The perils of Craigslist.

The day started out innocently enough. Leon stopped by with lunch and drove us to the airport. He promised to take good care of the cats while we were gone. We got to our gate with little to report - a pretty tame trip through security, likely made easier by the fact that we were so excited to be en route to Europe for 10 days. Flight: uneventful, Watched a few movies, slept a bit, had a vegan meal and some juice. Got through customs in Zurich (our layover) with zero waiting and zero problems. Train into Munich? Easy. Arrived in Kolumbusplatz at 12:15pm.

From Germany-Munich-1

Some background: hotels in Munich during Oktoberfest are certifiably crazy expensive. Hotels unapologetically charge double (or more) and most hotels don't even have rooms available. (The tour books recommend booking a year in advance.) We were having a tough time tracking down a reasonably priced place to stay, so we tried craigslist.

I found a great apartment on Kolumbusplatz for 80 euro per night. The woman we were renting from, Debbie Lawrence, wanted a 400 euro deposit against damages. Not our favorite, but understandable given the crowds and ridiculousness of Oktoberfest. We made all the arrangements and sent her our rental fee plus deposit via Paypal...

...Fast forward to us arriving in Kolumbusplatz at 12:15pm. Problem 1: no Debbie. Problem 2: no such address as "Kolumbusplatz 30". Problem 3: no such address as "Kolumbusplatz 25". Problem 4: there were two different addresses on the two documents she sent me "guaranteeing" our rental. I think you see where this is headed. Problem 5: no contact information for Debbie other than the gmail address we'd been communicating through. Problem 6: we emailed her 4 days ago to confirm that she would meet us and never heard back.

After waiting around Kolumbisplatz - feeling increasingly stupid (Autumn) and increasingly frustrated at the lack of viable internet signal (Allen), we decide to track to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station in the center of Munich) to try to find an internet hotspot. Maybe Debbie emailed us while we were en route?? Alas, this was not the case - a big thanks to Starbucks for providing the free internet. At this point, we're exhausted from traveling and jet lag, we're hungry, we're in need of a shower each, and we have no idea where we are sleeping for the night. Luckily, there were 3 hotels within visual range of the Starbucks. So, we find 1 that has a room available for the night, and after Autumn told the sob story (the Reader's Digest version) of the lost apartment, we got a 5 (that's right, count 'em, F-I-V-E) euro discount on the - and I'm not making this up - 215 euro room. One night. And it ain't the Ritz. It's not a bad hotel, but it would be considered a hostel or pension if not for Oktoberfest.

From Germany-Munich-2

We are following up on another lead for a room tomorrow night so that we don't have to pay an exorbitant amount again, but for now we're safe and comfortable and have a place to sleep and shower.

Lest you think we had a totally miserable first day in Munich, we should mention that the night got significantly better from there. Well, eventually. Munich is an absolute monstrous sea of people right now. It was about 3:30pm when we dropped our stuff off at the hotel. We decided to walk down to Theresienwiese to check out the official Oktoberfest first. O.M.G. The pictures can speak for themselves. There was no getting in to any of the beer tents, most people there were stumbling or passed-out drunk, and I saw a pair of women's shoes in the garbage. 'Nuff said.

From Germany-Munich-1

We literally fought our way out of there and decided to walk down to the Hofbrauhaus instead. It doesn't look that far on a map, but I am here to tell you - it *so* is. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so packed with tourists, but, good lord, it is super exhausting to fight your way through crowds of people to get to your destination. It took a long time, and a fair bit of "creative" walking, but we finally made it to the *line* in front of the Hofbrauhaus... The hour long line... That wasn't really a line, so even though people came up after us, we never progressed farther than the back of the line. After about 30 minutes of standing there - exhausted, cranky, dehydrated - we finally gain admission. There's no hostess seating in the Hofbrauhaus - it's all fend for yourself - but we fought, er, I mean found, a spot at a table and settled down with some hard earned pretzels (breze) and beer.

From Germany-Munich-1

From Germany-Munich-1

Long (very long) story short: we got what we came for. We came, we saw, we were conquered, but we got a good beer out of it in the end. Tomorrow will be better. And all in all, today wasn't that bad.

(Pictures added!)