Munich's Oktoberfest 2016

The third week in September, two friends from Texas flew to England for a couple weeks. Since it was Oktoberfest time in Munich, we decided to hop over to the continent for several days to take in the local flavour of the festivities.

Our visit kicked of with a walking/driving tour of Munich's highlights. Former Nazi buildings, palaces, parks, churches... the usual.

We passed by what appeared to be a collection of holy relics. Thigh bone of John the Baptist, maybe? 

The following day, we tent hopped as we strolled through the Oktoberfest area. Lederhosen and dirndls everywhere, on locals and tourists alike.

Saigon

This was the terminus of our Mekong River cruise, disembarking for a tour in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. As you can see, there were a few motorbikes to contend with on the road.

We started our morning at the presidential palace, then toured the War Remnants Museum. We were forewarned that the museum is often difficult for Americans, particularly those who were of age when the Vietnam war occurred. Obviously we knew it would be the Vietnamese point of view, and the signage told the story of that.

Somebody's son, brother, uncle and possibly father. I couldn't help but wonder what was his name, where he called home and if he survived the war.

At one point, I got choked up thinking about the young men of my parent's generation, 18 and 19 yr old boys sent to the other side of the world to fight the Viet Cong. Tens of thousands wounded and dying thousands of miles from home. As evidenced by the pictures, war was hell for everyone. The soldiers, as well as civilians. The Agent Orange room was particularly horrifying. The collection of old US military planes and tanks on the grounds of the museum was quite interesting.

We had a chance to see some of the old French colonial architecture after lunch. The post office was a pretty shade of yellow. I liked how they repurposed the old phone booths to make it a safe spot for ATM transactions.

Below is the OTHER Notre Dame cathedral. Obviously not the major religion in this region of the world, it was one of three Catholic churches we visited on the cruise.

As expected, we saw several temples. My favourite was the one with the sacred turtles. Devout worshippers would purchase a turtle from the vendors across the street, then release them into the turtle tank on the temple grounds. I couldn't  help but wonder how much turtle recycling occurs on a regular basis in order to keep the tank from getting overpopulated.

We enjoyed a lovely view from the rooftop bar of our hotel late in the afternoon, paying with dong, the local currency. As you can tell by the 200,000 bill, the exchange rate heavily favoured the US dollar. Our $60 was worth several million dong.

The Road Home

Last month, I traveled back to Southeast Texas for my 30th high school reunion. I think that makes it official I've crested the hill of mid-life and will soon start the slide down the other side. Old as dirt. Old enough to know better. Older but wiser. That last one could be open to debate sometimes.

After spending several days in the Texas hill country visiting with family and taking care of some personal business, I drove three hours to eat lunch with the college senior and see her new apartment. Nothing like fall football season in the south to make for a memorable kick off to her last undergrad year. Flanked by her two friends at a football game and enjoying some halloween weekend tailgating - life is good!

Thinking my usual homing pigeons skills would kick in, I blithely shunned the GPS for the next part of my trip. I should have arrived at the hotel in three hours, it took more like four because it seems my remembering skills aren't as good as they once were. I missed a turnoff or two and ended up with the downtown Houston skyline outta my front windscreen. Hello, Texas.

All in all, it was a lovely weekend. I got to visit with a friend I've known since 8th grade that I've kept up with all these years, through husbands and kids and moves and jobs and everything in-between. We had lunch at a great local restaurant - site of my wedding rehearsal dinner back in '93 - and enjoyed some good ol' cajun cooking. I'm not much of a meat eater, but by golly I do love their boudain balls. And the fried green tomato pickle chunks were an equally fabulous appetiser. That's one of the few things I miss about this area of Texas, the amazing seafood.

We visited the cemetery where my granny is buried and put some fall flowers on her grave. I always get a bit choked up and teary eyed every time I go. 

The reunion was nice, though rather sparsely attended. Some folks have changed, while others still retain enough of the look from their youth for me to recognize upon sight. And social media has certainly helped since I see recent pics of them there, too. 

Who are all those old guys and girls, lol?! They're the parents of kids and now grandkids. They've spread their wings, built successful careers and gotten comfortable in their own skin over the years. They've been across the state, country or globe and have lived to tell the tale. And I had a good time catching up with them.