Food, beer, merry making and more beer!

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Man the Germans know how to party!

Imagine a massive barn style tent decked out with balloons and streamers in the colours of the sponsored brewery, hundreds of 10 seated tables lined up in a row, a 10 piece orchestra band in the centre and 5,000 plus Germans singing from the top of their lungs with a 1 litre stein of beer in hand…the craziness of German Oktoberfest.

Sarah, Jo, Lou and l jetted off at 9am the morning after both mine and Lou’s last day at STA Travel (we didn’t plan that very well, l certainly woke up with a banging headache at 6:30am..the last thing l wanted was to go to a festival that only had 1 litre glasses of beer on the menu!)

After 4 years at STA Travel, the 28th Sept was my last day in Drury Lane. Both Lou and l were spoiled by walking into work to see our desks covered in balloons, streamers and l had little cup cakes with ‘bye nadia enjoy’ spelled out on the workstation (l had to questioned who was more excited about my departure….?!). Was a great last day made very special by all the people l will miss dearly and an even better evening was spent celebrating at the Bunker Bar in typical STA style (lots of drinks and lots of chin wagging, hence my banging headache at 6:30am on the road to Munich!!).

As l was nursing a major wine hangover on the day we arrived to Munich l was pleased we decided to look around Munich and do the tourist thing first, see the sights, go to the Hoftbrahaus, eat sausages, eat a pretzel and check out the markets before commencing a weekend on beer!

After a good nights rest on a full stomach we got up at 8am to arrive at the Oktoberfest early. We’d heard from others the tents open at 9am, they start serving at 10am and to get there mighty early. So we did, we followed the crowds dressed in Ledinhaus and Dirndls (we thought we’d try and fit in by wearing Heidi plats) and got to the Lowenbrau tent at 9am. I couldn’t believe there were people everywhere at silly o’clock in the morning waiting for a beer, there was no chance of us finding a seat anywhere, all the tables were full. The waitresses hadn’t started serving yet but the rules were clear - no table, no service, no service means no beer! Before Lou, Jo and l had even had a chance to scan for any empty seats, Sarah put her plan into action and was working her charm on 4 German fellas, much to the waitress’ dissatisfaction (the waitress had already told the German boys there were 2 conditions for whomever they allow to shares their table; 1. No Italians and 2. No girls!), the boys happily allowed on the table with them and after much discussion persuaded the waitress as well.

7 steins each, 13 hours and lots of singing and dancing on tables later, the Oktoberfest closed for the day. The staffs pack up empty beer steins, clean the place up and open the doors again the following morning at 9am. This is repeated everyday for 3 weeks straight. Some Germans find themselves celebrating Oktoberfest for sometimes up to 1 week! After 2 full days of joining in on the celebrations, we headed back to London (again, l was nursing another hangover!). It was an awesome and funny girl’s weekend away. A fantastic way to celebrate the end of working at STA Travel and start of a travelling stint. Thanks ladies, definitely a weekend never to be forgotten.
Livery
Sing…

Ain broste, ain broste germurt-leich-keit…..

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Photos

German Waiter
Light weight, you can carry more than that surely!?

Lowenbrau Tent
Sing your heart out ladies...

Comments

[Lou]

Danke!
Vielen Danke Nadia, Sarah and Jo! I had a fantastic time, and am still recovering, and most definitely still giggling each time I think of our beer drinking weekend!