Finally made it to Octoberfest!!!

So after 4 years of trying, Michele and I finally made it to Munich for Octoberfest. What a weekend it was too. We ended up renting a car for fairly cheap and had 3 other people come with us. We left Paris at 7pm on Friday evening. It took us an hour to get out of Paris due to traffic and the craziness that is Paris driving. We continued to head towards Germany. Along the way we had 35 euros of tolls to pay while in France only. And to say that the roads weren't very well maintained is being nice. We continued with a pee break every 2 hours or so. Around 1am we arrived in Germany to find that the highway we were supposed to be taking was closed. Not only that but there was actually no signs telling us which way to go. So with a 50/50 chance, we turned the wrong way. We ended up in a small German time that was all quiet since it was so early in the morning. We drove around and ended up finding another 2 cars (of Spanish people) who were also lost. They weren't going to Munich but they were going to the city we needed to drive by. So through broken English as we didn't speak any Spanish and they didn't speak any French and very little English. Finally we ended up following them and had to turn around and go the other way. We refound our route and continued on. Around 430 am we decided we needed a break so we parked the car at a reststop and then tried to sleep in the car for a couple of hours. At 630, slightly more rested we continued on to Munich. Again, we got slightly lost while in Munich but we arrived at a camp ground that we had hoped had some spaces left. Unfortunately they didn't. So we tried to go to another one to see if they did. We arrived and decided that we had the tent and sleeping bags so let's just park the car in the parking lot and go to the festival and if we have to sleep in the car and put the tent up on a grassy patch nearby. So we did. We had quick toilette showers and then headed into the city to the festival. What a site. A huge fair packed with people. We finally managed to wriggle our way into a beer garden and thanks to our friend we found some space at a table. It was now 130pm and we finally got ourselves a liter of beer at Munich's Octoberfest! We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening having a great time, meeting all kinds of interesting people from all over the world. It was truly an amazing experience. That evening when we left the fair grounds we headed back to the car, set up the tent in front of it and went to sleep; some in the car and some in the tent. The best part is, we weren't the only ones. There were a few others who had just pulled out their sleeping bags and were sleeping beside their cars. The joys of Octoberfest!! If I were to do it again, I would definitely do a few things differently but all in all a fantastic weekend and I finally made it!!!Thanks to those who made it possible, and especially to Michele who drove the 850 kms each way to get us there and back! You rock hun!!

Thank you for reminding folks

So I know that as my time in France draws near I should be enjoying myself and remembering all the great things about Paris but every now and then something happens to remind of things that I will not miss at allonce I leave to go back to Canada. One of these such things happened this week. I have to say that usually the public transport system out here is pretty good (except when they are on strike of course). But the other day I was completely dissappointed. First my tain was late which happens so I wasn't too worried. But then as we are heading to the next stop the conductor gets on the speaker and says not to open the doors while in motion. Honestly, I didn't even think that you could do that! lol.We go one more stop and then the train doesn't move. The doors don't close and we have to wait. Finally about 15 minutes later they come on to say that there is a problem with the doors and they won't close therefore we all have to get off the train. Normally, if you were on a regular metro no problem, however, this was a regional train which meant you would have to wait. Back home, the normal thing to do would be to bring a train in to replace that one since it was only half way through its route. Not here, here we had to wait 30 minutes for the next scheduled train heading to that destination. What crap, especially at 8am on a wednesday morning. No worries, none of had to get to work or anything. Gerks!!!
The other thing, or more like the other things, that have been driving me crazy this week are the ignorant people who take the public transportation. I don't understand how you could fully fall on top of someone who is sitting in the metro and not even say excuse me!! Would it not have bothered you if someone had done that to you, oh wait. It does. I am so tired of these people who push and kick and bump into, step on toes, fall on top of other people in the metros and then don't excuse themselves. Then to top it off, someone will bump tem and they give them the dirtiest look possible. Are you kidding me?
So needless to say, when I do leave it will be a very tough moment but having to take the metro everywhere with everyone else is one thing that I will not miss. I will miss being able to get everywhere by public transport but definitely not having to do it with all those ignorant gerks!!

Sorry for the rant but I haven't it was time before I leave :)

Jimmy Buffet

So I know it is a little late but last Friday night I went to my first ever Jimmy Buffet concert. What a crazy experience. First off, it is in Paris, and concerts here are always so interesting as there is a mix of locals and visitors. This one was particularly special. Most of the crowd were american (or at least North American) and many of them flew into Paris just for the concert. I wish I could afford that. Fly to Paris one day, that night go to a concert and then the next moring fly back to America. Crazy. Anyways, me and the girls heading to a bar for happy hour before hand. It has cheap margaritas which we thought as fitting. THen we went and lined up with all the other Buffet fans and drank in the streets before the concert. Finally we entered the concert hall. It was a pretty good hall. The standing area was set up in a way that it slanted downwards towards the stage which made it easy to see the whole stage even from the back. One thing about some of the concert halls in France is that the cheaper tickets are standing room and the more expensive ones are seats in the balconies. Overall it was a fantastic concert. Lots of fun and dancing. The only difficult thing was the beer. Apparently the concert hall didn't study their audience as they ran out of beer. They had a ton of wine left but no beer. So they ended up having to buy cans and then pouring those into the plastic cups. Why they couldn't just give us the cans I am not sure. It sucked for the bartenders since they had to deal with the stupid and angry fans who wanted beer. lol oh well. After the concert we headed to a bar nearby. It was fun to see all the fans dressed up and walking down the street to the bar. I had a great time and so much fun!! Way to go Jimmy!!!