be a part of the photo. Dan, Veronica, Nick, Chelsea, and me. We were many beers in. It was delightful. As we had to fly out the early the next day, we figured we should call it a night and left our friends and the tent behind.
Heading home I found a bagpiper. I was super excited (and a bit drunk) and was yelling "I found my people!" I made Dan take a photo. I'm about half German and half Scottish by heritage, so finding a Scottish piper at Oktoberfest was really exciting.
First beer!
Also, I got this necklace in Garmisch. I saw it in a perfume store window one day and really liked it but the store was closed. I wasn't going to go back for it, but Jee convinced me to go. I'm so glad I did. I love it.
It's important to eat well before fulling diving into Oktoberfest.
We were here between the early birds, who are now taking a nap/break and the evening folks.
But the band was fun and people were dancing.
I liked their use of antlers for decorations.
Specials for Oktoberfest. The food was delicious. I really need to learn to make knodel.
Everyone taking their photo in front of Bavaria Statue.
We went to the Paulaner tent to get Paulaner beer.
We ran through Cafe Kaiserschmarm because it looks like a cake castle.
We didn't stay, but we got crowns!
I found this episode's pineapple!!!
It'sa me! Bavario!
We went in search of the toboggan ride that we went on last time we were here.
And the terrifying Moses/Jesus/Miner statue and ride.
And then we went on the ride, since last time all I remember is spinning and trying not to puke.
Turns out it's very giggly ride.
So many gnomes!
I really want knodel, but I'm so full.
I might end up looking like this if I do learn to make knodel.
This lion might be auditioning out for RuPaul's Drag Race.
Oh, here it is again, but not in drag.
Oktoberfest!
Hacker-Pschorr horses. I like their little hats.
They're no Clydesdales, but they still look fancy.
Artsy Augustiner.
Regular Augustiner.
I was amused that as you went away from us, the gingham check shirt grids got larger.
After having a bit to drink and some lovely food we headed back to our hotel.
We went to go see the garden we passed in the dark last night.
It has been overrun with people in funny hats and blue coats. And a cannon.
Apparently something is going to happen down here.
...Are they going to fire the cannon into the garden? Where the people are?
That seems like a bad idea.
Oh, maybe someone important came out to the castle Mirabell's balcony.
Oh wait! New people in outfits!
Are these bludnerbusses? Little hand cannons? Anyone know?
Okay,well, they're loud. We know that now.
Maybe all this pomp and circumstance is for this guy.
And now for the cannon?
BOOOM!
The spent shell. I hope these are blanks.
Anyway, the cannon fire signaled the end of whatever this was, so we went on our way.
It looks like it might be a beautiful day.
So of course we went to a museum.
We went to the Museum of Nature and Science.
The giant squid/kraken just wants a hug.
Different kinds of reefs and an atoll.
Two types of stinging cells, both in the compact and extended positions. This is why jellyfish hurt.
A few seahorses hanging out.
I like that they call Clown fish, Anemone fish.
Here's a little one hanging out in the anemone.
Do you see the eel hiding behind the rock wall?
I feel like they always look grumpy.
This one is around 50 years old. The aquarium has had him for more than 30 years.
The appropriately named Goose Foot Star.
The Common Octopus, working for its lunch.
Okay, I've always wondered how an octopus knows what shape/color to take to blend into its environment. It turns out it's a combination of a complicated muscle structure in their skin, really great eye sight, and that their skin is super sensitive to light because it has the same genes their eyes do (which is super weird).
Oh hey, it's the Alpine Chough.
Then there's this deer. It has different sections of its body you can open up to see how parasites affect that part of the body. Both neat and gross.
WHAT DID YOU SAY?!
A very surprised Gamsbock or Chamois (I thought that was shirt?), anyway it's a goat-antelope
.
My mom has a book that she gave to her grandchildren called "Who pooped in the woods?" Well, here's a chart to go with it.
Red-footed tortoises enjoying lunch.
This collection of tortoises and turtles looks like that moment after the first turn in the Cha-Cha Slide, or Electric slide, or any group dance, when half of the group is going the wrong way.
A very round puff of a bird.
We wandered into the Fables and Legends exhibit next.
Masks of creatures from all kinds of mythologies.
Here be dragons. And an angry pine cone. Also, an otter?
The famous Wolpertinger. Apparently it's form isn't entirely decided upon. In general it has the body of a mammal, anything else is up for grabs. It might have wings, fangs, horns, antlers, be half bird, who knows.
We wandered through some other exhibits, including the Human Body, Worlds of Oceans and Lakes, and the Space Hall. We didn't actually make it over to the Science side of the Museum of Nature and Science.
Back through the old town.
With all it's fantastic signs. This one is stained glass instead of iron work.
Maybe the best McDonald's sign I've ever seen.
Lions?
A double lion crest! Oh! It's the fabulous lion again.
Didn't you always want to go to something called "Nipple Jesus"?
Now that the folderol has cleared up, we decided to walk through the garden.
I was there!
We were both there, but a bit back lit.
A Pegasus statue/fountain.
They are lovely gardens and people seem to like hanging out here.
A view through the gardens and up to the fortress on the hill.
Nothing like carrying a naked old man around in your best armor.
We were at the Mirabell gardens!
Dan is being silly.
No accordions or juggling allowed.
Actually something about no music or performances allowed in the park - basically no busking.
We left the garden and took a bus up into the mountains.
All so we could wear ridiculous outfits and explore a salt mine.
Salzwelten Hallein! Hallein's salt mine splits the boarder between Austria and Germany.
This is the "train" we rode to get a ways into the tunnels. It's super OSHA approved.
It was dark. The Freudenberg tunnel was dug in the 17th century, by hand.
I was falling behind because I was looking at things, and then it was dark.
I didn't get lost though! This is where they tasted and measured the brine in the salt water.
It has been determined that this area prized for its salt going back to 4,000 BC.
Aaaaaand there's an underground lake.
It's actually a salt leeching chamber.
Over the centuries there have been battles over who has rights to the mine. In the 1500s Archbishop Wolf-Deitrich von Raitenau used the proceeds from mining to make Salzburg a Baroque city in the style of Florence.
Around 600 BC Celts were mining salt here.
(Not from this underground lake, but this geographic region.)
Oooooh, mood lighting!
It was kind of a trippy ride.
It's a salt shrine.
Salt creche in Durrnberg. Durrnberg is the other name for this area.
Instructions for how to use a mine slide.
This tunnel - Untersteinberg, which we didn't go down as it's collapsing, was hand dug in the 1560.
It was hard to get a photo of the slides from the top, so here they are from the bottom. It was a very giddy feeling going down the slides.
We are now 210 meters below the surface and 1500 meters from the entrance.
Old miner's lighting implements from 1000 BC to 1960.
Wooden piping and brine measurement tank from the 14th century.
The tunnels could also be fairly narrow.
I was there!
It's made up of at least 65 kilometers of tunnels, that pass under both Austria and Germany.
I feel like the light makes this an optical illusion. It looks like the tunnel is spiraling.
200 year old functioning bellows.
A map of the air ventilation system.
In 1573 and again in 1616 mummies of Celtic miners were discovered in the salt.
As of 2017 the mine has been giving tours for 400 years.
My souvenir from here was Sally, the Salt mine rubber duck. I was pretty excited to find her.
We made our way back into town, wandered around, and had dinner.
