What is there to say about Oktoberfest, without stating the obvious…it is a loud, messy, drunken time, with over 13 beer tents, countless beer gardens, carnival rides, sausage and of course beer, dancing on tables, singing polka and sometimes Tina Turner, drinking at 10am and lots of gorgeous people from all over Europe (or were those just the beer goggles). It embraces all things German…I am clearly German.
We (myself, Jeni* and her mom) began the debauchery on Friday morning with some pre-game shopping to pick up authentic lederhosen and dirndls (beer maid outfits) for the weekend. For Friday, Jeni and I decided to go with the lederhosen, saving the beer maid outfits for the bigger day on Saturday.
Our first stop on Friday was the Lowenbrau tent (chosen for the free drink tickets we received the night before from some drunk guys) whose symbol is a lion drinking beer. We learned quickly that the key to Oktoberfest is get a spot at a table, and the best way to get a seat is to make friends with the men sitting at those tables. We found the most welcoming men were the Italians. Although most of them didn’t speak English and converations were translated through the one friend who could we seemed to manager just fine. After Lowenbrau we ventured out to another tent (unfortunately I couldn't and still don’t remember the name) where we spent the rest of the evening dancing on tables and making friends with the Germans, Italians and Spanish. By the end of the night we had taken photos with about 50 different people who loved our lederhosen (there goes my political career.) We were in bed by 10pm.
Saturday began with dressing in our traditional dirndls and attempting to get into the HofBrau tent at 10:30 am. Unfortunately the HB tent and all others apparently filled up at 10am(and I thought WE were serious drinkers.) We made a game time decision and found a seat in the Paulaner Beer Garden and had our first beer by 11am. Jeni*’s mom showed up around 12 and snuck into the garden and around 2 I talked the bouncer into letting two additional friends in. By 6pm we decided to infiltrate the beer tent walls and get in at all costs. We somehow snuck in when the bouncer wasn’t looking, all except Jeni*’s mom. So once again, I talked the bouncer into letting her in. And of course we spent the rest of the evening dancing on tables and making friends with the Germans, Italians and Spanish and were in bed by 9pm.
Jeni* and I wrapped up the weekend with a final Sunday morning beer at the Elusive HB tent.
Overall a great weekend, one I hope to repeat next year, but possibly with table reservations to avoid lines and fears of not getting in. To sum up the experience, I went to the bathroom at one point with my full liter of beer in hand. The bathroom attendant however wouldn’t let me in with a beer so I sat it down in front of him. Upon wrapping up in the bathroom, I retrieved my beer, but being the city girl and knowing drunken guys, I made the bouncer drink some of it to ensure it was clean. Yes, that is the nature of Oktoberfest, it is a disgusting primal type experience where good judgment involves having a bouncer drink some of your beer to detect for piss. Good times.
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