Being recorded in the beautiful home office of Chateau’ Relaxo, FL.
Over the past few months, I have been traveling more and more, but there’s been nothing much to report on as most hotels, restaurants, and gas stations are 50/50 on the requirement of masks as well as having those plexiglass riot shields in place. However, the one constant is that almost every employee in those facilities is masked up.
The motivation for this Oktoberfest episode came from a recent trip to one of my favorite places Savannah, GA, and if there was some way that I could afford to live there I would.
However, we had a very disappointing hotel stay during this visit, and it was at a Hilton property. The Hampton Inn & Suites Savannah Historic District. This was the feedback I left on Hilton’s website.
It’s rare that I complain, but after this stay, I have to. In roughly 20 years of being a Hilton Honors member, this has to have been one of the worst hotels I’ve ever stayed at, and well below what I call Hampton Inn standards. The hallway carpet was stained, not coffee or soda stains, but what appeared to be water stains from leaks. We were upgraded, room #524, the carpet appeared to have burn marks on the carpet next to the bed, as well as stains in front of the sofa, which was also stained. The office chair arms were worn as well. This upgraded room had the smallest coffee table I have ever seen. The bathroom shelves had flaking paint, the caulk around the toilet wasn’t even touching the base on most of the toilet. There was what appeared to be mold along the baseboard and in the corner of the tub, and the refrigerator had a huge buildup of ice.
I’d like to request some sort of reimbursement of the 100,000 points I had spent on this reservation.
Had I put this on my American Express Hilton card I would be disputing the charge. The only bright spot of the stay was the desk clerk, Sky, very friendly.
I have pictures in case you are interested.
Less than 24 hours later the properties general manager called me personally to apologize and that he would personally go and inspect our room and to close the conversation, he let me know that they would be crediting me back those 100,000 points. Less than 4 hours later those points were back in my account.
When booking, our room was listed at $249.00 per night. Some quick math made me realize that keeping $500.00, before taxes, in my bank account was a better deal than dropping 100,000 points from my quickly diminishing Hilton point bank account.
Besides, we weren't going to hit Savannah till 9:00 PM Friday night, and with everything we had planned for Saturday this room was nothing more than a place to sleep, no spa time, no restaurant time, and no bar time.
Hats off to the Hampton Inn & Suites Savannah Historic District for making things right.
This past weekend we headed to Disney Springs for the night. Disney Springs was packed, and they were no longer requiring temperature checks before entering and they only required masks inside of the establishments.
As customary, we dined at Splitsville, and after that caught the new James Bond movie, “No Time To Die”.
Believe it or not, Disney Springs has a cigar shop, Sosa’s, complete with a small smoking lounge. As we left the theater, I swear the same 3 people were in the same 3 chairs that we saw as we entered the theater.
We ended up having to stay at the Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace Disney Springs Area, and not our normal Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista - Disney Springs Area location. Two very similar names for two properties located across the street from each other, but each location offering completely different experiences.
This was our third stay at the Palace. On the first trip, we got to our room opened the fridge to find the previous guest’s leftovers. I called downstairs explained the situation they said they’d bring up a new fridge while we went to dinner, which they did. Unfortunately, they moved the leftovers from the previous guests to the new fridge.
On our next trip when we unlocked the door to our room we found someone else and their belonging in what was supposed to be our room. Here’s a quick travel tip not only use the deadbolt but also swing that bar latch right above it.
As for this third trip, I really wasn’t holding any high expectations. But since it was only one night and we wouldn’t be back to the room till almost midnight and checked out by 10:00 AM I figured let’s give it a shot. Drumroll, please….. Everything was fine, no leftover food in our fridge, no one in our room, the A/C was ice cold and we were checked out by 9:30 AM.
Onto tonight’s topic, my thoughts on Oktoberfest.
Most of us over the age of 21 are familiar with Oktoberfest, and most of us associate it with food and beer, and you wouldn’t be that far off.
Here are the cliff notes -
The Oktoberfest (German pronunciation: [ɔkˈtoːbɐˌfɛst]) the “K” is German O-C-T-O-B-E-R-F-E-S-T “C” is American. Oktoberfest is the world's largest Volksfest (beer festival and traveling funfair). Oktoberfest, an annual festival in Munich, Germany, is held over a two-week period and ending on the first Sunday in October.
The festival originated on October 12, 1810, in celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festival concluded five days later with a horse race held in an open area that came to be called Theresienwiese (“Therese’s green”).
So we have a solid foundation on which to build a party, marriage, and beer. Almost makes for a reality show.
My Oktoberfest interactions have been stateside, and all have been in the south. That being said “The Entrepreneur '' made it to the motherland Munich pre-pandemic 2019.
When we lived down at FrickFord farms we hit up the yearly Ft. Lauderdale Oktoberfest celebration.
Think 90 degrees, the smell of sunscreen, and lots of tank tops. In episode 149, My Thoughts On Beer, I talked about those acrylic beer mugs that are molded into the shape of a boot. Well, this is where you’ll find them, Las Olas Boulevard downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Then add to all that the food vendors selling greasy Brats, Pretzels the size of your head, and Sauerkraut from a 5 lb can - all of this is the equivalent of German fast food.
In the past the beer was typically Yueling Oktoberfest, in 2021 it’s probably something from the Bud Lite Fall Seltzer pack.
Our other Oktoberfest destination every so often is Helen, GA. If you’re not familiar with Helen, it’s about 90 miles north of Atlanta, the population is right around 450 and it’s Georgia’s third most visited city.
The value-add with Helen is that it has a Bavarian theme to it. Think the Alps, but in the Appalachians. This is a perfect setting for Oktoberfest, and Helen does it right. Oktoberfest 2020 was canceled, but Oktoberfest 2021 is in full force.
Basecamp is the Festhalle which houses the event. German-style bands from around the country and around the world play. You can see the Alphorns blown, the Cowbells rung and the Accordion squeezed.
When it comes to Oktoberfest food, it’s really no different than what’s served every day.
You’ll find Sauerbraten beef, Hühnerbrust chicken and a variety of schnitzels - Hühner, Salzburger and Holsteiner.
Beer, think Original Hofbräu, Hofbräu Hefe Weizen and Hofbräu Hefe Dunkel. All true legit German beers, but you can still find your Miller Lite and a selection of Gaelic Ales.
Take it from me there’s a fine line between Oktoberfest and Oktoberfest overload and when Helen GA puts a check in that Oktoberfest box, there’s still plenty more to do.
If you’re into hiking, there’s the 4.4-mile hike up Yonah Mountain as well as the 1 mile down, 4 miles back up Dukes Creek Falls trail, which I could spend at least 15 additional minutes talking about.
If you enjoy state parks there’s Smithgall Woods and Unicoi.
If you love to fly fish, there’s the upper Chattahoochee River north of Helen or visit Unicoi Outfitters and fish their stretch of Nacoochee Bend south of Helen.
Find yourself stuck in Helen during the month of December there’s the yearly Christmas spectacular that’s worth checking out.
Back to the motivation for this Oktoberfest episode, our recent trip to Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table for an Oktoberfest-themed cooking class. The CEO discovered Chef Darin a year or so ago, and this was our second class with him.
Chef Darin has been in Savannah for the better part of 17 years, and he started the cooking school at the Mansion on Forsyth Park the same hotel where we were married. In April 2015, he opened “Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table”.
Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table not only offers cooking classes but they are Savannah’s only full-service kitchen store. They stock epicurean cutting boards, Kyocera knives, and a host of sauces and seasonings. Every visit we leave with a couple of new kitchen gadgets that get used on a regular basis.
The evening started with warm fresh pretzels accompanied by fresh beer cheese dip.
For reference here’s my Chateau’ Relaxo beer cheese recipe
Cream cheese,
A jar of Kraft Old English cheese
Worcestershire sauce
Garlic powder
Beer
What Chef Darin offered up was well beyond that with chunks of real cheese mixed with some culinary magic.
From there we put on our aprons and went to work.
The menu -
Piquant Carrot Salad - Shaved carrots, horseradish, heavy cream (and it’s always heavy cream never average cream) lemon juice & sugar. This is one of those dishes that gets better the longer that it sits and marinades.
Next, it was Jägerschnitzel (Hunter Schnitzel with Sauce).
The sauce - bacon, onion, mushrooms, red wine combined with a handful of seasonings.
The Schnitzel-was pounded pork loin then breaded we (pork), dry (flour), wet (egg wash), dry (panko) left hand was for the wet portion and the right hand was for the dry portions. Then fried in a neutral oil, like vegetable….. Not the CEO’s favorite, olive oil.
To finish the plate it was potato and bacon dumplings, what’s not to like? We’ve done traditional dumplings as well as Spatzel, but potato dumplings were something new. The key is to get as moisture out of the potatoes as possible.
Desert was Bavarian Apple Strudel. For me, strudel has always been a jelly-roll style covered in cinnamon sugar. Bavarian strudel is this wonderful creation of phyllo dough, creme fraiche, granny smith apples, and nine or ten additional ingredients. This came out of the oven as this golden brown warm dish or goodness.
The class concluded with all of us sitting down to enjoy what we spent the last few hours preparing and as a kicker Chef Darin does all the cleanup.
If you find yourself heading to Savannah and you’re looking for a great date night activity book a reservation at Chef Darin’s Kitchen Table
He offers classes such as -
Low Country Cuisine - Shrimp & Grits
French Bistro - Entertaining
One Dough - Lots of Cookies!
As well as a Wednesday evening Facebook Live event.
Chef Darin does a great job, you won’t be disappointed.
That does it, my thoughts on Oktoberfest.…. If you want detailed show notes, links and pictures head over to podpage.com/travel-stories/
Leave a message on Anchor, or shoot me an email at TravelFrick@gmail.com.
As I always say, travel safe, stay safe, and thanks for listening.
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