Oktoberfest - Ja!

Thursday :

4:40 AM -

Roll out of bed, try to find something in the kitchen to eat, throw the last of what I need to take with me. Then look over Rachel's itinerary to see when and where to meet, and find that we're arriving at two different train stations...Mind you, neither of us have a working phone. So I wake her up, as I run out the door I say something to the effect of - "There's a big old church near Oktoberfest, we'll meet there.." Right, I just described every square & city in Europe, that shouldn't be confusing.

5:00 AM -

I headed out the door of the Chateau to catch a train to Munich.

As I walked to the bus stop I couldn't help but notice the strong aroma of pastries that filled, literally, the entire town. It was fantastic.

By now I've realized that I know no German, have no basic phrases book, and should have set-up my cell phone by now.

6:00 AM -

Arrive at the train station - mumble some sort of coherent statement to the cashier about

wanting tea & a pain au chocolat - she got the gist of what I wanted...

6:53 AM -

Time to leave Strasbourg for a 4 hour train rain to Munich.

11:15 AM -

My train arrives in Munich. I step off the train and everything smells like sausage...I've made it to Germany! I scramble around the train station until I find the Tourism Office and get a map. Find the previously mentioned church - hopefully it's the correct one - circle it and spend about 30 minutes trying to figure out where the U-Bahn train is that I need.

12:00 PM -

Alright, now I've got three hours to wait on Rachel...what to do? Follow the lederhosen! I walk through the Oktoberfest grounds, having the greatest time giggling to myself as I see everyone in lederhosen. No one is too cool for lederhosen, there was so many variations, everyone trying to make it there own. There were hipster lederhosen, frat-boy lederhosen, goth lederhosen, slutty lederhosen, traditional lederhosen, jock lederhosen. You name it, it was there.

3:30 PM -

Rachel finally arrived, at the same church! What a miracle! Seriously, though...I wasn't really sure what we were going to do if we couldn't find each other... We head to the hostel to check-in, arrive and see that it literally is just a campsite with 4 large tents and bathrooms and a cafeteria. But it was kind of the greatest place ever...very cultish- communal living, but no weird rituals that I was aware of.

4:30 PM -

We finally make our way to Oktoberfest together. Go in eat a bratwurst, awkwardly walk in and out of beer tents unable to find a place to sit, and finally stumble upon an outdoor area for beer drinking. We order our litre beer, sit there for a good hour and walk around a bit more, watching people eat and drink, as we eat and drink. Everything after the first litre of beer becomes mostly centered around alcohol, so I'll just let you imagine how the rest of the night went. If it makes anyone feel better, we did end up at our hostel by the end of the night.

Friday :

7:00 AM -

I wake up from being too cold to sleep any longer. The campsite, was quiet and clean, which would not be the case when every woke up around 10 and used the bathrooms for hangover purposes...

12:00 PM

Our plan was to go back to Oktoberfest drink a little bit more before we left that night, but all we really wanted to do was lay down and sleep. And not move. So we found the nearest park layed there for awhile walked around for a bit and finally went back to the train station around 4:00 to catch our train back. Friday had to be a recovery day...

I know what you're thinking... "you went all the way to Munich and didn't see anything, but Oktoberfest??" Before you chastise me, we have plans of going back, and we only had really 24 hours to stay. We were unable to find transportation for a later day, so that we could stay longer.

To conclude, my time in Munich was short, but totally worth it. From what people said of Oktoberfest before I went I was expecting mostly tourists and annoying Americans falling down drunk - which sure I saw that, but it wasn't all that was there. There were just people, in lederhosen having an amazing time with friends and family. All coming together, around a litre of beer - which cost €9. It was definitely an experience worth having, it was sort of a cross between the state fair, Bonnaroo and a renaissance festival, if you can imagine.