Out here all night, out here all day

Apparently there is a Beer Festival like every season or something in Munich. So last night was another beer drinking night.

I had a new plan, though: just one stein. I drank it with our dinner (of sausages, potato balls, chicken, and humongous pretzels) and refused anything more.

The beer festival was like a county fair, without the animals and stuff. It had a bunch of carnival rides and midway games. As soon as we finished eating, we were ready to hit the rides.

It's been a long, long time since I went on rides like that! John doesn't like them, and my kids are too little for them yet. So first we went on a giant slide - Joe, Erick and I raced. I lost. I claim it's the 45 to 85 pounds they have on me.

Then we went on some crazy ride where we're harnessed in and it swings up in the air, upside down, back down towards the ground, and just all over the place. It also has fountains of water, and at one point, the ride brought us low enough that the water was in our faces! I kind of thought we were going to choke on all the water, because I was laughing hysterically as I was getting wet, but we were fine.

We went on twirly rides and a ferris wheel and those huge swings and a few other things. I felt like a teenager! Because it was a Wednesday night, the place was pretty empty - so we didn't have to wait and could just run from ride to ride like kids. I kind of want to go back tonight. :-)

Then we returned to the beer tent and live music. I still didn't drink, but as people were starting to get up and dance on the benches that surrounded our tables, my companions seemed to look to me to get it started. By then I didn't feel the effect of the beer any longer - remember, I didn't drink that much - but I felt so revved up and happy that I had no problem. I got up on the bench and figured out the rhythm to clap in time with everyone else. (Seriously, I have a lot of trouble clapping. Not my talent, for sure.)

My getting up on the bench (in high heels to boot - I had to be really careful with my dancing so I wouldn't fall, and I did slip a couple of times) convinced the rest of my table to get up - so we danced for a few songs until the band was done playing.

Then Noah, who says he wasn't a frat boy in college but I'm not sure I believe him, starts singing "Hey Jude." Apparently that's a thing from his college days, and one of his college friends had met us at the beer festival. So we started singing, and actually got a whole bunch of other tables to sing along for a bit, too.

Everything shut down fairly early; we took the subway back to the hotel. No one was quite ready for bed, but we weren't ready to go out, either. We decided to get a couple bottles of wine and chill out in someone's room. So that was cool - we hung out until about 3 a.m., when I was pretty close to falling asleep.

I didn't get exercise yesterday, though (other than walking and running around the carnival), so I really wanted to run today. I convinced Erick that he didn't need more than 4 hours of sleep and he should meet me at 7:30 for a run.

This morning was gorgeous again and we ran for about an hour and five minutes. I didn't eat before we ran, so it was a little tough - I definitely had an elevated heart rate and I even got a side stitch for like half of my run. But it was fun anyway. I just love all the trails through the nearby English Garden - it's HUGE - and the sidewalks are wide and streets are pedestrian-friendly.

When I got back to my room to shower and get dressed, I put the TV on because it plays music. I found myself dancing and singing along while drying my hair - how weird is that? So far this week, my sleep looks like this:

Friday, Apr. 27: 5 hours
Saturday, April 28: 0 hours - but I lost 9 in travel
Sunday, April 29: 7 hours
Monday, April 30: 5 hours
Tuesday, May 1: 3 hours
Wednesday, May 2: 4 hours

So...that's a total of 24 hours of sleep over six nights, averaging 4 hours per night.

Why do I feel so good? So normal? I've also had less caffeine than usual and way more alcohol.

I hope it catches up with me when I get on the plane in Amsterdam and fly (business-class, of course, yeah baby!) home for 9 hours or whatever and I sleep the entire way. I'm having fun being awake!!!

(post title courtesy of the song "Out here all night" by Damone)