Germans...Beer...Prost!

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Day One: Arrival into Munich

Thursday morning came oh so early…I can’t say that I was ready to ride my bike from Logan House to the bust station at 6:30 in the morning. My backpack is enormous and it weighed a ton…driving in the bike lane, in the dark, half delirious, with a small elephant on your back is not the ideal way to start the morning. However, we managed and made it to Heathrow after a grueling 3-4 hour journey involving buses and the underground. I felt like we could have walked to Munich by the time we had gotten to Heathrow. We got free beers on the plane and took a little nap to awake an hour later to our arrival into Munich. We were both really excited, as this is our first real adventure. The actual city of Munich was nothing to special but it was absolutely freezing outside compared to Oxford. It took us a while to find our hostel, but Mitch aka: GPS found it eventually and we got situated in. It was an awesome hostel and we had a nice big room and bed with our own shower and toilet. (Very key when coming to a hostel as were about to find out 2 nights from then.) We spent the remainder of the evening exploring the town center, and we ended up eating dinner at this awesome beer hall type place. It was enormous with really a tall roof and just millions of tables lined up with people just everywhere eating sausage dinners and drinking liters of beer. These Germans are no joke. Mitch got a variety plate of sausages for dinner and I got the homemade meatballs with mashed potatoes. It was absolutely delicious expect for the chicken liver ball that we both accidentally bit into…We explored some of the shops in Munich and quickly fell in love with the handmade amazing coo coo clocks. They were so intricate and special I had a hard time not blowing my entire bank account on one. Not only were the coo coo clocks so intriguing but the little shops were filled with adorable little hand made ornaments, wooden sculptures of fat little German men, and extremely detailed Steins (the official drinking mug of the German community). It was a bit too much to take in at once so after an ice cream sundae we decided to call it a night and gear up for our day of exploration in the morning.

Day Two:Exploring Munich

Shocking. We woke up to an absolutely beautiful sunny day. I felt like an Eskimo emerging out of her hut as I was blinded when I opened the shade to look out at Munich. Our hostel came with a complimentary breakfast so we strolled down to the breakfast room for a hearty meal of rolls and orange juice. We wasted little time as we hit the streets of Munich and headed to the BMW factory. Mitch was really excited about it, and, well, I was not that thrilled but went along with it. Our short stroll turned into an almost 2 hour walk. We went through the Olympia park which was really beautiful but clearly man-made as the lakes and buildings were all strategically placed. The buildings were futuristic looking with their crazy different structures. We strolled through the park for a while, and finally made our way to the BMW factory. It was so incredible. The building looked like it had been made 100 years from now. Unfortunately, we had missed the tour of the actual factory where the cars are made, but we did get to check out their recent line of BMWs and see all this cool stuff about how they are made. I would say this trip was geared a little bit more to Mitch, but I had fun envisioning myself in the X6 with my Newfoundland named Winston(the greatest dog in the world, it’s the size of a horse) cruising down the highway after the publication of my first novel. Hey, we all have dreams. The BMW adventure was quite fun, but as usual we started to get extremely hungry and that became our sole purpose in life: to eat. We hit the market of Munich which was basically hundreds of stalls in the middle of the town center selling their wares. We are talking everything from cheese blocks to flowers to fish to giant sausages to small children (just kidding). Of course Mitch and I got two delicious bratwursts and a beer, the German thing was starting to really get to us as this was our 5th sausage in a day in a half. Good thing they are fat free, right? After our hearty meal, we hit the shops of Munich because we were very excited about switching from the Pound to the Euro, and we wanted to investigate the little knick knack stores a bit more. We decided that we are going to get a teaspoon from every country we go to since it is both affordable and useful. It coincides great with Mitch and I’s newly found tea addiction. We also picked up a few little presents that I am not at liberty to name because of certain people who may be reading this blog. I’ll just leave it at this: very German and very very cool. Anyway, by the time the clock struck eight Mitch and I were just completely wiped out. All this walking, beer, and sausage really takes a toll on you. It is weird how much you walk in order to save money on cabs and buses because we would never walk that far in the States. Its just crazy! We hit the sack early that night as we knew we had one big day in store for us tomorrow: Oktoberfest 2008.

Day 3:Oktoberfest

It was here. Oktoberfest 2008, the trip Mitch and I had planned almost a year ago…no pressure, right? After our wonderful little breakfast at the hostel we decided it was time to begin the journey to the grounds at 8:30 in the morning. It was clearly going to be a long day. Once we left the hostel, the air felt different. It was a special air for a special day. The German men were absolutely everywhere in their traditional dress of leather trousers, high socks, boots, white blouse, suspenders, and round green hats with their women were on their arms in tight low-cut lace up frocks and clogs…It was quite the sight. Mitch and I felt a bit out of place in our jackets and scarves, but we made our way with them to the festivities. The grounds of Oktoberfest were huge. It is the biggest festival in the entire world, and the one-month celebration brings in over 1 billion dollars to the city of Munich. We were picturing a few tents and food stalls set up…wrong. There were rollercoasters, ferris wheels, vendors, and beer gardens for miles. The roller coasters could compete with some of Disney’s finest. The vendors were everywhere selling everything you could possibly imagine from cookies and pretzels to sausages and beer. It was heaven. The tents were enormous, and they all had extravagant signs over their entrances. The halls themselves were just hundreds of tables lined up with a center raised up stage in the middle where the tent’s band would play all day and night long. There were huge chandeliers and decorations coming down from the ceiling, and thousands upon thousands of glass steins on the walls waiting to be filled with beer. Outside of the halls were outdoor tables and benches for the overflow of people. In order to get a seat in the inside of the tent, you had to make a reservation over a year in advance. Needless to say, Mitch and I did not have a place inside the tent but we did get to witness the craziness of it all as we got to go in a few times. We spent most of our time in the outside patios. Ah, I am getting ahead of myself. Backtrack…We got there around 9:30 and the actual keg isn’t tapped until noon. There was an opening parade planned and we got great seats to watch it. It was nothing like we had ever seen. Each beer hall has its own set of horses, kegs, and band that parades down the streets and lines up outside of their hall. The horses are so impressive and adorned with so many decorations. The band is made up of 15 or 20 men who are just jamming out the traditional tunes. It was great, and the women and men who were on the carriages behind the horses were the V.I.P. of the tent. It was quite the ordeal and people were anxious for the tapping of the keg as this meant beer could be officially served in the tents. At noon, the place erupted with screaming and cheering as everyone went nuts because Oktoberfest had officially begun. The bands started playing, people linked arm and arm and jumped up on the tables, there was screaming and dancing everywhere you looked…it was unlike any festival we had ever seen. The tents were packed both inside and outside with people and we had a very difficult time finding somewhere to sit as people usually pick one spot and sit there the entire day. However, we ended up finding two seats by 2 really nice German dads. We ordered our first German liters of beer and that’s when it all begun for Tara and Mitch. The next eleven hours were a bit of a blur but I will try to recount them as best I can. The waiter brought us our 2 enormous steins of beer and we prosted (toasted) with the German men and they showed us all these cool ways to hold the mug since it was so heavy. The Oktoberfest beer is 6% alcohol and well there was a liter of it in every glass so it was quite heavy. As you know, Mitch and I are no marathon drinkers so after one mug everything got a bit hazy. It was great fun. Someone in the huge ocean of people would raise his mug into the air let out a yell and the whole place just erupted with yells and cheers. People would jump onto the tables and dance, and Mitch and I had no problem in joining in the craziness of the whole situation. It was just awesome. After we had finished our first beer, I was out for the count. Mitch was doing a little better than me, but the waiter asked how he was doing and he gave him the thumbs up. Bad idea Mitchell McNeely Folks. Two seconds later, he brought Mitch another liter of beer. It was hilarious. Of course, Mitch had to drink it, I mean its Oktoberfest! I helped him out and by the time that beer was done we both decided we should try and get up and walk around for a while. Standing up was hard and you don’t really realize how strong that beer is until you try and stand and then it smacks you in the face. Pretty absurd. So, Mitch and I decided that we would go on an eating spree because it seemed like a great idea at the time. Soak up some of that alcohol that was floating in our little tummies. Anyone who knows me knows that I would never turn down food, especially sweet food. So, we got enormous hot dogs to start it off. I got a foot long wiener and Mitch got this huge bratwurst and we loaded them down with ketchup and mustard and enjoyed ourselves. We decided that this just wasn’t enough food, so we went to the donut shack and got three donuts: Bavarian crème, jelly, and a special fried donut. Let me tell you right now, the Bavarian crème donut is filled with freaking alcohol. Holy cow. I bit into that expecting the taste of a Boston crème donut or something similar and that was not what I got. I felt like I took a shot of vodka or something. Not good. So, I mean, I just had to get something else, right? So we went to the candy shop. We got chocolate and vanilla wafer cookies, marshmallow sticks coated in chocolate, and candy strings. Don’t worry we aren’t done yet. We found an ice cream shop and got some ice cream to wash it all down. Ridiculous, I know. By this time we had probably walked 4 miles through the fair and it was starting to get dark. Time for some more beer, right? Yes. We went to another beer hall and ordered 2 more beers. By this time beer just didn’t taste so good but we drank it anyway. By the time you got to the bottom of the glass you felt like you had been drinking for a year. The suckers are so big it seems never ending! This last beer really wore us out so we decided once again it would be fun to wander the fairgrounds. It was great, we made our way through the crowds of people talking to and banging into random groups of people who were doing a similar thing: walking off the beer. There were so many people just smashed out of their minds, wandering aimlessly with a glazed look over their eyes. Clearly way too many beers. It was classic. Mitch and I could not stop laughing at all these crazy wasted Germans who clearly didn’t know their own tolerance level or who just didn’t care, I mean its Oktoberfest. . After way too many beers and pretzels, we decided to call it a night and make our way back to our hostel. Both of us felt very anxious because it was our first night in the dorm environment at a hostel. Little did we know what we were in for.

I feel like this part of the entry should have its very own section devoted to it. Why? Because it was absolutely terrible. So we get back to our hostel and everything seems fine, we get our room key and head up to our new room. The door is shut and it is pretty quiet in the room, a good sign right? We walk in and it is extremely dark and there are already 3 girls in the 8 person room. They are sleeping so we try to be really quiet and get ready for bed. We notice that there is only one bed available as all the others have people’s stuff on them. Weird because we paid for 2 beds. Anyway, we decide to just forget about it and go to bed as we are both exhausted. The first 3 hours was glorious. Then, all hell broke loose as people began to come home from Oktoberfest. The first guy walked in around midnight, turned the lights on full bright, slammed open the squeaky door and just stared at Mitch and I. He was a big ole’ German guy who was clearly intoxicated and spoke about 2 words of English. At this point, Mitch and I were so tired we tried to go back to sleep and forget about the German. Not possible. The guy wanders around the room slamming into things and finally figures out where his bed is. He bends over to take his shoes off and lets out a huge fart. Mitch and I are 4 year olds at heart and cannot help but die laughing. The guy crawls up into bed, sticks his butt in the air and lets out 2 more huge farts. Keep in mind the room was so silent you could hear your own heart beat in your ears. The farts were too much. Mitch and I lost it. My stomach was aching from laughing so hard. After we recover from this, our German guy passes out and starts snoring. I mean the people 4 rooms down probably couldn’t sleep because of him. I try to plug my ears and bury my head under the blanket we were using for a pillow since there wasn’t one and go to sleep. Once again, not possible. 2 hours later, another German guy walks in and is equally as loud. He turns the light on, starts talking in German to his passed out friend and asks us if we know where his bed is. He couldn’t figure out where his bed was or his stuff, so he moves one of the girl’s stuff who isn’t back yet off her bed and climbs in. There are no sheets, no pillow, nothing but a tea bag in the bed. He passes out and joins his friend in snoring like a pack of bears. It was TERRIBLE. I was about to cry at this point as I had already gotten up to go to the bathroom 4 times…my stomach hated me for all that candy, sausages, pretzels, and beer. Freaking community bathrooms. Here we are in Munich at Oktoberfest in a dorm room full of snoring Germans and drunk girls. Mitch and I finally fall asleep around 4 only to be awoken AGAIN at 5:30 by the slamming of the door and the lights being turned on by 3 crazy Australian girls who want to know who the hell is in their bed and where their chocolate is. I think they were more concerned with the whereabouts of their chocolate rather than their beds. I mean the scene was pretty ridiculous. The room was complete chaos at 5:30 in the morning because the hostel had overbooked the room with 10 people for 8 beds. Oh, I forgot to mention that in our tiny room there was also a girl in the closet in a sleeping bag. Yea, that’s what we thought. So here are these Australian girls who just got back from Oktoberfest demanding who the hell is in their beds while the German guys have no idea what’s going on because THEY DON’T SPEAK ENGLISH, two Asian girls are pacing the room who aslo speak no English, 6 crazy Aussie girls are throwing things around looking for their chocolate, and then there is Tara and Mitch crammed into one single bed just completely lost as to why they even considered getting a dorm room on the opening night of Oktoberfest. I think that sentence was a run-on but it reflects the true awkward chaos of the night. I wanted to die when it was finally six in the morning as we had slept a total of 4 hours that night and it was now time to get ready and start our million-hour journey back to Oxford. Mitch and I have decided we are never ever going to stay in the dorm scene again…too bad we already booked 4 nights for this weekend in Ireland. Damn it.

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Comments

[joslyn]

hahahahhahaha that hostel story had me dying laughing probably not as hard as you when the german guy farted though!!!!!