Grill Boats!!! How cool is this?!?!?!

A few days ago, early afternoon, Drew and I embarked on a long bicycle journey to Treptower Park here in Berlin. We were on the quest of exploring the abandoned amusement park (through the fence of course) to snap a couple of photos of overturned dinosaurs. And although, plastic dinosaurs are funny to see in the middle of the woods, I became much more excited to see this http://www.artthink.de/ BBQ-DONUTS!!!!! For those of you who are not familiar with a BBQ DONUT, let me be the first to introduce this German invention. By the way, if you have seen these in the United States please tell me where! So apparently you can rent out a bbq-donut to stroll down the river and party with your friends and family. The website even shows them being used on the snow - what better way is there to have a bbq?  I cannot get enough of this idea! For any of you who are searching for that perfect holiday gift to splurge on, let it be this! This is especially great for all of you in Florida surrounded by water, after all Ft. Lauderdale is America's Venice. 

ATTENTION RESTAURATEURS: You can even advertise and sponsor these boats (picture these on the Intracoastal)!

Oktoberfest 2010 - Munich

The 200th Anniversary of Munich’s famed Oktoberfest celebration wound down to a successful close last night. Before it ended, I had the chance to take part in three days of good food and great beer. My biggest surprise upon arriving at the Oktoberfest site was the massive size of the event. I expected a couple of tents set up and knew that there would be a section with rides. However, the gigantic festival rivaled the size of some small amusement parks. Despite the number of tents (13 beer ones plus one wine tent), only six brands of beer are served. This year boasted one extra beer, jointly brewed by all six brewers to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the festival’s inception.

My beer tourism began with my good friend in the Schottenhamel tent. We quickly realized that we were the oldest people in a sea of Bavarian teenagers who will have better childhood memories than most. The Spaten beer served there was delicious. It took a while for us to find a bench to sit or stand on, but we managed. For round two, we headed over to the Hacker-Festzelt, where I wasn’t as impressed with the Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest brew. Nonetheless, I had already learned at the Berlin Oktoberfest that two “mass” was plenty for one night.

Over the course of the three days, I ate three delicious rotisserie half-chickens, of which the Hippodrom’s was the best. I tried more beer from Spaten and Paulaner and visited about half of the 13 beer tents in total. However, my favorite, by far, was the anniversary ale. Unlike the other beers which were light in body, the anniversary ale was dark and foamy. I must admit I loved them all – just not equally.

Throughout the event, most people, including my Munich-based friends, wore traditional dirndls and lederhosen. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, I was not one of them. Regardless, I was still welcomed into nonstop random prosting, overly friendly conversations, and lots of arm-in-arm swaying to classic Oktoberfest songs and favorite American classics, such as Summer of ’69.

Oktoberfest definitely lives up to all of its hype. However, it’s not worth flying across the Atlantic solely for a couple of days of drinking delicious beer amongst festive people. Instead, I recommend it as a worthy detour for those already heading to Europe, especially Germany. -Drew Bagley