Munich and the Super-fantastic Oktoberfest!

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Well what can one say about the annual pilgrimage that is Oktoberfest? It’s simply over whelming!

If you’re ever in Europe around mid September and you have any interest in drinking beer you simply must go to this festival one day and experience it for yourself. I was there on the last weekend with the JJ’s (my little sis and best mate Jono) and we had a blast. In fact it was also Jono’s birthday on the first day we were there which made for even more fun and frivolity.

In terms of some statistics, Oktoberfest runs for three weeks, attracts over 6 million visitors each year and I am told consumes about one third of Germany’s annual beer consumption during this time... mind boggling hey!

Some of the beer tents can hold up to eight thousand people and I’m told if you’re lucky enough to work in one of them every day for the full three weeks as a waitress you can pocket up to fifteen thousand euro for your efforts (including tips).

And yes, as you can see by the pictures we decided to lash out, do it properly and wear the traditional Bavarian dress wear (tourist tip: don’t ever call them a costumes around locals !!!! Ha haa. Trust me, they hate it!). It was actually a lot of fun and as you can see made for some great pictures.

The weird thing about this festival is your actually the odd on out if you’re not all dressed up and wearing the correct attire. In fact the only reason we got a seat on a table in the Hacker tent (..b/c we turned up late) was due to the fact they actually thought we were Germans… it’s wasn’t until we were seated and opened our mouth that they realised we weren’t… but buy then it was too late, they had us for the day like it or not! Haha.

Plus I must tell you Munich is the only city in the world you can freely walk around at any time of day all kitted up in your little shorts and suspenders and no one will even look twice at you.. Any other city in the world and they’d be laughing at you and taking pictures.

Also because Oktoberfest is such a tourist magnet you’re always bound to run into someone else you know when your there. In total I ran into three other people I had met this year in my travels and enjoyed sharing a beer with them all. In particular I need to give a quick heads up to Adam for another random meeting in Munich. So far we’ve had beers in Cambodia, Vietnam and now Germany! It’s such a small world when you’re travelling.

In terms of accommodation I had a lot of trouble trying to find something for all of us, that and I probably left my run a bit late especially since it was the closing weekend of Oktoberfest. Believe it or not but some people book up to a year in advance… me, ten days! Anyway thanks to some clever internet searching I managed to get us a cheap room at the holiday inn for a couple of nights and then a few beds at one of the best hostels in town for the balance. Which buy they way cost about the same believe it or not.

I did feel a little sorry for the JJ’s at the hostel we stayed at though I might add. I’ve been on the road now for 10 months and I’m well and truly used to all types of different accommodation.. but there first true hostel experience was a 8 bed dorm in Munich during Oktoberfest. Basically they couldn’t sleep and we had a pretty rough bunch of roommates… long story short Jono booked a private room they next morning for us all to share instead.. who was I to complain!

And yes for those who are interested we did spend some of the 4 days we were there looking around Munich itself which is a nice city. The cathedral in the centre of town (where I met the JJ’s for the first time this year) was amazing and the night I got there they had is all lit up for me… which I thought was nice. It’s also fairly walkable as a city which surprised me as its quite large.

In terms of rating the city the best way I’ve found to do this now is whether I would go back again one day or not… the answer is definitely yes. It’s a nice place to visit. So for now solo travel dog has a few travel companions so we’ll have to wait a see what happens next! Stay tuned…

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