10/03/2007: Oktoberfest Day 1

Wednesday:

So you'll notice (or you won't) that there are 4 new posts. I had a suggestion to break my big posts into several smaller posts so that way it would allow people to look at it in parts and comment about each individual event rather than the post as a whole. So we'll give this a shot, and see what happens.

At any rate, last week I went on a pilgrimage to Munich Germany for Oktoberfest. The idea of making comparisons to all sorts of religious pilgrimages crossed my mind but I decided that no example I could come up with could possibly compare with the spiritual experience of my 4 days and 3 nights in Munich.

I went with my pal Evan. I made mention of him in a previous post I believe. He's from Oregon State University, and he is here for a semester studying business. We decided to take the night train from Copenhagen direct to Munich. We caught the train around 7 in the evening, and arrived around 10 the following morning, meaning 15 hours of fun stuck in a small compartment as you can see here:

On the way down we were fortunate to be sharing a cabin with some decent people. There were 2 older American women, who happened to be from Seattle, as well as a younger Swedish couple. It made for some interesting conversations, which made the trip down incredibly pleasant.

When we arrived, we both actually felt revived after a decent nights rest. Right when we stepped off the train we saw numerous people in the traditional Bavarian lederhosen (and female equivalent). We made the short walk from the train station to our hostel, dropped our bags off since we couldn't check in yet, and headed to the fairgrounds to see what the fuss was all about. The city had an interesting mix of old looking buildings (i.e. they were rebuilt after the war) and more modern structures. Here's an example of a beautiful church near the fairgrounds.

We then set foot on the fairgrounds, and there was quite a lot of activity. The grounds is crammed with little kiosks selling souveniers, some places serving beer, rides, as well as massive "tents" where all the action is. We were able to walk right in and sit down, however on a weekend I heard stories about having to show up at 8 or so in the morning just to wait in line so you can get a table. However, like I said, at 10:15 in the morning we sat down and had our breakfast.

And of course, you need something to go with:

Here's Evan and I with our enormous German pretzels.

It was hard not to get caught up in all the festivities, I mean with heavy drinkers like the following little guy, you had to get in the spirt!

I'm sure the mom and her little boy will cherish the memory of his first Oktoberfest for the rest of their lives. That is assuming they rememeber anything ...

Naturally, all that beer works its way through you pretty quick, so I went questing after the restroom. I also decide to use the opportunity to refill my water bottle because asking for a water instead of a beer is basically grounds to have you forcibly expelled from the tent by the Beer Gestapo. I decide the sink in the bathroom will do. I noticed a sign by the faucet, which probably said that it wasn't potable water or something, but meh, no big deal right? Well, maybe not to me, but some guy looks at me and very loudly starts saying something in German. I try and explain that I don't understand and he's still yelling at me. I promptly dump the water out, while he still is yelling, and then run out the door as fast as possible. That was my first of many "Angry German" stories. More to come ...

After breakfast naturally came lunch. That called for another liter of beer, and schweinshaxn, which is a pork dish that was recommended because it fills you up and allows you to drink more and keep your food and beer down by the end of the night.

I wasn't really sure what to expect of it when we ordered it. This picture pretty much sums up what my initial impression was:

In the end, the meal was fantastic, and definitly did the trick. When Evan and I woke up the next morning, it occurred to us that aside from one more pretzel, I hadn't eaten anything after that first meal. After that, we had bellies full of food, 2 liters of beer, and it was just barely past noon:

At this point, our lack of sleep caught up with us, and we decided it was time to go check into the hotel. The place had started to fill out (there are probably 10 tents, and the bigger ones have a capacity in the range of 5,000), and the band had begun playing, here's a view of the tent as we started to head out:

And here's some of the beer being carted around on a horse and carriage:

And here's the fairgrounds:

After checking in, and some R+R we decided it was time to get back to work. We hit the tents, this time with a new resolve ... a resolve to meet every creepy German in our tent of choice. I know we were far from completing that lofty goal, but we did our best. We sat down at a table with several Germans who didn't speak any English (how dare they!). I had the great un-fortune of sitting next to a very drunk creepy woman who felt the need to rub my hair as well as grab my arm to force me into dancing bizarre Bavarian dances. Here's me with my not so secret admirer:

After a little time sitting next to the above creepy lady, a German "gentleman" sat with us to give her a run for her money for "Creepiest person from day 1". And by the end of the night, boy it was clear it wasn't even a competition. Here's our creepy friend with a woman selling silly hats, he expressed interest I believe as simply a faulty pretense to touch her ass and demand a kiss from her. He asked me to send him this picture, and he gave me his address as well as 2 euro for the printing and postage. Yeah, it'll be coming any day buddy!

Here's his second victim of the night. He actually somehow convinced her (despite her clearly skeptical look here) to give him a peck on the cheek, and when she did he turned his face to kiss her. Classy move pal. Classy move!

We then drank with some Canadian guys from Toronto, who were huge fans of the Toronto Raptors, seriously they wouldn't shut up about them.

Here's more of our adopted group. You can see the creepy German with our two flamboyant German pals too. I don't think we really spoke to anyone. Mostly we just sang along to the American songs they played.

Hmm, I think he might be about done ...

So it was an interesting evening. We got there around 4:30, and we were hanging out, everyone around us was wasted (as you can see in the following picture), but through the canopy above us you could tell it was very much still day out. I recall checking the clock several times being always surprised about how early it was.

It took a lot out of you to try and last the long haul. Some could do it, while some as you can see below, could not.