SimpleBabyTravel.com

So there were way less children at Oktoberfest than I had anticipated. From what I’d seen on line I thought there would be quite a few but I was wrong. NONE in the tents at all and a few at the fairgrounds. Ms. Stella was quite a hit as you could imagine.

Our visit to Oktoberfest was even more exciting as we got to see our good friends Alison and Stephen Lukan and Sanaz and Craig Pentz.  Old college friends of Justin’s and actually Pentz and Lukan were my roommates back in the day.  They’ve always felt like “brothers” to me so it’s always really nice to see them.

It has been 12 years since I visited Munich and I forgot what a great city it is.  Beautiful, clean and very nice.  We’ve had some great Bavarian meals (even got a night out with our friends last night as my Dad watched Stella).  We were also lucky enough to have some local guides compliments of a friend (and chef) of Alison and Stephen.

Oktoberfest 2008

My Dad really enjoyed Oktoberfest…maybe a bit too much.  He left today and it was sad to see him go.  Little Stella cried.

Sanaz, Alison and I got all kitted out in our Dirndl today!  Was fun to get into the spirit of the festival.  Although I think we had just as much fun shopping for our dirndl as we did wearing them!

Alison, Dreama and Sanaz in Our Dirndl

We are off to Dubrovnik, Croatia with Craig and Sanaz tomorrow for 6 nights.  Should be a nice trip and our last “vacation” before we are back to the grindstone full time!

Some tips if you plan to ever bring a baby or children to Oktoberfest.

Go ahead, it will be fun but have patience.

Go early and try to go during mid-week versus the weekend.

Leave before 6 pm as it gets pretty “ugly,” not a good scene for children.

The food in the tents is very nice but we actually enjoyed the food outside in the fairgrounds and there is tons of different things you can try at more affordable prices.

We actually got a lot of “free passes” since we had a baby.  Getting into the tents was easier and we even had a really nice server chase after us and gave us a table.  NOTE:  it is not easy to get a table reservation in the tents.  Reserve early or know a local.

Don’t take a stroller on a weekend.  The crowds are elbow to elbow.  We took our stroller on Thursday and Stella even had her afternoon nap there but today (Saturday) we used the Kelty Kidds backpack again and it proved to be a worthy purchase.

Daddy and His Weisn Princess

One last word on Germany.  Everyone has been very nice to Stella.  She’s gotten more free toys from restaurants, hotels, and even random people in the festival tents.  She was a lucky girl.

Justin, Craig and Stephen are watching the Penn State game tonight at 2 AM local time…we have to be up at 7 AM to get ready for our flight.  Wish me luck!