Oktoberfest - Saturday

Another weekend away rolled around very very quickly, this time to the very cultural experience of Oktoberfest.

We touched down in Munich bout 9pm and hopped on the extremely efficient and effective train system to find our hotel. Not so efficient and effective was Google maps instructions to get from the metro station to the hotel. We ended up wandering for quite a substantial period of time but we got there.
Our hotel was flash. No other words to describe it. It was like being inside a rocket ship, all white and glass and crazy modern furniture. Uber stylish.

So we checked in, went to sleep on the most uncomfortable pillows known to man and woke up at the crack of dawn to get our Oktoberfest on. We had bought costumes off E-Bay in preparation for the big event, so it's fair to say they weren't the best quality. Hamish looked like a gay Peter Pan and Lou just looked like a beer wench, even with tights on.

We headed out, at first we were self-conscious but then we saw that the receptionists had all dressed up too. What we both didn't realise was that whilst we had bought costumes to kind of take the piss, the Bravarian locals dressed up in their Lederhosen and Drindl as their number ones! There were whole families dressed up like they had just stepped out of the Sound of Music , and they were actually attending Oktoberfest to meet up with their friends and family, not just drink beer and eat pretzels like the rest of us.

But before we go on – the history of Oktoberfest: Crown Prince Ludwig was married to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12th October 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event. The fields have been named Theresienwiese ("Theresa's fields") in honor of the Crown Princess ever since.
Horse races in the presence of the Royal Family marked the close of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria. The decision to repeat the horse races in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the Oktoberfest (yawn).
 
We again followed the crowds to the festival, we were blown away with how big the place was! We were proper excited by this stage, so we found our way to the Lownbrau tent which was the meeting spot for us and some London friends. We got there bout 8am, not realising that the tents didn't open till 10am and they didn't serve the first beer until noon! It was necessary though if you want to secure a table and no table equals no beer.

A long wait was on our hands, but we preserved and survived the stampede into the tent to find a table. We were tagging along to a big group through a mutual friend so it worked out quite well. So we sat and we waited. And waited. To be honest we were so bored.

Inside was like being inside a giant beer barrel

Lots of CHICKEN!

Eventually we heard the parade carrying on outside and then the main dude came into the tent and did a big long speech in German and announced that we could kick off. It was exciting. Unfortunately our beer maid didn't get the memo and she was late getting us our drinks, but I tell you what, when they arrived, it was amazing. The beer was cold, tasty and big.

 

Strongest beer wench ever..10 Steins

Happy Days!

Because we had been looking forward to this all day, fair to say we drank fairly quickly and the fun began. We drank and ate the afternoon away, making some new buddies and having a blast, including joining in with the brass band when the traditional Oktoberfest song came on. We didn’t know the words but "I'm boozing, I'm boozing" repeated over and over seemed to fit.

Pretzels bigger than your head

Hamish and I decided to take off on our own to explore a bit after sitting inside all day. We got ourselves a half roast chicken which was the best roast chicken we have ever had. Then Hamish decided we needed to get into the Hofbrau haus due to the initials being the same as his own…go figure. So we started playing the game with the bouncers of how to get in. We beat them by sneaking in the back door past security then bluffing our way past the doorman…

We also managed to confiscate one of the beer steins with HB on it, and then we were told later there is a 100 euro fine! The Bandits don't pay no fines.
We hung out in the HB tent and then decided we had had enough Oktoberfest for one day, we strolled out after grabbing a metre long sausage – that’s right it was a metre long. We also purchased one of the weirdest souvenirs that were everywhere, these heart shaped gingerbread cookies with different expressions on them. So we bought one that said Oktoberfest, mainly cos we knew what it meant.

A lot of people were worse for wear at this stage.

Some people just cant handle Oktoberfest...

We found our way home and were asleep pretty soon after. Big day! 
 

Highlights: That first beer, so nice. And so awesome being able to clunk your glass really loud with another one. Very rewarding sound.
Lowlight: The waiting! Uber boring.
Interesting fact #1: Stats from 2010 = Chickens: 505,901 units, Beer: appr. 7,100,000 litres, Visitors: 6.4 million
Interesting Fact #2: Only beer which is brewed within the city limits of Munich is allowed to be served in this festival. Upon passing this criteria, a beer is designated Oktoberfest Beer. Oktoberfest Beer is a registered Trademark by the Club of Munich Brewers.