The Fantasy World That Is Oktberfest

Woaw. So Oktoberfest was a blur.

After my stay with my friends in Ellwangen, I took a train to Munich that arrived midday. I spent the last afternoon wandering around the massive Central Station and munching on a giant pretzel, admiring all of the men and women in traditional bavarian gear, the men wearing Sennerhut and Lederhosen, and the girls in Dirndl dresses. I had barely left the station...actually I hadn't even left the station, and I was already feeling the electricity that stirs the city during the festival. I eventually took a city train to the airport where I was meeting my girlfriend to go with her to her hotel, where I would be sleeping on the floor for the three nights we stayed there. In budget travel, a free floor to sleep on is better than any bed you have to pay for, as long as you have my sleeping abilities (anywhere, anytime, any position) and if the cheapest bed in town costs 70 Euros.

We woke up the next morning at 8 o'clock to make sure we made it to the festival early enough to get comfortable seating at a table with all of Taylor's friends. (Well, the girls woke up at 8, I got up at 9 and was still ready to go before some of them. Its good to be a guy) We made it to the festival by 9:45, which turned out to give us plenty of time to wander through the streets of clutter from the night before, and the festival workers preparing their stalls and eateries before the rush of the day began, before meeting up with friends inside the Hofbräu Haus tent. Right away we were herded into the beer tables, wooden, two feet wide boards on legs that were big enough to hold your beer but small enough not to take up too much room so more people could fit and enjoy the festivities. We were lucky enough to take up almost an entire length of a table and meet a small handful of fun people that we all quickly made friends with.

The rest of the day went fairly smooth. Drank some, ate some pretzels, some chicken, made a million cheers (prost!), sang along to bavarian songs we didn't know, and...well, did the Oktoberfest thing. In the afternoon Taylor and I separated from the rest of the group for a bit to check out the festival outside of the tent. We did a few side games, just like they have at any carnival (yeah, I shot the little target every time and won her a fake rose, sooo manly). We even rode the Olympic Looping roller coaster, the largest portable roller coaster in the world. After we asked a stranger to take a picture of us, and it turned out to be the "little" fraternity brother of my best friend growing up -- small world. We ended up staying the whole day, even going back to a tent for another beer and were there until closing.

The next day kind of hurt. Woke up even earlier because it was a weekend and therefore would be more crowded. We went back to the same tent and met up with the other girls, lucky to all be at the same table again. After a pretzel and a beer, I was starting to feel a bit better (healthy breakfast, always helps). Soon we met up with the friends we made the day before, and all was going smooth just like the day before.

And then I got in a fight.

I don't know if you can really call it a fight. Let me lay out the situation for you first- I'm talking to one of the guys we had met, Chris, playing a friendly drinking game and just enjoying hanging out when over comes this Australian with a mohawk, Prada sunglasses, and a shirt with a black and white picture of some sort of nakedness. I had seen him earlier in the morning getting booed by the entire half of the tent for being one of the guys to stand up on a table and show everyone he can chug his beer, but failing miserably and puking half of it back into his mug before he could finish. Yeah, one of those guys. And then a couple other small encounters later like when he was bragging near Taylor and me about how he had drank 8 beers, which we clearly called him out on. So maybe he had a reason not to like me before, but what set the final match was this- When Chris and I were sitting there, he comes and sits on the table and says in our direction something along the lines of "I'm seriously about to fu$%ing punch some of these girls". Well okay, I don't know about you but when a drunk idiot says something like that, and I am the only guy with the group of 20 girls, I'm going to say something. I ask him why he would want to hit a girl, and he responds, brilliantly, with "I'm going to fu&%ing beat your ass too in like two seconds." I figure he's just full of it, and turn my back to him to talk to someone I actually care about, when he apparently, saw his chance.

Next thing I know he jumps on top of me (mind you he was sitting on the table), and starts hitting the top of my head. I realize if I hit him back I could get thrown out, and unlike him there are people there that cared if I got kicked out, so I do what I can to grab his arms and lift him off of me (thanks to the help of Taylor pulling his ears back from behind- the first thing she could grab - thanks Tay ;) ) Before I know it he's dragged off by security and I'm left confused, with a bit of a headache, but generally pretty happy because I don't want a lunatic like that hanging around me, my girlfriend, or her friends. Not to mention its a good story.

The rest of the day Taylor and I wandered the festival with one of her friends and Chris, enjoyed the day and had an early night. The next day Taylor and I did something actually productive and went to check out the famous Dachau concentration camp. Not much to say about that, its a concentration camp. That being said, it was an experience everyone should have if they get a chance, its a real eye-opener.

Next stop: Hamburg, Germany.




- Matt

Location:Munich, Germany