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Published: October 12th 2007
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Hoffbrau tent
People for as far as the eye could see, and then some! Where was I? Ah yes, 7am in the morning if I remember correctly after 3 hours sleep and a skinful of ale. I was drunk, dehydrated and unbelievably tired as I set off for Munich. I had no real accommodation per say, only the promise of some floor space in my American friends room, which I had no idea how to get to or in fact where it was. Up until this point I had already had accommodation booked before I set off to a new venue and never had I needed it more than now. I was completely shattered and in desperate need of a few hours shut eye. Due to the nice people of Germany deciding to go on strike on all the feeder trains to Munich I had several train changes ahead of me. This meant I could only get a few restless minutes of sleep on the train before I would wake in a panic thinking I’d been asleep for hours, missed my stop and not knowing where I was. It was a horrendously long 5 hours. To add insult to injury, as I arrived in Munich I had a message on my phone from my American
Oktoberfest outdoors
Which genious thought a funfair mixed with copious amounts of alcohol was a good idea? chums saying they wouldn’t be in Munich til 5 thanks to the train strike. It was 1 o’clock. Effing marvellous! I could have had another 4 hours of much needed sleep. Nevermind, it was done now. I dumped my bag in one of the train station lockers and proceeded to find out where Oktoberfest was and went and visited it to do a bit of a reccy.
Oh. My. God. Oktoberfest is insane. Imagine the amount of people you find at a regular festival, then imagine them all sat down at tables drinking litres of beer and, to my amazement, NOT fighting. Being a Blackpool lad I’m used to people havin a few, mouthin off and then trouble breaking out. Not the case at Oktoberfest. Litres of ale are consumed and it seems to gel people together in the happy matrimony of beer and good times. It was immense.
After a few hours had passed it was time to meet my American chums and I was buzzing with excitement at the prospect of sinking my first Stein. After dumping my stuff in the room and freshening up I was ready to hit the festival. A short tube ride
Hoffbrau House
Again more people than you can shake a stick at, this time in the Hoffbrau HOUSE. away brought us out in the centre of Munich. ‘But this isn’t where the Oktoberfest is held’ I thought. And it wasn’t. The station for Oktoberfest was a good 5 stops away. It turns out the clan had different ideas for the evening. It would appear that there are kind of ‘fringe events’ that happen around Munich whilst the festival is on. One such event was held in the official Hoffbrau House in the centre of Munich. Finding a table at 8 in the evening for 8 people was unheard of and with good reason. We had to que for ages to get in and then we wandered around the house for what felt like an eternity looking for a free table (you must be seated at Oktoberfest else you wont get served a beer, simple as that). Then the unthinkable happened. Tucked in a corner was an entirely free table! Cue manic running from all 8 of us through the Hoffbrau house, shoving people out the way, much like Ryan Reynolds did in ‘just friends’ in the scene where he plays ice hockey against a bunch of kids, followed by us diving into place to ensure the table was
Me still sober
The only sober looking photo i have of myself at Oktoberfest! DEFINITELY ours. Soon after that the night fell into disarray, in a good way. Much alcohol was consumed, people got very drunk and everyone had a thoroughly knee slappingly good night. The night ended with a tube ride home (Munich apparently don’t close their underground at stupid o’clock in the evening unlike Vienna…..) and sneaking 8 people past reception to get into a room that was meant for only 2 people.
The following day I awoke and to my amazement had no sign of a hang-over. Nothing, nada, zip. I just felt really thirsty. Happy days, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was 7am and we were due to leave the hotel in half an hour to join all the alcoholics in their quest to find a table at Oktoberfest. Through one thing or another we missed our deadline and didn’t get to the festival until 10 o’clock. Finding a table again proved to be a nightmare and forced the group to split into two. My group were fortunate enough to find a table soon after the split and so battle commenced at 10:30 in the morning. By the end of the day I was ruined! I
Me and the girls
Me with four of Americas finest. From left to right;
Melissa, Reilly, Natalie and Shaylin had met my fair share of French, German and Australian people, all of which encouraged me to drink excessively, which I did, and the latter group taking us out to some strip clubs at the end of the night. Or so I’m told. After 10:30 in the evening, when we left Oktoberfest, everything became a blur and I vaguely remember some horrificly shaped false boobs and women who had orange peel for arses. I thought I was back in Blackpool. I don’t remember getting back to the hotel, all I remember is being outside it when Dan, who had managed the impossible of stealing a Stein from Oktoberfest, launched himself off a bench, fell over and smashed the stein into a million pieces. The tit. Funny though.
The following morning I awoke again to being thirsty but without a hangover. I love German beer! Dan woke up sobbing, still clutching the remnants of his stein in his hand. Only the handle was left which we all had a good giggle about.
It’s true what they say, all good things must come to an end and it was with a teary eyed goodbye that I left my American chums.
Jen and Tyler
Yet more of my American chums! They had been brilliant company and I couldn’t have wished for better drinking companions during my time at Oktoberfest. I now had to leave and find my cousin who was also at the festival. Mercifully I managed to find him in the Hippodrome tent, and started drinking again at 1 o’clock in the afternoon (late start I know). By the end of the day I was in good spirits. The whole tent was jumping, everyone was stood on the tables and people were having a right good shin dig. The whole thing finished at 11pm and that was when the dream was over. My trip had finally come to an end. Alls that remained was making sure I got back home in one piece.
On reflection, my time away has been one of the best times of my life. It’s like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders as regards to travelling alone. It has been something I’ve always wanted to do but never had the bottle to go it alone. My trip has made me realise that I can do it and has given me much greater confidence in my ability to take longer periods of
Day two
Germans, French and Australians all featre in this pic. We shared a table with this bunch all day! time off in bigger and ‘better’ countries.
Many thanks to all of you for reading the Blogs and your comments. They were/are very much appreciated especially in the periods where I spent time alone. If you’ve made it this far then every credit, I don’t think I could have stood my random burblings for this long. Thank you and goodbye. For now at least........
Jason.
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