Oktoberfest Roundup

On Monday, Greg's team had the opportunity (read: day off) to go to Oktoberfest. The coach was even kind enough to give them 50 euro for the first round of beer. I chose not to go because I didn't think I'd be able to handle the noise, massive crowds, and energy it took to get on the train, sit on the train, and then walk from the train station in Munich to Oktoberfest. I'm doing much better in terms of Lyme disease and my pain level, but my energy is still quickly drained. Plus, I shouldn't be drinking because I'm on a lot of meds, and who wants to be Sober Sally in a sea of Drinking Daisies? So I chose to stay home. And even though I knew I made the best decision for me, I still had a little pity party for myself. Because it is frustrating to not get to do cultural things when you're in Europe with your husband and you're still a newlywed. (I'm not bitter, really.)

Anyway, my husband, who hasn't really had a drink in 5 months, had gone with the intention to have a few beers, bond with the team, and take in the Oktoberfest experience. But he didn't realize that one giant mug is the volume equivalent of 3 American beers. And no one told him (until the next day), that the German beer here is something like twice the alcohol content as American beer. So after an entire afternoon of 5 or so giant German beers, I started getting texts from him that made no sense. This text pretty much summed up the afternoon:

So, that was a joy. Luckily, he returned relatively early, took a two hour nap, and then woke up and made some pancakes before going back to sleep for the night.

Fast forward two days later, when we were headed into Munich for my hair appointment. 

We decided to leave from a train station closer to us, not the one Greg had left from a few days prior. Before, he had his German teammates to figure out logistics, so left to our own devices, deciphering the schedule and trying to figure out which pass to buy was almost comical, but after a few phone calls to the aforementioned Germans, and asking a couple school kids, we figured it out. (New word of the day: Gleis. Track. As in, we followed all the girls decked out in their dirndls to the right track.)

I couldn't stop admiring the dirndls. I love them. I wish I knew the history behind the dirndls and leiderhosen. (Hint Hint to my German reader "Blacky", can you please explain? When did Germans start wearing them and why?)

The train was packed. I managed to find a seat, where I continued my dirndl admiring and hair stalking. (That braid on the girl with the pink apron went all the way around her head!! How did she do that?! Wasn't a hair piece either!)

We followed the masses a couple blocks from the train station and ended up at Oktoberfest! The joy of being there was short lived, however, as it was super hot, and the crowds were out of control. Upon entering, clusters of poleizi stopped people at random to search their bags. All around me were parents with kids in strollers, groups of men in leiderhosen, young and old couples in love; stumbling, drunken Englishmen, notoriously loud Americans in Hawaiian shirts and fanny packs (I'm not kidding), Canadian backpackers, Italians in silver suits and slicked back hair, Middle Eastern women with their Fendi headscarves accompanied by men you wouldn't want to cross, gorgeous Parisian women with Birkin bags and perfectly manicured nails, Euro hipsters smoking and laughing their way to the beer tents- it seemed everyone was at Oktoberfest, and I was overwhelmed.

We pushed our way through the crowds to check out the booths that lined the way to the beer tents.

These fish-on-a-stick (literally) seem to be at all the festivals we've been to. We can't find the courage to buy one, however, because they leave the skin (and eyes) on (and in).

In case you're wondering what kind of parent brings their child to Oktoberfest, rest assured there is a lot more to Oktoberfest than boozing.

I'd also like to know the significance of the heart shaped cookies. Almost all of the girls in dirndls I saw wore a cross-body handbag that was brown and heart-shaped, exactly like these cookies below, complete with colorful embroidery around the outline.

Lots of rides, booths, beer tents, and people!

Finally, we decided we should venture into a beer tent just to see what it was all about. I think there are 17 beer tents at Oktoberfest (maybe I'm wrong and there are 12? Not sure). They are massive, and remind me more of giant barns than tents.

Once inside the tent, you hear this dull roar from the crowd, and you follow that through the corridor to the main part of the tent, seen here:

 This picture pretty much sums up what it was like for me inside the tent: a ton of people walking around the perimeter, and crowded tables in the center. You can see a small group of people standing up on their table. Some people would do this, chugging their beers, and the entire tent would clap and cheer for them (unless they stopped chugging, in which case the entire tent would boo them). It was unbelievably loud and uncomfortably hot and sticky inside...

I thought this was particularly interesting, a sweaty corner of the tent dedicated to washing the beer mugs. Beer is 10 euro a glass.

After that short tour, I had to get out of there. The noise, the crowds and the heat had gotten to me.

The second we left the tent, we felt instantly better, as it was much cooler. We stopped by a few booths- here is a fish sandwich- I've seen these at a few other festivals too. They leave the skin on and you're supposed to eat up! (That's Greg's shadow in the picture, trying to figure out how to order a giant hot dog.)

Success! Hot dog was ordered. The bun was more like a pretzel than your regular bun. He was pumped to get this because he had wanted one when he first came to Oktoberfest but, uh, had a liquid lunch instead.

On our way out, we saw these beautiful giant horses pulling kegs of beer.

Then it was time to take off. Auf wiedersehen, Oktoberfest!

This next picture pretty sums up how my hair appointment went. Your guess is as good as mine. The appointment ended in tears, but I did get to cross off Oktoberfest from my 'Thing to do in Europe' list, so I deemed the day a success. More on the hair in the next blog.