Oktoberfest - Munchen-style

Our train from Barcelona to Munich took 24 hours and we had to change trains three times in France, but it was worth it. Our first night there we met our roommates Miranda and Leone who were from Australia. The night we met them they were piss drunk and throwing pig over the balcony...and by pig we mean pork (pork chop sandwiches). It was too late to really attend Oktoberfest properly the first night we were there, so we walked around and watched all the drunken people. There were more drunk people there than we had seen in one place our entire lives. It was crazy, and everyone was wearing lederhosen (sweet leather pants) and Dirndels (a traditional Bavarian dress with apron).

The next day we were going to get food when we stumbled upon a second hand store that sold outfits for Oktoberfest. Normally the dirndels and lederhosen were about $100-$400 Euro new, but at the shop they were second hand and a lot cheaper, yes even in our price range! So we ended up spending a lot of time in the shop with a German lady who didn’t speak English, but just undressed and dressed us until we looked good in our new second-hand lederhosen and dirndel. That night we went to Oktoberfest with the crazy Aussies, but didn’t wear our costumes. They showed us their cocktail bar; yes, there is a cocktail bar at Oktoberfest (they didn’t like beer). Then we went into the beer tents until we found a waitress that would serve us. You can’t buy beer unless you are seated, but it is impossible to find a table, most are reserved way ahead of time. So you just have to find a waitress who is willing to sneak you beers, because she will get a tip out of it. So we stayed in the Haufbrau tent that evening and met lots of cool (drunk) people from all over Europe. It was great, but this tent didn’t play any Bavarian music, they mostly played the Beatles or American music.

The next day we slept a lot, some more than others...as some felt better than others. We didn’t go back to Oktoberfest but went to the English Gardens in Munich instead. That was really nice, the first grass we’d seen in weeks as there is very little in Spain. It is a humongous park! It reminded us of home and autumn. Shout out to all of you going to the Pumpkin Festival, we are very sad not to be there. Spent the rest of the day nursing our hangovers and getting our costumes ready to wear.

The next day we got food and headed off to Oktoberfest in our costumes, with our new Australian roommates Matt and Ana. We had a great time with them, and met some more crazy and/or drunk people. It was pouring outside by the time we were ready to leave the tent, and nobody could get into any of the tents because they were so full. It was cool, we just sat down outside in the drizzle and had more beer with Matt and Ana. We had a cool time, and we were much smarter this time so we didn’t have hangovers the next day. Sadly, the next day we had to leave, but happily we went to Osnabruck to see Bea’s relatives! Woo-hoo!