A Visit from the Venturas

Just as any couple would, Dan and Erin Ventura decided to spend half of their honeymoon hanging out with us in Europe. We were thrilled to have them at our place in Amsterdam and wasted no time showing them around the city. Then after a few busy days in Holland, Devon joined them for a trip to Octoberfest in Munich, Germany. 

On a tour of some of Amsterdam's best beer bars we stopped for a canal selfie. 

The girls found a nice spot to grab some champagne. They boys ordered 2 beers but were handed 2 glasses of Malbec instead. The waiter made a face like we keyed his car. Needless to say there may have been spit in those beers when they finally got to the table.

We found some caramel waffles in the Albert Cuypmarket. Yum.

Dan and Erin quickly got into the daily routine of the Toda household.

We had a nice picnic on the lawn at Museumplein in front of the famous Rijksmuseum. We also played some serious Kubb, while Marion chomped on some grapes.

Then it was off to Bavaria for a trip to Octoberfest, or as the locals call it Wies'n. Outside of the beer tents was the biggest carnival any of us had ever seen. There was a 55m high chair swing, multiple Drop Zone rides, and about 8 bumper car tracks. It was insane.

Whilst walking around the fest we found some pretzel shaped donuts.

The next day was off to the Wies'n for some beer and, well, beer.

Our lovely AirBnB host advised us that it would be *expletive* difficult to get a seat anywhere at Octoberfest. Ignoring his encouragement we headed to the Hacker-Pschorr tent and quickly found an open table all to ourselves.

Prost!

Lunch was Wies'n hendl (rotisserie chicken), bbq ribs, and spaetzel (mac and cheese).

We made some Bavarian friends on one side of the table.

And then we ran into a couple from Granite Bay, CA on the other side of the table.

Day 2 we went to the Augustiner Brau tent because we heard from everyone that they had the best beer in Munich. We again braved the *expletive* difficult crowds and got ourselves a nice table for the day. 

In addition to the great beer, we spent much of Day 2 trying as many Bavarian dishes as we could stomach. Breakfast was weisswurst (white sausage) with potato and bacon soup. Second breakfast was more chicken (not pictured).

And lunch was something we didn't actually order but ended up being delicious anyway (pork roast with gravy and dumplings).

After we stuffed ourselves on food and beer we headed where else, but to the shooting gallery!

The next day we explored the busy Marienplatz and climbed a couple of towers to get some great views of the city. One of them had 900 steps and had stairwells that looked like this...

We took a selfie with the penguin outside the picturesque Town Hall, and then headed back to Amsterdam.