Octoberfest 2009

Day 524
We arrived into Munich following an orchestra of snoring hence very little sleep at 6.30am. We dropped one bag and all our valuables at the train station and made our to Thalkitchern camping in the pissing rain. It was gonna get messy. We braved the rain put up our tent attempting to find high ground, not too close to the toilets but not too far... what could be easier! Tent up we waited for Gaffy to arrive. Together we hit the streets of Munich in search of the famous pork knuckle. After three sets of directions we landed at HB, the Hoffbrau. A couple steins (or maiss'as the German say.. either way they are bloody big beers), traditional sausages and pork knuckles later we headed back to camp with Gaffy and his mates for a couple more beers and omelette for dinner.

Day 525
With what sounded like the rest of the world or our entire camp site awake and roudy at 6.30am there would be no sleeping in! After breaky we got some directions to the local Aussie/Irish bar to watch Carly's beloved Saints play the Bulldogs for a spot in the big Grand Final.
After a nervous last quarter the saints finished up by 7, leaving us to contemplate how we were going to watch the game next week (see next blog!).But, next stop back to the HB for Pork Knuckle.. delicious and not a morsel wasted.
Shea and Justin left to check in to their hostel, whilst Gaffy joined us for a trip to the BMW factory. Truly brilliant cars, we wandered between the genius automobiles ok dreaming that one day we may actually own one. By the time we made it to the museum it was closed! Opps. So we move on, to go check out the famous standing wave at the Engisher gardens. We found the gardens reputably the biggest in Europe, walked around it for nearly two hours, passing over bridges, past beer houses, runners, walkers, and the inbetween but could not find the bloody wave.
Buggered we called it a day, stopping at the Augustiner for a warm up stein with Justin, Shea and Kara and home to a pumping camp site for a few hours sleep before the first big day.

Day 526. Opening Day Oktoberfest
Up bright and early in attempt to secure a table in the HB tent. After battling the crowds in the bathroom we followed the crowds from the tube to the festival grounds and to the mamouth line. After an hour wait the doors were opened and we joined the crush. Fortunately the boys had secured a table where we squeezed onto for the three hour wait til the first beer would be tapped. Some found the wait harder then others. We thought that we had gone in with adequate training but nothing could prepare us for the Octoberfest onslaught!
Formalities taken care of (official speeches, singing and the first beer was tapped) however it was nearly a hour later before we got 12 beers to our table (and yes she carried all 12 in one go.. amazing!).
We prosted and sang, meeting up with Amy and Karen (from Oz), Kara (from Brum) and Lanes (Oz). One, two, three steins.......
Finally we made our way home, horse from singing but well hydrated catching a bike, train and walking the last leg before finally crawling into our tent 18hours after we left it.


Day 527
After a slow start, we were all ready to do it all again... well almost. We caught the train into town arriving at the festival just as the parade was cruising past, after a detour for some delicious sausages we made our way to Augustiner Brau Tent to met up with Shea celebrating his 26th birthday, Juz, Paul and Holly, and Rosco. First maiss on its way, many renditions of 'happy birthday', some arm wrestling with the Bayern Munich 16year old football team followed by some drinking and german lessons (despite the fact these guys were 16, and that they had aready downed 7litres of beer and it wasn't three o'clock they flogged us at everything!). We dined on the best roast chicken ever and danced the daylight hours away.
We decided a change of scenery was in order shifting to the LowanBrau tent, only briefly as it was closing time. In par we our previous day/nights efforts we managed to lose everyone and decided to call it a night Jez tried his hand at some darts and we made the journey back to our tent.

Day 528
It was time to farewell the land of beer and give our body's a well earned rest. As we left the camp site they said "see you next year", heads, bodies and livers aching ,in desperate need of sleep, a shower, clean clothes and a detox we looked at him in disbelief and shook our heads, "you'll readyto do it again by this time next year" he said, and we already are! It really is an adult wonderland... beer, boobs, carnival rides, sports stalls, delicious meats and the best of mates!
After packing up our gear, we headed for the train station, lucky to book the next direct train to Zurich and with just enough time to check our emails and warn Thomas we were on our way.
After what seemed like an epic 4hours we arrived in Zurich, with Thomas's perfect instructions we found his apartment and settled in with the brochures and Switzerland Lonely Planet that were waiting for us.
After some chinese for dinner, Thomas arrived home and we caught up and planned our next few days.

---

---