Thursday, October 4, 2007

Munich - Oktoberfest!

Amazing, absolutely amazing. Lots of beer, pretzels, pork and Germans, everything needed for a top weekend. After a morning of rain in Munich we checked into our classy, yet slightly damp campsite. Kimmy and I jumped on to the train from Berlin after having a wonderful few days soaking up the capital and who could forget Dresden. We only arrived at the campground in the late afternoon so why not get right into it at the festival grounds. Our campground, which was by the zoo in Munich, was about a 15min free bus trip from the Oktoberfest grounds. We were like little kids as we jumped off the bus and saw all the carnival rides everywhere, there was any and every kind of roller coaster or ride. I am however as many know, a big girls blouse so decided to get some silly hats and crack into the beer instead. Great first night, we met some German girls on their hens night and Kimmy was in fine form at the Lowenbrau beer hall.

Day 2: Saturday. Beautiful weather on this day, not that we were too concerned as our hangovers were top priority. Slowly, and I mean dead slowly, made our way back to the festival for some more fun. We could not believe how busy today was, very hard to move let alone purchase a beverage. After trying for ages to get into numerous beer tents (they are more like houses the size of football fields) at about 4pm we found that they were not letting anyone else into the halls due to them bursting at the seams. Undeterred we stood outside the Paulaner tent hoping a bone would be thrown in our thirsty direction. Bingo. With a fair few people pushing around out the front, a young buck broke away from the pack to make a run for the amber pastures of Paulaner. When this hero tried for a gap, the three security guards put all their attention to stopping him and away from me grabbing Kim and pushing us over the advantage line. We were in! Beer time! But another challenge was to find a seat, as the bar wenches only come past and serve people who are seated and you can’t line up to buy your own. We sat next to a group of unknowns to get one beer and ended up chatting with them for the rest of the night. A wicked day.

Day 3: Sunday. The hangover fairy came to visit us during the night and sprinkled her magic to make way for a day avoiding the festival and checking out the city. Saw the sights, which I am glad we made time for. Oktoberfest was great and we will most likely be back next year.
Tents and airbeds all set up for our arrival
This was as close as I would go to this ride

Silly hats
This lion would keep drinking his beer, roar 'Lowenbrau', then wag his tail
Crowds on the middle Saturday
I'm happy now
Our random Germans/Italians we were drinking with

Germans in their traditional wears
Inside the Lowenbrau beer hall
I'm getting there
Oh Matt you're all class


The view from the ferris wheel. Carnival rides to the right of the strip, about a dozen beer halls to the left

1 comment:

Dale said...

Look like you guys had a riot over there in The Fatherland. Wicked country - friendly people, great good, top beer and relatively easy on the pocket (compared to most of Western Europe).

We went to Munich outside of Oktoberfest but it was still carnage inside the beerhalls. We actually only popped in at midday for a quick brew (intending on doing some sight seeing) but ended up drinking 'til 7 with a German couple and heading off to a more 'local' style hall for a huge feed!

Hopefully catch up with you guys soon.