Oktoberfest, Bern and the Midi, 2016

Two separate United flights were 2+ hours late, causing me to miss connections. Will take 24 hours to get from SFO to MUC.

Made it to the Glockenspiel on time. Bakery of my forefathers.

Neue Pinakothek art

Early start on Oktoberfest, public sculpture.

Oktoberfest.

They have a whole wine tent at Oktoberfest!

Weinzelt at Oktoberfest was great. It's pricy and mostly wine not beer, but it's very comfortable and great music. weinzelt.com/en

The big beer tents at Oktoberfest are great, but super crowded. We grew tired of rubbing butts with strangers on benches.

Some more Oktoberfest photos including Kenny, the sausage princess.

The Viktualienmarkt in Munich has these great sculptures.

And some other Munich photos: Ken with his first computer he got paid to operate!

If this is Wednesday it must be Switzerland. Flew to Zürich, train to Bern for a couple of rösti and fondue days.

Best hotel welcome gift: a local transit pass.

Bern, Switzerland.

Nelson. Good Public Houses. Good Food. Fun Games. Super Music. New Friends.

We missed our bus in Bern. We had to wait six minutes for the next one. Precisely six minutes. Precisely ten busses an hour on every route.

Excited to be heading to Maison Pic tomorrow for dinner; last year there was the best meal I've had in years. anne-sophie-pic.com/content/anne-sophie-pic-le-restaurant

It's Friday, so apparently we are in France. Ken celebrated with traditional French nachos.

Waving to @sgillies as we drive through Montpelier on our way to Carcassonne.

Stopped for lunch in Grignan, a town with a magnificent laundry. Also pouring rain.

Carcassonne. Great Sazerac. Phenomenal view.

Maison Pic was excellent again. But a little less thrilling than last year, perhaps because the novelty is gone. Still amazing though.

To quibble about Pic... a bit too much novelty flavors like coffee and bergamot. Also service was a bit off, uncomfortably slow.

OTOH Pic's cooking with unusual flavors and aromas is very exciting and expert. And the service was still very good. Just not perfect.

Carcassonne is largely a 19th C. fabrication but it's an awfully nice one. #ViolletLeDuc

Lunch stop in Montauban, a biggish town near Toulouse with some interesting brick architecture.

Celebrated Ken's 70th birthday the best way, with good friends and a lovely homemade six hour lunch.

Hey everyone, I'm glad to report Paris is still here and still great.
I, however, am sick. Off to practice my French; la grippe vs le rhume

Can you spot the American tourist in Paris? (Hint; the tell is paper.)

Some Paris tourist snaps (and one affiche)

Full to busting of cassoulet at Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes, my new favorite place to go back to in Paris. tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d718143-Reviews-Auberge_des_Pyrenees_Cevennes-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

A whole day in Paris and no idea what to do.

Oh look we found something to do in Paris.

Some mosaïc details from Sacre Coeur.

And some Montmartre street art.

Good Moroccan dinner last night at Timgad, a sort of 70s time warp with unusually good food.

We are staying again at the Hotel Castille, a better than average hotel in central Paris near Madeleine.

Paris: Marais, hipster bicycles.

Excellent dinner with friends last night at Les Climats in Paris, a comfortable restaurant with an excellent menu. lesclimats.fr

Last night in Paris, simple dinner at l'Ambassade d'Auvergne. Up at 5am for the airport.

made it all the way home! Now the long slog to staying awake until, oh, 8pm.