The Wisen

First impressions me a lot.  Whether it be if you meet someone professionally, on a blind date or traveling, your first impression of that person or place is often seared into your mind and can be unforgotten.

Upon exiting the train today in Munich, my first impression was not special.  There was no duomo waiting like Firenze or no steel statue in the center like Paris.  Munich did not awe me from the start, granted I had not been to the old town, but this city felt like any other city I had been to...then came Oktoberfest. 

Lights, rides and food...might as well describe the Wisconsin state fair, yet this place is different.  You can feel the energy when you walk onto these grounds.  Carnival rides, wiener schnitzel and beer is only the beginning.  When you walk into a tent your transformed into a magical expieerence like a five year old at Disney world. 

Now if you don't know, you typically have to have a reservation at Oktoberfest to get inside and have a seat at a table; my group did not.  Yet somehow, all nine of us connived our way into a tent and had a group of 40 year old Germans host us at their table, somehow we got lucky.

And so, I am trying to make a full circle as to where I started, first impressions have a big meaning.  There are many travel moments in my life that I will not forget yet there are very few that took my breath away, tonight was one of them. 

The minute I stepped on the table in Oktoberfest, it was everything I could have dreamed of and more. Thousands of people singing along to the likes of Queen, John Denver and German Artists I will never know but always appreciate.  Tonight will be like when I was 1,000 feet high soaring in a balloon over Bagan, or sipping Chianti to a homemade meal inTuscany, tonight will be a night I will never forget.