Munich & Oktoberfest

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Pre-departure and journey, Ljubljana

I wake up quite confused. For some reason, there's a blonde girl on top of me that wasn't there the night before. Then I realise she's just looking to turn off my alarm clock. The next thing I realise I've missed my train and I'm still far from soberiety. And my feet still soaked and freezing.

I discover the German girl's name is Britta, a European business student: tall, friendly and stunningly beautiful. There's a train to Munich that goes via Salzburg in two hours though, and I decide to get it, even though I know Kiliam would forgive me for being a day late if it meant I would have a chance with Britta 😊 I dry up my feet, pack away my wet clothes as best I can, chat to Britta until it's time to leave, and make my way to the station. I check my interrail pass is still good at the desk in the station and then head for train, which is delayed. The girl who was in the line at the desk before me tells me there was a train derailed and now everything is late. Hung over, I suggest coffee, but she declines. She's going to Strasbourg and her name's Marusa, so we're travelling together.

Eventually we get moving, and decide that, since this train is going to Munich, and neither of us are in a hurry since we've probably missed our connections now anyway, we might as well go to Oktoberfest. I give Kiliam a call, he says he'll join us if he can. At which point, we're promptly told our train's to finish at Vilach and we'll have to get a connection.

A couple of hours discussion over coffee at Villach - one of the most unexciting places I've ever seen - and we're back on the track again for Salzburg. We arrive just on time to meet Kiliam, who's had a haircut, and hop on the ICE to Munich. All well on the Kiliam front and after dumping our bags in left luggage in Munich Ostbahnhof, we get on a U-Bahn for Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest

Surfacing at Oktoberfest reveals a giant carnival that was almost everything you could have imagined. Huge funfairs in the distance, schnitzel stalls, men in lederhosen and buxom beer maidens. There's only one catch: no-one seems to be drinking! And a quick look round shows it's almost impossible to buy beer outside. After some Schnitzel, I manage to grab 3 beers from a rotating novelty bar, but it seems that all the real action happens in the huge beer tents dotted around the site.

We turn up at the Augusteiner tent to find, as with all the tents, a crowd of people at an entrance barrier, and no-one being admitted. It seems we won't get any beer as slowly people leave the barrier and wander off, with the occasional person walking up to security and being declined or admitted. After a while we're at the barrier, and almost seconds later, bold as brass, Marusa limbos under the barrier, walks straight past the barrier and into the tent! At 6'5", I know I won't be able to float this one, so a minute later, I duck under the barrier, and flash my bare wrist at the secruity guard. He stamps it without looking, and in I go! Kiliam's still stuck outside, and after a few minutes of non-success, myself and Marusa get some beer, which only comes in the famous (huge) liters

After a persuasive attempt of Marusa being Kiliam's girlfriend fails to get Kiliam in, we're ready to leave when he too finally manages to sneak past security and disappear into the crowded tent, and we're ready to party! The evening passes in a tired blur, to the sound of the band playing on stage. We dance on the floor and on tables, drink plenty of delicious beer, chat with passing Germans, dance some more and take embarrassing photos.

Sadly, it's over soon enough, and we find ourselves heading for a crowded u-bahn home. I decide to go to the toilet and the other two, with drunken impatience, can't manage to wait, so we get separated. Knowing that eventually they will need to get their bags, I head back to the Ostbahnhof, where tiredness overtakes me, and I sleep in a corner opposite the top of the escalator.

Some time later I'm woken up by Kiliam and Marusa in front of me, with beer. We spend a while on the platforms talking and say goodbye to Marusa as she gets on her train to Strasbourg. Then its time to go clubbing, and myself and Kiliam head for some local clubs that are more reminiscent of Latin America than Germany, with table top dancing and South American bouncers. Kiliam fits right in, but I've no stamina left and after another drink, fall asleep in a corner table, and eventually we're kicked out again. The next train isn't for 2 and a half hours, so we return to the station where we chat for a while, and I doze off, occasionally woken by security asking me to move along.

Eventually, its time to get some coffee, and the train, and before I know it, we're at Kiliam's place in Hallein, with a proper crash point and it's 8am.

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