Oktoberfest: München (Munich), Germany

On Sunday morning, we rose at an early 4:30am to eat breakfast before packing our belongings, saying goodbye to Lucette, and heading to the train station. Our 6am train to Munich (via Zurich) was a long journey but our once in a lifetime chance to attend Oktoberfest was waiting at the end.

Once in Munich, we had to solve the problem of what to do with our bags. Being just a day trip, we didn’t have a hostel to store them in but also didn’t want to drag suitcases around Munich and Oktoberfest. Unfortunately, the train station had received a bomb threat and had therefore closed off all the storage lockers from being used. However, they rounded up some outdoor dumpster sized crates and were doing their best to efficiently store bags for only 5 euro a piece. (They even let us tie our backpacks to our suitcases and charged them as one!)

Thankful, we made the walk to the Haufbraus Haus for lunch. We awkwardly walked the length of the restaurant before figuring out that it was a self seating establishment. Once seated, we tried desperately yet unsuccessfully to read the menus. Seeing our struggle, the waiter brought us the English translations for which we were quite grateful. (Had we not, Corinne would have ended up with a salted pig knuckle for lunch.) The house band of traditional German music filled the air along with the clinks of beer steins and conversation. We toasted our beers and took in the surroundings.

Our food arrived shortly after: Corinne had some sort of braised pork slab with a pair of interesting potato dumplings while Camille had sliced braised beef with also questionable pretzel dumpling slices. Needless to say, the beer was the best part of the meal. We finished, quite full, and began our walk to the Oktoberfest. Already feeling a slight buzz (we haven’t drank much on the trip besides a glass of wine with dinner here and there), we were all the more confused by the German signs. Finally, we asked a friendly looking old man for directions. He pointed us in the direction and implied (in German) to just keep going. After a few minutes, we could see the crowds. Soon enough, we were there: Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.

We entered at the carnival side of the festivity and took in the sights, sounds and smells. We were surrounded by carnival rides, some familiar and some not. The crowds were thick and joyous as we made our way through. Roasted Bavarian nuts, pretzels and heart shaped cookies were in abundance. We weaved through the men in lederhosen and women in other traditional garb before remembering why we were here. Beer.

We quickly searched for the nearest beer tent (large buildings interspersed throughout the grounds with differing themes and moods). Upon entrance, we were greeted with the scent of smoke, sweat and beer. A band was playing and the crowd was singing along loudly, waiving beer steins in the air. We took it all in before making rounds in attempt to find a seat (you must be seated in the drinking area in order to receive a beer). Having little luck finding space, we decided to tour the tents until we found seats.

We roamed from tent to tent, taking photos and soaking in the differing styles of each. Some were gauged more for the older crowds, playing traditional German music and had organized tables and benches, while others had standing areas with crowds of young people drunkenly enjoying the mix of traditional and new music. Regardless of where we went, the mood was cheery. Who could complain, it was Oktoberfest!

After roaming the grounds we were determined to get a beer. After all, you can’t go to Oktoberfest and not drink a beer stein! We made it into a standing area just as a beer maiden came by. Here’s a tip: if a beer maiden is coming your way, and you’re in the way, get out of the way. She will ram you with the beer steins to get through. Fortunately for us, she was serving the table next to us and had two extra beers. We paid, grabbed our steins and toasted to the day. Prost!

We walked around the tent with our steins, clinking with strangers and engaging in random conversation. We laughed at the drunken boys dancing, avoided some forward Italian men and swayed with the crowd when popular German folk songs were played. It was certainly an experience, a very welcome one. We soon finished our beers and said our goodbyes to Oktoberfest. We had a train to catch.

Once we left the grounds, it became glaringly obvious that we had no idea where the train station was. Not only had we not looked up the directions, any memory or instinct was fogged due to our beer intake. Luckily, it also had us in a cheery mood. We laughed at our attempts to say the German street names, you try saying Viktaulienmarkt after drinking a stein of beer. After asking for directions about 3 times, we made it to the train station. We quickly got our bags from the storage area and found our train platform. We boarded soon thereafter and began our 2 hour journey to the small town of Füssen, Germany.