My friends and I took the train overnight to Munich, which was an
adventure in itself and I wouldn’t recommend trying it yourself
unless you are young and stupid.
The event kicked off on a Saturday and we had been awake since 5:00
AM Friday. We departed on our train ride after work that day and at
about 7:00 PM we arrived in Bamberg, another nice town to pick up a
friend. Of course we decided to hang out and bar hop in Bamberg
until 2:00 AM when we caught a train to Nurnberg at 3:00 AM. In case
you don’t know, German beer has about 12% alcohol on average and we
had been drinking for about seven hours up to that point.
The train to Munich would not depart until 6:00 AM so we had about
three hours to stumble around Nurnberg in a barely coherent state of
mind. However, we did actually make it back to the train station and
got 40 minutes of sleep before we arrived at Munich at about 7:00
AM. The fair ground was only a short walk from the main train
station and nobody was around except for a crowd outside the
Schottenhamel Fest Tent, so that’s where we went.
I have been to Munich many times before and I must say that it is
probably one of the safest cities I have ever been too. I have
stumbled through the streets like a drunken beggar more times than I
care to admit and no one has ever harassed me. It is also very easy
to navigate on foot and the cab drivers are pretty good and mostly
speak English. It is also impressively clean for a large city with
plenty of good places to eat and party. Hotels there are no more
expensive than they are in any other big city. And even if you are
not interested in Oktoberfest, I highly recommend Munich as a
tourist destination.
Unbeknownst to my friends or me at the time, the Schottenhamel tent
hosts the keg tapping ceremony, which officially begins the festival
on the first day. Only hardcore Bavarians really make an effort to
wake up early enough to make it into the tent for the ceremony. But,
there we were, accidental tourists happening upon an important
social activity in Germany. And who else was there to open the
ceremony? None other than one of Europe’s favorite socialist,
Gerhardt Schroeder.
We waited for about three hours chatting with our new German
acquaintances until the opening ceremony at 10:00 am. No beer was
served until then so we took the opportunity to sober up a little
bit. But once the keg was tapped and the beer girls sallied forth
with about four stein mugs (1 liter mugs) in each hand of fresh
delicious beer. There was no going back to sobriety for the rest of
the day after that point. Before long we were singing all sorts of
German beer drinking songs in fluent German and dancing as if we had
been doing it forever.
There are about 14 beer tents at Oktoberfest with numerous places to
eat and a big carnival with the usual assortment of attractions.
There are some beer brands like Lowenbrau that you may know of but
many other regional beers that are just as good that you probably
never heard of like Augustinerbrau. Oh and by the way, Budweiser
didn’t even have a stand but that should not surprise any beer
aficionados.
By noon everyone in the tent was thoroughly intoxicated and having a
great time. I had four steins (4 liters) of beer and I was wondering
if I was still actually alive. Somehow I had a silly hat on my head
that looked like a beer barrel with a wooden spout. I honestly don’t
know how it got there but it is a cool looking souvenir none the
less. We had gotten a call from another friend who was also at the
festival but had traveled separately. He was in the Hoffbrau Tent so
we decided to head over there and link up with his party.
The Schottenhamel tent was mostly occupied by Germans, who are
generally very disciplined and restrained people even when they are
drunk; aside from the whole genocidal war thing. They got pretty
tanked in the tent but surprisingly, there was order and
organization amidst the chaos. The Hofbrau tent was mostly filled
with non-Germans and it was a very different sort of scene.
Now time for a disclaimer: I am not discussing this event to glorify
my past drunken adventures but to inform you about what you may
encounter if you went to Oktoberfest. Remember, this festival is not
for the weak of heart or for the weak beer drinker (Bud Light, etc).
Stepping into the Hofbrau tent was like being teleported to the
fifth circle of hell. A tent designed to hold about 10,000 people
was actually holding around 20,000 people. And about 18,000 of them
were well past the point of being drunk. The floor was covered with
spilled beer, broken stein glasses, urine, and vomit; all after two
hours of partying. Women were taking their clothes off and throwing
their panties into the crowd. I was hit in the face with a beer
drenched sheer bra and thong and I just threw them back into the
crowd. I also got into a fight where I threw some guy off the table
but there were lots of fights that day.
We left the Hofbrau tent about 5:00 PM thoroughly exhausted and in
dire need of sleep and sobriety.
Luckily there were a number of good
restaurants on the fair grounds covering the entire spread of
traditional German fair from schnitzel to big pretzels. After a
delicious feast we boarded the train and concluded our little
adventure. Amazingly, at the end of the day we still had our wallets
and nobody was thrown in jail.
If beer is you favorite past time and you have a good tolerance for
alcohol, then perhaps Oktoberfest is the event you have been waiting
for. If it doesn’t sound appealing to you, then try Munich at any
other time of the year and you can still get a stein of great beer
and a big pretzel.
We want your opinion! Tell us what you thought about
this article. Click the
Your Feedback menu item to send us
your comments.
