Oktoberfest

let me start another blog by saying 'I love Germany'... but how about I say it in German... "Ich liebe Dutchland"... one day I may be fluent.

So anyway I left Friday morning for Munich with my roommate, Sarah, and 5 of the boys that live upstairs from us. Our train arrived at about 3 in the afternoon. Originally my plan for Oktoberfest was to sleep in the train station( because it is free... and probably illegal), however i stepped it up and decided to camp out on a polo field outside of the main downtown area of Munich. The place was called Wies'n Camp and had a tent set up that served 'Bier' and 'schnitzel'. We drank steins (1 liter) on the first night to condition for Saturdays festivities (some may have pre-partied too hard). After socializing and joining a game of 'bullshit' I discovered that the majority of the camps residents were Ausies. I thought that American's were loud but after this weekend I think Aulstarialins beat us in the noisiest country contest. I earned the nickname 'California' as it was being shouted out at the campsite around 2 am.. when I was definitely trying to sleep.

The campground in general was a cozy place however; the tents we slept in were not. It was freezing cold the first night and on the second night I decided to wear all the clothes I had brought and still froze. 2 people in a 4 person tent just does not produce enough body heat.


ok ok.. so I'm sure you want to hear about Oktoberfest. Amazing! I get so excited to see everyone dressed up in their German/Bavarian attire. I wish i had an outfit but they were just too expensive. We got the opening day of the festival expecting to get a seat in one of the big tents but ended up finding a table in a beirgarten instead.... this was a lucky find considering the mass amounts of people there. Oktoberfest was like a huge carnival with basically buildings set up for each Brewery. We ended up next to the Hippodrom tent. Not being a big drinker, I was embarrassed to find that I drank more than most of the guys in our group. I had a total of 4 steins and blew a 2.14 on a breathalyser test (which I took from a German woman in costume). Now I realize that in the real world blowing this amount would mean I am not alive to write this post... and my friend who had had 6 beers only blew a .85. I have no real explanation of this but I am proud... and still able to remember almost every detail of the day.


After sitting at a table for a while, and drinking delicious beer with wonderful people, we made the mistake of leaving the biergarten. We wanted to try to get into a tent and failed miserably. i walked around taking in the sights and smells and ate half a chicken and the biggest pretzel I have ever seen. The evening ended with us passing out a nearby hostel to take a nap and then touring the main sites of Munich with a nice walk. Marienplatz, a part of downtown Munich, was beautiful. When I looked up at the old Glockenspiel it, I truly felt that I was on a movie set.


Sunday(today) we got up and toured a bit of the city in the daylight. Sarah and I sat and drank what we thought was hot cocoa and watched the Munich Glochenspeil chime. The clock came alive as music played, the chimes went off and giant figurines danced. The whole thing made me feel like I was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. So cool! After the clock we headed to check out Oktoberfest, which was more crowded than the first day, so we left.

I just got home from a 6.5 hour train ride. Half of this ride I spent in luxurious seating. The second half was spent sitting on the floor, cramped near a door or standing. To be honest, I enjoyed the standing. I stuck my head out a window and watched the German and Czech Republic wizz by. The sites were outstanding and it was neat to have a sneak peak into the lives of people in the towns that we passed. There were just so many little stories going on. I joked with a friend that we were watching a 3.5 hour film. I cleverly and uncreatively titled this film 'Landscape:By train".... wow... I think its time I go to sleep....in a warm bed!

Oh..and pardon the lack of pictures but lack of camera and batteries happens to the best of us.