Oktoberfest 2008

A rite of passage for anyone living in Germany is Oktoberfest. This past weekend we took the train down to Munich on Saturday morning and dove right into the crowds. It took us a while to get our bearings- the park that Oktoberfest is built on, Theresienweisse, is transformed from a meadow to a huuuuge fairground for 16 days a year. The main strip has 12 beer tents, and there are beer gardens smattered in between with venders selling 400,00 sausages, 600,000 chickens, and various cakes, nuts, and pretzels. I read that there are 6 million visitors who consume 5 million liters of beer (I find it hard to believe that there are more visitors than liters of beer consumed).  To get a beer, you have to either make reservations for a tent months in advance, get to a tent before 9 am, or push and shove into one of the beer gardens. After we figured this out, we pushed and shoved into a beer garden, planted our feet, and waited for a waitress slugging 5+ liters of beer at a time.

My first Burger King meal in Europe, and it was fantastic. Sometimes pretzels just don't cut it.

You don't need to know German to eat at Oktoberfest, this sign sums it up- you are going to eat meat on a bun.

This is a mound of empty beer steins. These carts were positioned around the fairgrounds, but as you can imagine, it is difficult to get drunkards to put their steins away in the right place.

This picture is of the beer garden we were drinking in. The main street was just as crowded, and we risked getting knocked over if we stopped to take a picture. Here, everyone was just standing around drinking

I'm practicing for my back-up job- beer wench. I'm not very good, as I could barely hold 2 in each hand. They carry 4-5 in a hand with one balanced on top, very impressive.

When Germans heard us talking, they would want to practice their English. This group really liked us, and we talked to them for awhile (tried to at least). And yes, my hands got tired of holding my stein of beer.

Oktoberfest would not be compete without getting into a tent. To do this you need to either make reservations months in advance, get to a tent and wait in line before 8 am, or sneak in. The bouncer at the particular tent door we were eyeing left to break up a fight, so Cameron and I walked in and found a table of people who did not speak English but liked Americans. There was a large brass band playing, and people standing on the picnic tables singing. I'm not sure what they were singing about, but it was awesome.

ps- don't worry, my next post will not be pictures of my appendectomy...