For eight years I learnt German and every October there was some sort of Oktoberfest celebration in the form of dress ups and eating pretzels. I have also attended the Brisbane Oktoberfest which was a night of shenanigans and whole bunch of fun (most which I don't remember due to the large amounts of beer). This year I actually got the chance to celebrate at the real thing - and it was incredible!
Its hard to describe how much fun this massive massive festival is. It happens every year in Munich for two weeks to celebrate the marriage of some prince and princess (wow I should really know that) and this was the two hundredth anniversary so it was even bigger then usual. Just know that this event has to be put on your life's to do list.
We decided to head over to Munich for the opening weekend so I was up bright and early (two am!) on Friday morning to get to Heathrow and start my mission to Munich. It was only a two hour flight but when you include all my travel time door to door I actually ended up travelling for 12 hours! A lot of that had to do with me missing the sign to the camp-site and walking around the streets of Munich for an hour. Luckily I wasn't too lonely with my wanders - on the way I had met a couple of other Aussies so at least I knew I wasn't the only one who was bad at reading signs. Once we had worked out where the camp-site actually was a German guy in an Audi four wheel drive pulled over and offered us a lift. There was that hesitation where you are like ' is this guy dodgy? will he rob us? kidnap us?' but after sussing out the situation and realising kidnappers generally don't wear polo's and chinos and drive Audi's I figured we would be alright. We jumped in the car and got driven straight down to the camp-site that was actually really close. Grrr that hour of walking was a wasted hour of beer drinking!
Once I had checked into my tent and caught up with Shea (my Oktoberfest partner in crime) we headed into the city centre to check out the beer garden. We thought we would have a bit of a hang out, maybe a drink or two, bit of food and basically just chill out before the festival started the next day. Our bit of a chill out turned into a massive drinking session. After one stein on and empty belly we were on our way to being tipsy and started chatting to a bunch of people from Chile who were in town for the festival. The second stein found us chatting (in very bad German) to a bunch of locals. The third stein we were joined by my cousins and friends and I think around that stage we finally got something to eat.
After a bit of a chat there we headed over the the Hofbrau House which is the most famous beer hall in Germany and had our fourth stein. After my fourth litre of beer things were getting blurry and to be honest I don't remember much of the night. We snacked on pretzels and gingerbread hearts and after awhile we thought it was time to head home. I was so exhausted from all my travelling and walking I actually fell asleep on the train on the way home.
The next morning we were up bright and early to tuck into breakfast (to relieve the slight hangover from the night before) and get on the first bus into the beer halls so we could snag ourselves a seat. Once we arrived at the festival it was really different then I expected. I had imagined just lots of big buildings all focused around beer but it was more like a real carnival with a Ferris wheel and other
rides, food vendors, market stalls and of course big buildings all focused around beer. As many other people were there early trying to line up for a spot in the beer gardens we pretty much just ran for the nearest and shortest line which was the Lowenbrau tent. After an hour and half of waiting in line the doors open and we were herded inside. Even though we had gotten there super early we still couldn't get a table inside but with a bit of luck we scored a position in the outside beer garden.
Luckily the weather was clear and sunny - even though it was a bit chilly - so we didn't have to worry about getting rained out.
At 12pm the festivities officially start when the Mayor Munich taps the first keg. Five cannon shots are fired for the whole festival to hear and from the first one the beer is flowing. After about 20 minutes we were given our first stein and the shenanigans began. The first beer is the hardest to drink as it is still quite early in the day and I was still slightly hung over. By halfway through I was already a bit pissed and well on my way to enjoying the celebrations. We spent the day people watching and drinking and chatting and all that comes with festivals like this.
The best viewing was watching the beer wenches carry all the steins. I think the record we saw was 12! Four in each hand and then balancing another four in the middle. Its incredible. I can barely lift the one with one hand. In fact I was generally using two hands just to lift it to my mouth (I wouldn't want to spill any!). The rule of thumb is that even though your stein only costs 8.60 euro you give your beer wench 10 euro and get her to keep the change. If they don't get tips they wont come back to your table. Ours was really good and came back quite frequently. It got to the point where she came back every few minutes and we just couldn't drink our beers that fast. After telling her to come back in half and hour but she was back again in 10 minutes we were getting pretty confused. That is until someone at our table realised that she was an identical twin - which explains why we were getting served so often. It was kinda cool having twin beer wenches and every time they came around we would cheer!
Halfway through the day we were joined by my cousins again which was great as John had been five years in a row so he had the system sorted. We grabbed some food and a few more drinks and then it all got blurry. After a few hours of drinking and very little sleep I actually fell asleep at the table. I know I know - I'm soft. I couldn't believe it but all I wanted more then anything was to crawl into bed and sleep for days. I wasn't as bad as some of the other people there (asleep in their own vomit or peeing there pants - yup it got that messy) but I knew I was bad enough to have to go home even though I didn't want to. It was probably the best decision I made as after a good nights sleep I was all ready and set for the next day.
The next morning we had a bit of sleep in before getting up and getting ready at our own pace because we didn't need to rush to get a seat. It was good to take our time and actually have a shower which was my only one in four days - YUCK! I know but there was over a 1000 people at our camp site and only three shower blocks. Once we were ready we caught the bus into the festival and had a decent look around before heading into the Paulener tent. We had our first beer of the day (which took the longest to drink) and had a pork knuckle and pretzel while trying to talk to an Italian family that joined us at our table. I feel like Oktoberfest is a bit more multicultural then other festivals I have been to. At Pamplona I only met Spaniards Aussies and Kiwis but at Oktoberfest I met heaps of different people from around the globe. After awhile we wanted to move and check out the rest of the grounds as we had only see one other beer hall. We headed to the Hofbrau tent which was already going crazy. We snaggled a table at the back of the hall and hasitly avoided the pig pen and our undies getting ripped off.
Allow me to explain - To be served a beer you must be seated EXCEPT for one place in all of Oktoberfest and that is the pig pen. It is a standing only section of the Hofbrau beer hall and is normally dominated by Aussies and Kiwis. The rumour is that if you walk in there you get your undies or clothes ripped off you. God knows why but you can understand why we didn't want to go in there. The rest of the Hofbrau house is fairly civilised - you know the usual - standing on tables, singing ridiculous songs in a language you don't know, constantly doing 'cheers' with the whole table, smashing glasses, making a mess and generally just acting crunk (crazy + drunk). Like I said usual and civilised for this kind of celebration! It was so much fun at our table - we met a couple of Mexicans, some Americans and more kiwis. Passed the time comparing travels and talking while listening to the oompa band play. Unfortunately we got kicked off as the table was reserved so we headed onto the next beer hall with our new crew of peeps to check out that scene.
We went to the Augustiner where we had to squeeze onto a table with a bunch of middle aged German people. It was good to experience Oktoberfest with German people who were there because it was tradition and normal for them. They were a really friendly bunch of people and were really good to talk to (in my sort of German - their sort of English). They even explained what "Ein Prosit" meant and wrote down the words so we could sing along next time. After awhile they headed off and we were lucky enough to score the whole table which meant we had a whole platform for dancing and singing and more drinking. I couldn't tell you exactly what happened for those few hours as my memory is blurry but what I can tell you is that it was SO MUCH FUN! It got to the point where you just pick ANY stein up off the table and start drinking as they are all half drunk and all the same beer. Doesn't matter if its yours or not its all in the spirit of drinking.
At the end of the night we had to run off to catch our last bus so after one more cheers without adopted Oktoberfest crew we headed of into the night. I ended up getting separated from Shea and making my way home in a taxi and passing out in my tent. I'm probably the worst Oktoberfest buddy - always falling asleep and losing Shea but she made it home safely. The next morning I woke up holding an Oktoberfest hat in my hand. I have no idea where it came from. After checking out the photos its just sort of appears on my head halfway though the day. Score! Shea woke up with some random hoodie on. So overall it was a beneficial day for both of us.
After a quick pack of my bag and a bit of a goodbye to Shea (who was off to Switzerland) I started my mission back to London. After another 6 hours of travel I finally arrived back at my new house exhausted and wrecked but extremely happy after an amazing weekend. Sorry if this blog is a bit disjointed but there are several black holes in my memory due to the 15 or so litres of beer I drank in three days.
Fran turned up a bit later with a Mary Poppings bag full of alcohol. Spirit? Choice of mixer? She had it. There was a bit of dancing to music that was a bit too soft and kept getting changed, a few deep and meaningful convo's and a quick nap on Sam's shoulder before we decided to make the trek home. It wasn't too bad especially with the drunken power walk but apparently I talked the ear off Sam telling her the recipe for meatballs. Oh dear. I think the party turned me into an old lady before my time - who else falls asleep then talks about cooking other then grandmas? 
