Munich: Oktoberfest

The greatest beer festival in the world did not disappoint, though it took a few extra hours to get underway. We arrived in Munich and found our way to our hotel, where we were able to check in right away and get ready to head out for the first day of Oktoberfest, which can't officially begin until the mayor of Munich taps the first keg at noon. We arrived at Theresienwiese at around 10am and were immediately enthralled by the fairgrounds, filled with rides and food stands and booths and beer gardens, and tents in the distance that were the crowning achievement of this wondrous event. It was like a massive carnival, where the all-stars of the show were the enormous beer tents packed with people from all over, aching to imbibe brews of the season fresh from Munich.

The three of us found a tent and got inside fairly easily, but it wasn't the tent our friend Bastian was in, so we (gulp) left the tent and found the correct one--but we had to wait outside to get in, and no one seemed to be getting in at this point in the morning. Pat and Joanie went to check out the previous tent and eventually got in, but only by some bit of good fortune, by following another group of people that were being let in in front of them. With my broken umbrella, I tried to make my way back through the pouring rain to the tent they were now in. I was first delayed by a small parade, and then by multiple doormen who were refusing entrance for the rest of the day to anyone except those with reservations. I wandered in the rain from one side of tent entrances to the other, hoping to meet a more lenient bouncer who would take pity on my sorry soaked self, but to no avail...until Pat met me at an entrance on the south side of the tent, talked to the doorman there, and eventually got him to agree on a deal. A handshake and ten Euros later, I was inside walking under a sea of yellow streamers with my favorite buddy in the world at that moment in time!

The rest of the day was absolutely fantastic. We drank out of huge glass liter beer steins and sang German drinking songs and made random friends all along the way. At some point in the day I decided, however drunkenly, to buy a hat for the festivities. A really cute girl was trying to sell us one, and being in such high spirits and at a once-in-a-lifetime event I caved and coughed up ten more Euros. Turned out to be one of the best purchases at the festival, because everywhere I went I was able to use the hat as a sort of prop to share with new friends. No idea how many heads that thing rode in three days' time, but it certainly got around!

After three liters of beer at the Pschorr Bräurosl tent, I headed out to try to rendezvous with Bastian. Meanwhile, Pat had left for the hotel and Joanie was nowhere to be found. After fifteen or twenty minutes of trying to coordinate and describe where we were, Bastian and I finally found each other. We went back to where some of his friends were and joined them for another beer (oye), making a few more friends in the process. I swear that hat had something to do with it.

After I finished my beer, I reluctantly said my goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. It was half past eight, but I knew there were two more days of partying ahead of us and there was just no way I was going to enjoy myself if I tried to keep going that night, especially after such a long day and on such little sleep. So I returned to the hotel and eventually got some shuteye.

The next day was even better. Pat opted not to join Joanie and I, so the two of us went back to Theresienwiese, easily gaining entry to the Spätenbrau tent. We were in that tent for who knows how many hours, but after a few liters of beer and a delicious plate of Bavarian food, plus many more friends and drinking songs and people wearing my hat, Joanie and I lost track of each other and so I decided to head out once again to meet up with my buddy Bastian, making yet another friend while waiting for him to find me.

With slightly less difficulty than the day before, we reconvened outside the Spätenbrau tent and headed over toward the statue of the Queen of Bavaria (a fictitious character representing the region) and into the Löwenbräu tent. We grabbed yet another beer (my fifth liter on the day) and met several more people, toasting every so often to Ein Prosit (or just for the hell of it) and dancing to the numerous American songs played by the band. At some point, we even got up on the benches of the table and danced and sang and drank up there! This was easily the best night of the three at Oktoberfest, and probably the point at which I realized how absolutely fantastic this festival was and that I would most definitely be coming back again someday, sooner rather than later.

The third and final day of Oktoberfest was a bit more tame for me. Joanie and I went to the Marienplatz in the Altstadt to get her iPhone fixed, and when it took longer than expected I decided to meet up with Pat and grab lunch at the world famous Hofbräuhaus just a few blocks away. The first time I was here it was March and their beer garden was closed, but this time it was open so we snagged a table upstairs looking out onto the courtyard full of seats and tables below. Good thing, too, because it began to rain a short while later and the table we chose (unlike the ones below) was covered. We didn't let the rain get us down, though; we enjoyed some of their signature Oktoberfest beer and grub and welcomed Joanie and Bastian to our table not long after. The four of us headed downstairs to the rousing sounds of the Bavarian oompah band and found ourselves making friends with a bachelorette party. It wasn't Therensienwiese, but it was just as fun!

From there, we walked a couple blocks over to the Viktualienmarkt and bought a bottle of sweet wine and some cheese and had an impromptu picnic. It was a very enjoyable afternoon in the Altstadt, but now it was getting later into our last full day in town and we had yet to revisit the festival, so we (sans Pat, who had some jiu jitsu training to do) made our way back to the magical fairgrounds filled with lights on rides and tents and with people from all over the place coming together on a Monday night in Munich.

We went into yet another tent, this time Paulaner, and found our way to the middle of the place, where the band was playing. I was pretty full from all the beer and food and wine and cheese, but I agreed to one last liter and a bit of dancing and singing with Joanie and Bastian before finally exiting the tent, leaving them to enjoy the rest of the night without me as I made my way back through the enchanted Oktoberfest grounds and down into the U-bahn tunnel to catch a ride back to the hotel, thinking about the past 72 hours and how much fun we had. It was all I had imagined it would be, and so much more. Though Oktoberfest was, in many ways, the grand finale to my trip, I knew I had an epilogue of sorts to enjoy in the City of Lights before bidding adieu to Europe...