Prost!

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Yes, it´s true, I made it down to Oktoberfest. I felt like it was my patriotic duty as an International traveller to experience this giant beer festival, so as long as I´ve known that I was staying in Germany through the fall I´ve been planning to go with an Australian girl named Brooke I met in Edinburgh. We met at the train station on thursday night and headed to the campsite with her friend Corinne, another supercool Australian girl who looked so much like Mo I almost called her by the wrong name more than once. Thalkirchen (luckily) had free spots left- it was a first come first served deal- but it was fiiiilllled with drunken Australians on "van tour" or organized bus tours or with the 100 club. These are all things I learned about while there: Van tour is where a group of Auzzies or Kiwis buy a van in England and tour around Europe going to all the best drinking spots and all the biggest parties, including but not limited to Ibiza, the running of the bulls in Spain, and Oktoberfest in Munich. The point is not to see Europe but to get as drunk as possible in as many places as possible. Bus tours... self explanatory. The 100 club is the creepiest of all. This is where a bunch of people (almost all men) have to drink 100 shots of beer in 100 minutes without throwing up, plus they have to take anything the judges "give" them. This includes any number of horrendous things designed to make the contestants throw up... with the only prize being bragging rights and the chance to be a judge the next year. So, these were the kinds of people in the overcrowded and noisy campsite... lets just say it really didn´t put me in the mood for Oktoberfest! I just had a tough time remembering that I was different from all of these people, and that I wasn´t here to get as smashed as possible like they were but instead to experience such a major festival... and, of course, to wear my Dirnd´l, the traditional Bavarian dress!

Oktoberfest didn´t start until Saturday the 22nd, so we took Friday as our opportunity to explore Munich as a city. The weather was just perfect, and we wandered all around with this awesome guy named Dave from England, whose friend Marty had flown back to England for a few days to be with his family, leaving Dave all alone. He was a metaller with a big cowboy hat and a long ponytail, and he was very witty and funny. Our first stop was Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel at the Rathaus. Just like in Prague, it was another clock with bits that moved when it chimed. Unlike Prague, it wasn´t captivating and morbid... it was just an old clock that moved. The most interesting bit was when a jouster wearing Bavarian colours de-seated a jouster wearing Austrian colours. A bit overrated, anyways. From there, we wandered around to the major churches in the area and then headed up to the English Gardens for an afternoon in the park by the river. It was beautiful, and we ended up stopping at a little beer garden for Hefeweizen in the middle of the afternoon. Before they let you take your glass into the garden, they make you pay for it: this is called Pfand. When you return the glass, you get your money back; if you don´t return the glass, you don´t get your money back. Basically, you buy the glass! So, since we all bought our glasses, we kept them. It was very un-German of us (Germans wouldn´t even consider coming close to breaking any rules) but we got nice souvenirs! In the evening, as we were walking towards a pub, we heard some street musicians.. and stopped to listen for about 30 minutes. They were the best street musicians I´ve ever heard: they were a string trio plus an accordian, and they played Bach, and the Barber of Seville, and a few tangos. It was amazing! We meant to leave when the show ended but the double bass player wanted to flirt with Brooke so we stuck around and spoke with the Cello player, who was awesome and so humble.

Oktoberfest begins...
Saturday the 22nd was a beautiful clear day that we experienced from the break of dawn. We got up superearly so that we could get a spot in a beer tent for the opening ceremonies. When we got to the Wiesen (festival grounds), I was blown away by how HUGE the festival really is! There were rides, and food stands, and overpriced souvenirs, and the big tents held at least 6000 people each. All of the benches were arranged around a central bandstand, where big bands would play all kinds of music. There were balconies, and hundreds of chickens roasting on spits, and it was ridiculous! We checked things out for a bit then at about 10am took a seat in the Löwenbräu Tent (each tent belongs to a different beer company and has a different reputation). Over half of the people there were dressed in Dirnd´ls and Lederhosen, the traditional outfits of Bavaria.. so I felt totally at ease in my Dirnd´l... I would´ve worn it even if I wasn´t, because you know how much I love dressing up! We stayed until about 10:30, when Brooke and Corinne decided it would be a good idea to get up and look for something else. Dave came with us, and although I knew that we´d be without a seat if we left, I didn´t say anything because I didn´t want to rock the boat. Of course, once we left, everything was so crowded that we couldn´t even get into a different tent. We had absolutely made the wrong decision. Then, we decided to wait in a lineup to get in... and in doing so, entirely missed the celebratory parade. Again, wrong decision: the line didn´t move for about 2 hours and we eventually gave up. Angry, hungry, and sweating, we wandered through the crowds of the Wiesen. Finally we found a smaller tent (abour 4000 people) which wasn´t yet full, and we were able to order some hefeweizen at a stand-up table near the bar. But it wasn´t enough to make us all happy, so at about 4pm we decided to leave and head to a park for a nap. We ended up at the Palace Gardens and Dave, Brooke, and Rinni happily hopped a hedge to have a private lawn to themselves. I felt incredibly sceptical and embarrassed... maybe because I know the social rules of Germany to well, maybe because I´m too uptight; regardless, I really didn´t want to jump over the hedge and by the time they finally got me on the other side I was just feeling ashamed and upset so I fell asleep in the sunshine a little ways from them. When I woke up the sun had almost set and Dave was gone while the other girls slept. He returned shortly and we got back over the hedge to listen to an amazing jazz trio in the park: fantastic, but not as good as the quartet the night before! There was a small boy in love with Brooke, so she gave him the flower from her hat and he danced around to it, copying everything she did. So cute!
That evening, we met up with Andy, one of the counselors from Dublin. Since Brooke, Dave, and Rinni had been drinking all day (I hadn´t), they left shortly after meeting him... but I stayed. Some of his friends were there as well (including an amazingly sweet girl named Sam, from Australia) and we had an awesome night out, which ended so late that I couldn´t get back to the campsite so Andy kindly let me stay on his sofabed.

The next day I didn´t leave Andy´s until about 1pm, and I just headed back to the campsite to chill out on the banks of the river with Brooke and Rinni. Yep, the campsite was near the river and it was beautiful! I ate a nice lunch from a Bavarian restaurant nearby, and we just generally rested and recovered from Saturday. In the evening, we headed back to the Wiesen for- you guessed it- more beer. I really wasn´t at all in the mood for Oktoberfest because of our bad experience the day before, and because of the impression that I was getting from all the aforementioned drunken Aussies at our campsite, but I went to stick it out with Brooke and Rinni. When we got there, we decided to have some ovenbaked cheese first, and then head into a tent. So we went to a little restaurant filled with elderly Bavarians and families listening to Schlager music played by a man on an accordion! We were clearly the only non-Bavarians in there, but we had such a great time and the other members of the restaurant were so kind. We prost-ed with other tables and I got the most lovely picture of a family all in traditional Bavarian lederhosen and dirnd´l, and when we left a bunch of people said "tschüss" to us! The waitress even kept a dangerously drunk man from bothering us. The experience gave me renewed energy for Oktoberfest, so when we headed to one of the tents I was ready for a good time.... but oh lord, not that good a time! As we walked in, we saw everyone dancing on tables and clanging their beer steins together as if it were the medieval times! It was just one giant party, so Brooke quickly sat down and ordered us three beers. You don´t actually need to be drunk to get into the party.. something about just holding that gigantic stein encourages you to do ridiculous things!

Brooke and Rinni were planning to leave on Thursday morning for Berlin, but they decided to bump it up to Tuesday because they were excited for Berlin and because they also felt that Oktoberfest was a bit overrated. So, Monday was our last day at the Wiesen. First we headed into town to walk around a bit and see a few sights, and we didn´t arrive at the Wiesen until about 4pm. There, we joined Sam (Andy´s friend from Saturday night) as well as a friend of hers and his large collection of friends, all from Munich. I was so happy to see her! The tent we were in, Spatenbrau, was full of Germans (unlike other tents, which were full of other nationalities or different types of people), and ever 2 or 3 songs the band in the middle would play a short drinking song: "ein Prostchen, ein Prostchen, gemütlichkeit; ein Prostchen, ein Prostchen gemütlichkeit! Ons, Zwoh, Drei, Tronk!" Which means "a little cheers to your comfort", followed by chanting "one, two three, drink!" in the Bavarian dialect. After about an hour of drinking, Brooke and Rinni left to try to find Dave and to get some food, promising they´d come back in an hour to join me again. About 20 minutes after that, Sam and Ben wanted to leave to go on some rides, and I left with them. I didn´t want to leave Brooke and Rinni behind but I knew they had each other and if I stayed to wait for them I´d be all alone with my new beer hall friends. I went on the most awesome roller coaster with Ben and Sam, and after we´d had enough of the rides we left the Wiesen and went to this amazing but pricey traditional Bavarian restaurant near the city centre. When I left the tent to go on rides I didn´t know we wouldn´t be coming back, but the only way I had to reach the other girls was by text because neither of them had any credit left on their phones... so that was that! We ate duck and dumplings, and it was sooo delicious but I couldn´t finish it all. When I got back to the campsite after dinner and saying goodbye to Sam, I discovered that Brooke and Rinni had been there most of the evening with some supercool Kiwis staying in a collection of tents behind ours. I had a great conversation with one named Niall about movies, because his taste is the same as mine but for completely different reasons... which I found incredibly interesting! Good thing, because the next morning as we were packing up to leave I found out that Niall was headed with Matt, a superfriendly Kiwi, to Füssen in their van (not a traditional vantour van, but a van named Garry)... and they invited me along with them!

In conclusion, I think I have to say that I´m glad to have had the chance to experience Oktoberfest, but I wouldn´t do it again. The beers were overpriced and the festival itself is a bit overrated, but it was fun to jump on tables wearing a Dirnd´l!

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Photos

The Dirnd´l meets some Lederhosen
I don´t know this guy´s name but his costume was photo-worthy!

The Tent
Covered in roses, with three flying ducks; it´s apparently a designer tent that Brooke bought because it was the only tent left.

Löwenbräu Tent
The lion out front moved and at intervals roared "loooooowenbraaaiiiooooooo...." I think he must have been many peoples´ best friend.

Spantenbrau Tent
Where we spent most of our Wiesen time.

Comments

[Mat]

Also, ihr Dirndl sieht ja sehr schön aus, allerdings könnte eine so hübsche Frau ein noch etwas traditionelleres Dirndl tragen: Nämlich mit einen tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeefen Dekollete!!

[Zoe]

tehe
That dress is so fantastic! I'm mortally jealous my dear!!

[bbedelstein]

Danke für das Kompliment... aber ich ein bescheiden Frau bin! Kein tiefen Dekollete für mich. Obwohl, am Wiesen ich sehr sehr tiefen Dekollete gesehen habe!