Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oktoberfest!
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Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oktoberfest!

Wow, what a busy past few days! I had some friends from high school and Caltech visit me in Munich and we’ve been traveling/doing stuff together. The first main thing we did was visit Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a small village about an hour south of Germany by the Alps. The Partnach Gorge is located here and was the main reason for our visit. It’s a beautiful gorge that opens up to many hiking trails (they even filmed a Dracula movie in it!). Anyway, we spent most of the day hiking around the local trails and had a great time.

The gorge itself was incredibly dark and wet, since the Parten river runs through it. It was also super cold - about 10-20 degrees colder than the sunny outside! The views inside were incredible, and since I’ve never been inside a similar natural feature, completely new to me.

We went back to call it an early night, because we had to get up early for Oktoberfest the next day. It was actually the first day of Oktoberfest, and traditionally the mayor of Munich taps the first barrel of beer, announcing the start of the festival. Oktoberfest started as a celebration of a royal wedding, and today it’s a huge carnival-like gathering that attracts many visitors worldwide. The Theresienwiese, the location of the festival, contains many amusement rides and stands, and also many gigantic tents where the main festivities occur.

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