Monday, October 1, 2012

Oktoberfest in Munich

this weekend I traveled to Munich, Germany for the annual Oktoberfest festival!!! my friend Maddy was the one who suggested we go, and at first I hesitated. me, a beer festival? I'm more of a vodka cran girl (in countries where I am legal to drink, of course) but obviously I would hate myself forever if I passed up the chance to go to the biggest festival in the world, so I bought a bus ticket and Thursday night was en route to Munich.

the bus ride was an... experience. we left at around 7PM and got on a high speed train to Florence. from Florence we boarded a Greyhound-type bus and settled in for 9 hour ride through Italy, Austria, and finally into Germany. it was a tight fit but more or less pleasant, and we arrived to a chilly morning in Munich. let me tell you, the cold clean air felt so good! after a month of hot, sticky Roma, it felt good to breathe deeply again. sweater weather!!!

other thoughts on Munich: I forgot what drinking cold water felt like, or washing my hands with cold tap water. right now in Rome, nothing is ever really cold, but in Munich the water was icy and tasted fresh (I'm a water snob, I can't help it #seattlegirlproblems) which made me really happy. The city itself is also really clean and orderly. no graffiti on every doorway and wall, no cigarette butts covering sidewalks, and no jaywalking, which I am sure was a difficult adjustment for the Italians that overran Oktoberfest. the city is very modern, which makes sense considering the whole city had to be rebuilt after WWII. we also noticed right away that it was a much "more" international city than Rome, in that the food and culture and people of other countries were clearly represented all over Munich (and not just because Oktoberfest was underway). I had Thai food!!!!!! My first non-Italian meal in a month!! I personally really liked Munich and would love to return. but back to Oktoberfest.

we settled into the apartment we rented and then headed to the fairgrounds. there's a large fairgrounds that I think is used the rest of the year for carnivals, because there are rides and attractions set up that are so large I can't imagine they ever take them down. when you walk in it seems like any other fairground, until you notice the giant tents that tower over the promenade emblazoned with the logos of various beer breweries. 

the carnival area

when you walk into a tent, this is what you see. the picture below was taken from about halfway down the tent - that is how huge these tents are. the first tent we went to was the Hofbrau tent, famous for attracting a ton of American college students, Canadians, Brits, Italians, and Australians. shoutout to the Australian cutie who almost convinced me to run away to Australia to get married. hey Luke! 

inside the famous Hofbrau tent

we were here for the second weekend of festivities. I had friends and classmates go the first weekend who had a ton of fun, because it's the craziest since it kicks off the whole festival. but I also heard that it was so packed the first weekend that it was impossible to get into tents at all, and what's the point of Oktoberfest if you can't go to tents? that's absolutely where the majority of the experience is.

Friday is the best day to be at the tents, in my opinion. a lot of people are at work/school, and you can casually walk into a tent even at noon and still find a place to sit and drink without tripping on passed out Italians or cutting your feet on broken steins or sitting in a puddle of spilled beer (or worse). and most people are well rested and are in high spirits, so it was a very fun atmosphere. I didn't make it to other tents, even though I wish I'd powered through. but the lack of sleep and high level of intoxication made it pretty impossible to even stay awake, so we stumbled home and passed out.

we got up at 6 AM the next morning to trek out to the tents. right away we could tell Saturday would not be like Friday. the train stations were crammed so tightly that I couldn't breathe and the entire city was filled with lederhosen and dirndl. by 8AM the lines outside the tents were super long, and when the bell rang to signify the start of festivities the stampede was insane. people that didn't get in first were banging on the doors and hordes were waiting outside to be let in, and every few hours the security guards would toss everybody outside to allow for a rotation. craziness.

breakfast both days. hey future employers! I promise I'm drinking responsibly in the name of cultural experience!


to close out this post I am just going to bullet-point some things I want to talk about that I am too tired to write into a coherent essay. here we go.

1. stealing beer steins. This is a big thing for people at Oktoberfest! be careful because if you get caught it's a 50 Euro fine, and the security at Oktoberfest is NOT gentle. I swear they're all former KGB/mafioso/stasi/La Eme/etc. terrifying. they won't manhandle girls but they will definitely throw the guys around. it's much easier to steal a stein on Friday because the security is less tight. I noticed on Saturday my bag would get checked and patted down. apparently last year security recovered 225,000 steins that people tried to steal! my friends got away with stealing steins, but I decided not to firstly because my bag was already full and secondly because my sorority gave us steins with our letters on them and it's so big that I don't know what to do with it, much less two. the steins hold about three cans of beer each.

2. the boys. I noticed this particularly on Friday but it holds true the whole event - there were more boys than I have ever seen in my life! walking into a tent felt like walking down a runway, and I found myself wishing I'd bothered to run a brush through my hair. and they were so good looking!! the worst-looking German boy was still better looking than most American boys. can I move to Germany?

3. the food. I had the best soft pretzels of my ENTIRE LIFE and I am still craving them right now. the pretzels you buy there are 5 Euro and are the size of twice your head, so amazing. their bratwurst is really good too, normally I'm not big on sausage weenies but these were not weenie in size, flavor, or impact on my life. delicious. also apparently chicken and ox ribs are big at Oktoberfest, and although I actually ate neither the chicken did look really yummy.

4. Oktoberfest 2013 - who's in?

1 comment:

  1. SOOO I don't suck as a best friend anymore and I have read you blog! I love it!!! You are so witty, I can't handle it. I miss you so much!

    Eat some more weenies for me.

    <3 TRON

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