Let's start this off with a bang, literally. The first stop on my Europe adventure was Munich or München (I really wish that we didn't change the names of cities to make them more "American" what is that all about?) Anyway, basically the entire reason for the trip was to go to Oktoberfest, so we went to Oktoberfest - 3 times and to multiple different tents. It was a blast.
To be honest, I am not sure what I expected from Oktoberfest, but it definitely exceeded my expectations. It is a free festival and you can walk around all you want. There are carnival games and rides and food vendors with the tents sporadically located around the grounds. The tents are massive. Like, massive and there are a ton of people everywhere. The energy is definitely something to soak up and then go home to take a nap afterward. There are several big tents, medium sized tents and beer gardens (outside) around so there are many areas to grab a beer, even if you don't have a ticket. Having a ticket gets you a reserved seat at a table, lunch (or dinner - depending on your time slot) and 2 beers. For the most part you won't be served if you aren't seated, so if you don't have a ticket you either need to get there early to grab a seat at a non-reserved table, go toward the end of a sitting once people have left or snuggle up to a local who has a seat and looks lonely. I would say that typically you don't need to have a ticket if you go during the week. If you try to go on the weekends, I definitely would recommend it. We went Thursday night, Friday and Saturday night. We had no trouble on Thursday and Friday (we had a ticket for the first tent and were able to walk around afterward) and Saturday we weren't even able to get into the tents or beer gardens to try and cozy up because there were just sooo many people there.
Oh! And, they make you check your big bags outside of the gates. So, if you go, don't bring a big camera - well you probably don't want to anyway, because of all of the beer - or a big bag. A little clutch will suffice.
We went to Oktoberfest the first time on a Thursday night after dinner and a lot less crowded. We went without our dirndls and tickets but the beers are cold, tasty and huge (a liter each!), the company was awesome and we easily got a table. I would definitely say that it was a success. It was pretty funny because we all stood out because we weren't in our dirndls!
After our beers, we decided to ride one of the roller coasters. It was awesome!
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| I wish you could edit pictures in blogger...oh well, too much effort...ha! |
Our group had tickets for the afternoon seating on Friday. So, we got up, Jess and I got into our dirndls and we were off to find dirndls for Caitlin and Shannon. Fortunately, it was a success and we headed into the festival. We were immediately stopped by a group of Italians who asked us to take their picture, then we asked them to return the favor and they decided to photobomb us!
Then we headed to our tent: Lowenbrau and to find our seats. The difficult part was that everything was in German, and none of us speak German, so finding out seats proved to be a difficult task. The Google Translate App really came in handy. I totally recommend it - if you are traveling abroad to a country where you aren't fluent in the language, download the app and the specific language and you can use it offline. It was a serious lifesaver! Anyway, I digress - the Lowenbrau tent was awesome. We made friends with the Berliners who were sitting at our table, the energy was high and we learned one of the chants:
Ein Prosit
Ein Prosit
Gemütlichkeit!
Ein Prosit
Ein Prosit
Gemütlichkeit!
Caitlin and I really got the song down and continued to sing it throughout the trip.
I 100% hated that stupid hat - so I finally got a picture without it...ha! It didn't even make it home with me...that night!
After our seating time was over, we headed out to find a new tent. We ended up at a beer garden and met a group of dudes from the bay area. Talk about a small world! We had a couple more beers with them, rode all.of.the.rides (no, I am not kidding) and then ended up at another beer tent where we saw an actual fight. Like, there was blood and stuff. Anyway, we got out of there and then went to a club - because that was a good idea after drinking 6 liters of beer after only eating a 1/2 of a chicken at lunch time.
Needless to say, our big day at Oktoberfest was most definitely a drunken success. We all cannot wait to go back...maybe not next year though, I think we will still be tired....
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