Oktoberfest

On Sunday night Isabelle and me made the quick decision to book a trip to Oktoberfest through a tour group called Florence For Fun. Spots were filling up fast and we both really wanted to add this experience to our abroad adventures. It was last minute trip plan and we left Thursday at 11:30pm. After a quick week of classes and a trip to the offices to hand over the money L we found ourselves at the train station waiting for a bus to Munich late Thursday night. We managed to snag the best seat on the bus (the one with the most leg room) and began the 8-hour journey to Germany. Since it was an overnight trip it was important to get some sleep. I struggled with that! If you have ever tried it you know it is impossible to get comfortable sitting in a bus seat. I kept getting neck cramps and the bus was freezing! The bus driver had the air conditioning cranked and I couldn’t feel my toes. I had to get out all of the sweaters I packed and cuddled up in my bath towel. Needless to say I was ready to get off that bus when we arrived in Munich.

Since Oktoberfest didn’t start until Saturday we had all day Friday to explore the city of Munich. A big group of people on the trip decided to do a bike tour of Munich with Mike’s Bikes. I had to convince Isabelle to give it a shot, but there was one major problem. She doesn’t know how to ride a bike! The bike guide pulled out an ancient tandem bike and Isabelle and one of the Florence for Fun guides, Tyler, teamed up for the excursion. I was so excited that we were able to do the tour and it was totally worth it! I got to see some of the most famous places in Munich. We went to the Marienplatz (home of the Glockenspiel), the Hofbrahaus (largest beer hall in Munich), the National Theater, and my favorite the Englischer Garten. It was huge! Bigger than NY Central Park! One of the craziest things at the park was watching people surf the artificial waves on the Eisbach River.

After the tour me and another group of girls from Syracuse decided to take a train ride out to Dachau Concentration Camp. Dachau was the first concentration camp in Germany. It was very moving to see this area. Like everyone I have seen movies, documentaries, and read books about the concentration camps, but walking the same places that those people walked is very emotional and hard to explain. The atmosphere of the place was very somber and quiet. I did the personal audio tour of the entire camp. The most moving were the interviews on the recording of the survivors. I went into the barracks and saw the cramped conditions. It is hard to imagine how the fit so many people in one room. I also went to the Crematorium. This was very hard to witness and something I will never ever forget. The whole trip was very quiet and very personal.

We took the train back to a very hustling Munich train station. While walking back towards the town center we decided to pop into one of the stores to try on the typical German dresses, dirndls. It was so fun! I actually really liked the one I tried on. Sadly, it was 80 Euro and I couldn’t figure out when I would ever wear it again. It was really fun to try on though and probably would’ve made a great Halloween costume for years to come J

The Florence for Fun crew decided to have dinner at the world famous Hofbrahaus. What a place! It was absolutely nuts! People were singing, dancing on chairs and swinging their liter beers through the air. It was quite a sight to see and be apart of. I had my first liter of beer, which I did manage to finish! I also ate some traditional German food and it was delicious. I was pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing at first, but it ended up being a really great time! Afterwards Isabelle and me grabbed gelato and had to run back to catch the bus to the hostel. Note: do not by gelato in Germany when you are used to Italian gelato. There is no comparison! I was really disappointed with how long it took to get to our hostel. We were 45 minutes away from Munich! It was a typical hostel experience, including my first experience with shared bathrooms. Yikes! But it was a clean bed and I had a great night of sleep in preparation for a big day ahead.

I don’t even know where to begin in describing Oktoberfest! It was not what was expecting, but at the same time exactly like what I expected. It reminded me of home! Wisconsin is very German and I can totally see where the love of beer and bratwurst comes from! First we decided to stake out a spot along the parade route. The parade was so neat! It was just wagons full of people and/or kegs and they were all pulled by beautiful teams of horses. I absolutely loved it! There were also a few marching bands tossed in the mix. The grounds of the celebration are huge. It is like a giant amusement park complete with a few roller coasters and a ton of carnival rides. I did make it on a few rides, including one roller coaster with five loops to create the Olympic rings! The majority of the people are dressed in traditional German attire, lederhosen and dirndls. It makes the atmosphere so festive and fun!

The one bummer to Oktoberfest and the part we found most frustrating was trying to get into the giant beer hall buildings. These buildings are huge and there are tons of people, but in order to be served you must find a seat. In all the big tents we went into there was not a seat to be found. After going in about 3 or 4 different tents we gave up and bought a roast chicken. Hahaha! It was delicious and it put me in a much better mood. We found an outside bar and ordered a few beers from there. It was great to finally enjoy my first beer of Oktoberfest! I enjoyed it so much that the glass didn’t make it back to the bar and will have a nice new home in Wisconsin! A few beers later we decided to try and get into a tent for a second time. Success! After waiting in a short line at one of the smaller tents we got a seat! Hooray! It was great to be apart of the party inside. Each tent has its own band playing and everyone is singing and cheersing one another. I did manage to get a picture with a bunch of German boys in lederhosen!

Everything was more fun after that and we went on a few more rides and I think had a few more beers. (I remember buying one from the carrousel bar… it was actually going around in circles like a carrousel!) Then it was back to the hostel on the Germany version of the Moonlight Express (aka the drunk bus in Ames) I did call mom and have everyone on the bus say hi! The next morning I was feeling fine, but I did see quite a few people that looked a little iffy. Hahaha! Then we were back at Oktoberfest until 4 pm that afternoon. We did manage to get a table right outside the Hippodrom tent. I decided to have Sprite…lame I know. I did manage to add that glass to my collection as well. J The ride back to Florence was really, really long! We watched a ton of movies and once again I couldn’t sleep. We got back to Florence really late Sunday night and I basically fell into bed. I love not having class on Mondays!

Oktoberfest was quite the experience. I have learned that beer is pretty good, lederhosen are awesome and Germany is great! I had a lot of fun! The whole time I was there I kept thinking about people back home and how much fun it would we with all of you. Can’t wait to go again someday!