There is just something so wonderful and magical about Germany. Every time I go there, it's like my body knows I am HOME.
Last weekend, Michael and I accompanied some friends to Munich to go to the largest and oldest beer drinking festival in the world. Last year, 6.1 million people attended Oktoberfest in Munich. So we left on Friday around 11:00 am and proceeded on the 5 hour drive through the Austrian mountains and into Munich. The drive is always incredibly beautiful and beyond description, no matter what the season.
After arriving at the hotel, we all freshened up and proceeded to the train station to take a jam-packed 30 minute ride to the festival. I don't think any of us really knew exactly what to expect. When the doors of the train opened at our stop, we flooded out like bits of rubble in a fast-moving stream and we followed it up a really long escalator that took us to the ground level and spit us out in the middle of Oktoberfest.
When our feet touched the ground, we were instantly in shock, taking it all in. There were men in lederhosen and women dressed in dirndls everywhere. I was dressed up too. The crowd was immense and cheerful. We all took a few minutes to take in the scene and then we went on to the very important mission of finding food and BEER! So we all held hands and formed a chain that traversed through the crowds of people. When we stopped, we were in front of a Brat and Brochen stand. (Brochen is a German roll) So there we stood, eating the fabulous sausages, tucked into the bread and drizzled with German hot mustard. That would be the last time we ate for many hours!
We linked hands once again and proceeded to find the Hoenbrau beer tent. It's funny that the trickiest part about beer fest is actually getting served a beer! There are many beer tents for all the different types of beer being served. But getting inside is so difficult! People make reservations a year in advance to have a table inside the beer tents. Outside of the beer tents are tables full of people drinking. We saw tape around the beer tents and outside tables and nobody was getting in that way. So we worked our way around and ended up by the doors to get inside. But there were security guards posted at every entrance and they were drooling with eagerness to shove anyone who tried to smuggle themselves in.
SO HOW DO WE GET A BEER?
We stood outside the beer tent for a long time. watching all the others drink at the tables, wondering if they had reservations to sit there. With a little investigation, we found out that you must be sitting at a table to get a beer. Good luck finding a seat! Also, the beers cost a hefty 9 euro, though they were ENORMOUS! So we all worked our way into the tables and squeezed in and got the attention of a beer wench who took our hard-earned money and returned with her muscles clenching and veins popping out of her arms as she schlepped the 6 large mugs with more than a liter of delicious beer inside.
So we got our beer and returned to the one of the many lines outside of the tent and proceeded to drink and be merry, forgetting what we were waiting for in the first place. Crowds of people pushed by and we people watched and smoked and drank our brew. People watching was the most entertaining part! A GIANT man walked up. He was stumbling a little, but he made me take pause just to gawk at his immense size. I was wearing a pair of boots with heels that made me close to six feet tall and this man, wide as he was tall still managed to tower over me. I got pictures of myself pretending to grab his ass and he was none the wiser...
The fun went on for some time outside those doors when all of a sudden, I heard my name being shouted and I saw that they finally decided to randomly open one of the beer tent doors and let people in. Everyone rushed the door as quickly as possible and I mosh-pitted my way inside behind all of my people. Once inside, we took a quick head-count and then we joined the party!
People inside saw that we were let inside and they raised their beer mugs and welcomed us with drunken glory. The beer tents are larger than they looked from outside. Music was playing and people were pushing through the walkways like herded cattle. We were all drunk at this point... So we walked the perimeter and then found a spot somewhat close to the bathroom.
People were dancing on tables and in the aisles and eating and drinking and fighting and flirting. The tent was hot and hazy from all the smoke in the air. People were everywhere! Beer was everywhere! Wenches were everywhere with large trays of food. Chicken and gravy with big balls of polenta and salad made it through on those women's hands held high above the crowd and we found our place in the middle of it all. We locked eyes with the friendly looking people at a half-full table and joined them for the rest of the night in a dancing, beer-drinking, booty feeling party.
More beer was bought and consumed and everything was hilarious. Under my little green skirt and petti-coat, I wore large ruffled panties, I had anticipated the possibility of my skirts flying and they sure did. I'm still not sure how many people took pictures of my ruffled butt. Every trip to the bathroom was an interesting new experience. I would try to get there in one straight shot, but then I would get carried away by some large German man who wanted to dance. I would break away and continue on to the toilet, and someone would grab me and try to kiss me or talk to me. And then there were the old ladies, who for some reason, I could not resist. I just had to spank them on the ass! Eventually, I would make it to the bathroom to wait in a horrendous line and pay one euro for each visit to the bathroom attendants.
The night went on and finally we departed back to the train station and to our hotel. We woke in the mourning, re-hydrated and put food on our bellies and headed back to the festival where we dropped our friends who had newly arrived off before we took the train to other parts of Munich to look for some awesome shopping.
We found a large department store where we tried on the traditional German where of Lederhosen (typically worn by men) and Dirndls (women's German dresses) We were tired as we traveled around the city. The night before wore on us. But we ignored it and proceeded back the festival to do it all over again.
Michael and I spent 120 euro in two days on 12 giant mugs of beer. We both consumed 6 each, three per night.
Sunday mourning was rough. We awoke and began the process of taking turns showering and dressing and packing our bags to return to our responsible lives. Once we were on the road home, we hit horrendous traffic out of Munich which prolonged our trip. As we left Germany and then the Austrian mountains, descending into Northern Italy, I felt my heart sink a little, though I was anxious to get home to our little girl and to sleep in my bed that night.
Oktoberfest was awesome.
