Day 2 - Back to the Fest

I awoke the next morning pretty early...around 8 am. And I've found the beauty of Oktoberfest...the tents close around 10:30 pm which makes for early to bed, which makes for lots of sleep and a limited hangover. When I stood up, I was actually surprised that I didn't fall over. I was feeling a-ok and starving! Few people were awake yet but people started to stir. I left with a few folks to grab some breakfast. Today we have reservation at the Hippodrom at noon. Oh, that's right, noon. We have a table for 3 hours and we're kicking our day off right! And if we learned anything from yesterday...our group does fabulously when we begin drinking at noon!

While we are getting ready to go...everyone is retelling their version of what happened the night before. I have to say, the hilarity of the whole thing was fantastic. I'm fairly certain I've never laughed that hard! As Mamie was saying how drunk I was, I stopped and corrected her..."um, I was not drunk, I was overserved!" Yes, always deflect blame! The girl that also rode alone in the ricshaw and I decided that we should be tethered together from this point forward. We, more than anyone else in the group, needed to always be with a buddy. Therefore, we became each other's buddies. It was perfect really.

By 11 am, we were all out the door. Well, all but one. The last girl to make it in the night before was not up for drinking at noon. She may have been the only smart one in the group :-) Since our t-shirts were such a big hit from the day before, I decided to wear mine again. Now, before you judge, I was wearing a shirt underneath it the day before. Therefore, its as if I have on a clear shirt. I know, I know, but I really wanted to wear it again! We got to the fest a little early which afforded us more time to walk around and explore a bit. As we were walking through, several of the breweries were bringing the wooden kegs stacked on wagons being pulled by teams of horses through. This was very cool. The horses were huge and decorated with bells and charms and metal face plates with seals on them and embroidered cloths...all very cool. Each brewery was different and the wagons with the kegs were decorated as well mostly with fresh floweres and wreths. There were some great photos. At one point I got really close to the head of one horse and after a moment, he didn't like it so much. Back away from the horse, Courtney...

A little before noon we headed back into Hippodrom. Today we were seated on the ground floor in the middle of all the action. Now, my buddy and I decided that in order to make it successfully through the day without crying we needed to begin with a meal. Lay the base. So, I order the veal meatballs and she got the wienerschnitzel. Then, part 2 of my, make it through the day of drinking plan, I decided to order the Hefeweizen instead of the regular brew. This was for 2 reasons...1) The beer is heavier and therefore I'll drink it smaller and B) it comes in a smaller glass. You know you're at a serious drinking party when you have to plan out how you're about to get intoxicated. I have to say, the Hefe was great! The meal was great and the beer was fantastic! The group is having a great time! About mid way through the day, we loss one of the girls. This time, she left by choice and was sober. She just needed a nap to better adjust to the time change. Apparently there were some crazy drunk people that woke her up the night before...I can't imagine who that would have been :-) We are now down to 9. I've finished my second hefe and onto to the adult size beers again and up and moving around the table. I've made friends with our waitress and the Dutch guys at the table behind us. They were at the fest on business. Really??? I need to move to Europe!

After the 3 hours were up, the group was pretty toasty and we had to move on. During the day, when your time slot is up, they kick you out of the table. And out of the tent. So, there we were...well on our way, giggling like crazy and in the middle of the fest. Some of us knew that we were going to come back to the fest later in the evening, so 5 of us broke off and headed to the oldest brewey in the city. It was about a 15 min walk which may have been longer or shorter than that. When you're drunk, time is not easily kept. After looking at the map a couple of times and asking for help from a few folks, we finally make it to Augustiner Keller. This is one of the oldest beers in the city that was first brewed by monks in 1328. Augustiner is also considered to be the champagne of beers...I'm sorry....this could just be the beer for me. Too bad their logo doesn't have a girl double fisting on the moon. Upon entering the grounds, we noticed a poor man who already had been overserved. He was sitting on a rock with his head on his knees. Ah, the dangers of Oktoberfest...and to think it's only like 3:30 pm. We went inside the building and down into the cellar. The staircase was steep and circular and the ceiling was extremely low. Stacy was in the group and she's 5'3". She was hitting her head on the ceiling. It was great! Once in the basement, we were treated to one of the coolest "bars" I've ever been in. They had some of the old original wooden kegs that were used to make the beer. We sat at a table, ordered beers and continued the party. The five of use were having a blast. We took some photos, including one of Stacy mimicking the running man exit sign underneath the running man exit sign. It's one of my favorite photos. I was also allowed behind the bar for a tapping of a beer shot! AWESOME! After being here for about 2 hours, one girl left to pick up the two that were back at the condo. We were to meet up with everyone again soon at the fest. My buddy and I were still together and decided that it would be smart to eat again. So we ordered another traditional sausage dish (which was excellent!) and shared it. I have to say, although I was pretty intoxicated, I was feeling pretty confident at this point that I would make it through the night without crying.

The four of us set out back to the fest. The walk seemed to take about the same amount of time and we quickly found our group again out infront of the Hippodrom tent. Chad's sister briefly met up with us. She was wondering what our plan was for the evening. Once Chad explained that we were planning to tent hop, she chose to go back to her hotel. Again, she might be one of the smart ones. We also met back up with the three girls that were at the condo. Earlier, our group of 5 had departed with the group of 4 boys. Those boys had A LOT of fun. They all came back from their few hours of drinking with grey felt gnome hats and the one guy kept saying, "we're men, we do men things." Um, ok...and yes, it's only 6 pm. We begin to walk and I'm pretty sure it was me who spotted the Augustiner tent and declared that we needed to go in. Now, in the evening you kind of have to walk through the tents to find a place to sit but at this tent, we got in line to sit at the outdoor beer garden part. After standing in line for a little bit, I quickly figured out how this was going to work...they had security guards (men) standing at the rope. Then, the waitresses would come over and tell them how many seats they had open at a table. I worked my way to the front and made sure that I was in the line of sight of the security guard. Without too long of a wait, we got some of the group in. Turns out, it was most of the group. We were taken over to a table and had to squeeze in next to two older ladies at the one end. They told us 5 could come in, but we came in as a group of 7. Now, to get the other 3 in...We ordered beers and things were starting to get out of control. One of the new girls that had gone back to the condo was a little too sober and one of our "men" was a little too drunk. Our sober girl was quickly over stimulated and began to cry. Oh boy, we have a cryer! (This later became the weekend joke. One girl was quoted saying - If I have to pull a nose hair out, I will cry today! This was prompted when we said on Sunday that we have to keep the crying streak alive.). This girl decided to leave the tent and took one of the boys with her. Now, we were 6 at the table with 2 still waiting outside. The negotiator in me was at work. How to get these two boys in...I began talking to the waitress and she went over to the security guard to try to get them in. She comes back rather quickly and says...you have to go talk to the security guard. He won't let them in. Ok, this is a problem. Now I have to sweet talk a short, stocky, german man who may or may not speak English. This could be my greatest charming challenage yet. I'm pumping the waitress for any information I can get. What do I need to say, I kept asking her. She said she didn't know. Ok, put your game face on Courtney...

I walk up to the security guard and say, can you let those two in, they're with our group. He's pacing and looks very angry already. I'm now pacing with him and trying to smile. I'm wondering if he just caught anything I said. Finally he says, which two? I point and he says no. I'm like, whoa, whoa, let's not pull that trigger so quick buddy. I asked him again if they could come in stating that there's room at our table and that the waitress said they could come in. He said no. I asked, why? Which as my mom can atest to was my favorite question as a child. He stopped pacing and said, I don't like the look of him, and pointed to the one boy. Both boys are looking at me but I don't think they can hear what he's saying. Now I'm in the grove...I have this, I say to myself. I say, oh that one, he's very nice. Very calm, he doesn't even drink. The guard now looks at me and I smile. The guy in our group that he won't let in is wearing one of the grey gnome hats. If he's not drinking then he's just an idiot for wearing that hat...of course he's drunk. I can't deter now from my game plan. I continue on with, ok, he's very nice, I won't let him drink, I won't order him any beer, I will take responsiblity for him. The guard is back to pacing. These german guards are tough! Finally, after repeating all of these several times, he finally says, ok, fine, let them in. I said thanks and was like, I've never had to work that hard to get myself or a friend into a bar/club in my life. Maybe I'm losing my touch in my 30s. Now, the group is all in and of course, we're all drinking. I've already forgottan about my promise :-)

The party continues and after awhile, we decide we should move on to another tent. The group leaves and thus far we're all still together. After a few text messages we meet back up with the other two in the group. The one girl has since stopped crying, gottan a few beers in herself and is not having a grand ol' time. We head to the Pauliner tent and again somehow get seats outside. Now, its dark outside so I'm guessing its somewhere around 8 pm. I'm hammered...its a bit tough to give too much detail but here's what I do know happened...

My buddy and I go to the bathroom. Not because we both have to go, but I have to go and she has to therefore go with me and stand and line. We're chatting and in line for what seems like forever! While I'm in the actually bathroom, she's outside by the door waiting...and apparently getting picked up by a very cute and tall germn who the group quickly dubbed Billy Zane because that's who he looked like and no one could pronounce his real name. He came with us back to our table and we all partyed for the next couple of hours. At some point, I think just about everyone in the group is teasing her...why, because she's sitting on Billy's lap making out with him. It was classic. Then, he starts saying things like, "I want to go back to America with you. I want to marry you." Um, Mr Zane, we're just here for the beer. Now there were some comments being made by a few others in the group and my buddy is now upset. Seeing that this situation is going to go no where good, I decide that we need to make a quick exit. I grab her and say, in my drunken slurly haze...we have to go NOW. She nodded and we were out the door. And now she's crying. It turns out that Billy stayed in the tent with a few of the others all kinds of confused as to where she went and saying things like, "but I love her, I want to marry her." Ah, and a heartbreaker is born in our group! I love it! Now I'm hammered with my hammered buddy who's crying (again for those keeping score, we have 2 cryers so far today) and one of the boys. I decide that the next logical thing to do is get food. As if I haven't eaten enough already today? And what did we get, more sausages. I have no idea what I ordered us. I wasn't able to speak english or german at this point and literally just pointed at what I wanted. We had so much food it was ridiculous! While we're getting food, the boy with us decides that he no longer wants to stand and wait and takes off. After a little bit of worry, my buddy reminds me that he's a boy and can take care of himself. I agree with this philosophy and keep eating. We are then met by security of some kind that are beginning to force people out of the park. Now, I don't mean that its just the 2 of us being forced out, I mean all those still at the fest are being forced out. Oh yes, we made to the close of the fest. Again, I see this as a win consider the events of last night. We are sent out a different exit than where we came in that day and I don't know how to get to the train station. I decide following the massive crowd is probably best. My buddy is like, let's take a ricshaw...I'm like, after the scene I made last night I don't want to take my chances in getting the same driver. I ruled that we should keep walking towards the train. After the world's longest drunken walk (it was probaly 10 mins) we realize we're headed in the direction of a differen train station. It's at this point I realize, we're going to have to change trains in order to get home. I won't lie, I'm a bit nervous. I'm hammered and my buddy is plowed. I pull out the map and quickly try to place we're we are. I determine, really, I guessed, which train we should get on. My buddy followed. We went one stop and then changed trains. I held my breath on the second one until I knew we were headed back towards the condo. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with myself overall. Less than 2 days in the city and I can navigate the subway system drunk. I think that says something!

While on the train my buddy is trying to explain why she's so upset and what set her off. Now, picture the scene...we're standing up because there weren't 2 seats together, she's yelling at me (she's not mad at me, just trying to clearly get her point across) and I'm yelling back at her (not mad at her, but just trying to get my point across clearly as well). I would have died to watch us. It struck me how funny this must have been to witness when I caught the look on a person's face behind my buddy. It was classic. She's going, "you don't get it!" And I'm agreeing, "I know I don't, you're not making any sense." I think we each said these respective phrases like 10 times. Ultimately, she finally remembered what is was, I finally understand and agreed that it was worth being pissed over and literally 2 mins later we couldn't remember what it was. But, by then, we were at our stop. The 5 min walk to the condo was easy but when we got there, the group was not there and we had no key. Someone else you lived in the buidling was coming home at the same time and he let us in. One of the other boys in the group was there as well. He had been separated from the group. After a few text messages, Mamie came to meet us with the key and we found out that everyone was at the bar down the street. We decided to go have one more (because we are the smartest people alive) and sit a bit longer. We ended up staying at the bar a very short time and then the whole group, except 2 of the boys headed back to the condo to go to bed. We weren't back 5 mins when the boy that left us at the sausage stand came in. We were all very happy to see him.

Friday was over and we were all heading to bed. We were all accounted for except 2 of the boys...but as it was quoted earlier in the day - we're men...we do men things! We weren't too worried about them.

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