Once again apologies for the lateness and sporadic nature of my posts but have been enjoying my last week of freedom before lectures begin! It has been pointed out to me that a lot of my blogs seem to be about the bars I am going to and how intoxicated I was. Well this isn't any different :).
Anyway: Oktoberfest.
I can't truly describe how amazing an experience it was. There really is nothing like it and I'd recommend it to everyone. Although a bit on the expensive side, it was completely worth it. We went on the last Saturday of Oktoberfest hoping that it wouldn't be too busy. Oh how we were mistaken. It was a nice sunny day and it seemed the whole of Germany and its friend turned up to Oktoberfest that day. I mean hundreds of thousands of people. Easy. There were around 20 big beer tents which could fit about 10,000 people in each one. Plus all the rides and stalls and food vendors. Mixing German's love of food and beer. Hence thousands of people.
We arrived at around 1pm on the Saturday and decided to just start queueing for a beer tent as soon as we could. As Brits, we were expecting nice orderly queues with barriers and meeting friendly strangers whilst moaning about how our feet hurt. Thats what we do. But oh no. There was not an ounce of order or decorum. Very unbritish I must say. It was a crazy free-for-all, pack in like sardines until you can't tell if its your friend accidently touching your bum, or the creepy Brazilian man behind you.
However after over 3 hours of painful cattle herding, we finally managed to get to have a table and order some beers. After that waiting, we were all gagging for a drink and the Stein really hit the spot.( A Stein is the big two pint or a litre beer glass. By that point I didn't care how much was in it, as long as it was beer. ) After inhaling our first drinks, we decided to take it a bit slower. Well slower probably isnt the right word. Less rapid is proabably more appriopriate. The next few hours consisted of drinking, singing and general merriment. And of course an Oktoberfest isn't complete without a plate of Wurst. These things are huge. They make even the biggest Adonis feel emasculated.
After several hazy hours and copious amounts of beer, we decided to have a look around and go on some fair rides. Even now, I can't see how that is a good decision but at the time it made perfect sense. Huge amounts of beer and strong G-forces. What could go wrong?
Luckily Miss Sophie Baker took on the role of "Oktoberfest Mum" and advised us that maybe the Ferris Wheel was more suitable to our levels of intoxication. So after this we traipsed back to our hostel and agreed to get up extra early to make sure we got in to a beer tent the next morning.
Well. All I can say is I felt like death warmed up. And probably looked worse. However, we managed to get to a beer tent and spent the rest of the day curing our hangovers with some Bavarian folk music and of course; more beer.
It was an incredible weekend with great people and if you have the chance to go, do. It is the sort of thing that you don't know what you are missing out on until you go. And now I'm already considering missing a week of lectures next year to go to Munich again!
(Disclaimer - If you are from Nottingham Univerisity, please ignore that last sentence. I will be missing that week of lectures due to a prior family commitment. Education rocks. Beer is rubbish.)
Right now here are some pictures. Hit me up with some comments and I hope you enjoy.
Andy C
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