48 Hours of Awesomeness...And Oktoberfest

48 Hours of Awesomeness

My last blog ended and I was on my way to the Italian Riviera, this was about a week ago. About 60 of us took a bus downtown Geneva. We then took a guided tour, in English, of Geneva. My buddy Adam and I separated from the group for lunch in an attempt to find a traditional Italian meal. We walked down random allies, passing a prostitute and hundreds of pigeons whose cruising altitude was about five feet; Which ended in us getting wacked by a few of them. We then came upon this nice little hole in the wall restaurant. The food was amazing and moderately priced. We had our pasta, water, and wine for under 10 Euros each. We then met back up with the group and boarded the bus for Santa Margarita.

We checked into the hotel and were free for the rest of the evening. About 10 of us got some great pizza along with wine and ate on a rock jetty. Afterwards we went to an Irish pub and had some drinks before heading to club Miami. They had some music playing and tables around a large walkway. It was cool, but kind of boring. I then asked the bartenders if they had Y.M.C.A. available, and sure enough three songs later it came on. I don’t know if it’s all Europeans or just Italians, but they go crazy for it. As soon as it came on myself and 4 friends jumped into the walkway and turned it into a dance floor. Three gay Italian guys then joined us before the girls in our group came out to rescue us. The rest of the night was a ton of fun. Weird side note: before I knew the guys were gay, two of them walked into the single bathroom together. One of them saw me staring at them and winked at me. That was almost the end of club Miami for me, but I’m glad I hung around.

After breakfast the next day we went out to Porta Fina to check out a castle and a church on top of this hill, overlooking the port. The view was amazing, as you will see in the pictures. We went back to Santa Margarita and were fed the most amazing pesto feccacia I have ever had. We were then released from the group and we were free to do what we wanted. A large group of people were headed down to Cinque Terre and had booked hostels for the night. We decided to tag along and take a late train back to Torino that night. What many people don’t know is that you are required to validate your ticket before getting on the train. Adam ran ahead to go pee and didn’t hear us reminding everyone to validate their ticket. After we got on the train this Rocky Balboa lookalike came by to make sure we had all bought tickets, which we had. Unfortunately for Adam is that Rocky is a complete ass and demanded fifty Euros from Adam for not validating his ticket. He paid it, but it seemed steep to be fined that much for not validating a three Euro ticket. People on another train were fined only 5 Euro for the same offense. It looks like Rocky will be able to keep his steroid fund alive.

My roommates Brad and Kyle got off at the northernmost city of Cinque Terre with Adam and me. We did the hike and it was amazing. Unfortunately we were fighting daylight and couldn’t admire as many of the views as we wanted to. We made the hike to the southernmost city in just over 3 hours. We stopped in a couple of towns, but at most for five minutes. When we got to the final city we headed directly to the train station. Adam talked to a guy at a window and found out the last train to Torino left in 3 hours. We then met up with our friends before heading out to dinner. Dinner consisted of mostly seafood. We got a seafood mixture sampler that was very strange. Interestingly the item I most feared eating was everyone’s favorite…the anchovies. They were fresh and hardly salty at all. They tasted almost like tuna. We left the restaurant to go buy our tickets home, Brad decided to stay the night and hike Cinque Terre again the next day with everyone else.

Mind you, it’s about 10 at night and we are all exhausted from the long day. We get to the station to find the ticket window is closed, no biggie so we went to the automated ticket box. Unfortunately someone must have not gotten their change and it looked as if Rocky had smashed his foot through it. We were getting kind of nervous so we asked the conductor of a southbound train if it is possible to buy a ticket onboard the train, he said yes, but it is a 5 Euro fee. We were in the clear. We waited for our train to come, but it never showed up. Unfortunately the guy at the ticket office told us the wrong time. We waited around for almost an hour before our train finally made it.

We got onboard and asked the conductor if we can buy a ticket all the way to Torino, or if we should get it when we get to Geneva (because we knew we had to switch trains there). Well, turns out that there were no more trains to Torino that night and we would have a seven hour layover. The guy took pity on us and let us off at the first stop without charge(about 10 minutes away). We would much rather hang out in Cinque Terre for seven hours, than a sketchy train station in Geneva. We got off the train, saw the southbound train was already approaching the station, sprinted through the tunnel under the station and hopped on just in time(finally something that went our way). This conductor didn’t speak very much English though. He was very kind though and only charged us a combined 5 Euro for the ride.

We made it back, bought some wine and went out on the jetty. Randomly we met up with other Americans who were studying in Rome. They had nothing to do so we all just hung out on the rocks and played cards. Interestingly they know many of my friends at Cal Poly. When it got too cold we went back to their hostel/apartment and talked until we had to leave at 4am. We made it home. Tired, yet still on a rush from the two days we had just experience. Personally I think it was one of the best times I have ever had.

Oktoberfest

The next few days were pretty much uneventful. Someone had organized a group bus to Oktoberfest and there were a few available seats. Kyle and I decided at the last minute that we wanted to go. We left Friday at 11pm. When we got there(9 hours later) a group of 12 of us waited in line for one of the houses. Crammed like sardines we stood there for over 2 hours. When the doors finally opened there was literal stampede forward. Germans will trample someone in an attempt to get the first beer. We sat at a table that had a reservation beginning at one. That gave us about 3 hours to stay there. The entire wait staff was incredibly friendly. We had some beers and were getting ready to leave, it was about half past noon. I was standing next to our table talking with friends when all of the sudden I got a strong shove from behind that almost knocked me to the ground.

I turned around just in time to get shoved on the chest. Before I knew what had happened a door shut and I was locked outside. Then the same thing happened to my buddy standing next to me. It turned out to be a short German security guard with a stupid haircut, that for one reason or another was pissed and decided to take it out on us. It’s probably better for me and the security guard that the door locked automatically. I was pissed and wanted to go after the guy, but in hindsight I know he would have had back up instantly. The rest of the group quickly got up and met us outside.

We went to another place to drink. I went to the bathroom and came back to find my group had left. I then walked around Oktoberfest for the next 6 hours exploring everything that makes it the greatest drinking festival in the world. There was this one game for 2 Euros, that if you won(about a one in 10 shot) you would win a pair of thong panties. I watched for a while and tried to figure out the fascination of a new pair of thong panties to these German men. I also went to this one place, I will post a video of later, that had this giant spinning disc and the goal was to stay on for as long as possible. Most people spectated, like me, but some went out and gave it a shot. Most failed miserably, but still gained the cheers and laughter from the audience. After that I left and went to a slope I named pass out hill. Basically all the Germans that drink too much go there to pass out. I watched for a few minutes and one guy really gathered my attention. EMTs came by to put him on their coffin looking stretcher. He refused to go with them, but in order for them to leave him alone they made him sign a release of liability form. He began to sign it, fell over, and then got back up to sign the rest of his name. I made my way back over to the bus and we headed home shortly thereafter.

Sorry again about the long break between blogs. I appreciate any comments you guys have. I will post all pictures very soon. My internet at home is no longer working so I can only update at school. Ciao