Oktoberfest!
Posted on Friday, October 18, 2013
Oktoberfest isn't for the faint-hearted, but a total must do on my checklist of life time experiences!
Upsides of Oktoberfest - great food, great atmosphere and tons of beer! A quintessentially German experience, especially since I'm doing my exchange here in Germany :)
Downsides of Oktoberfest - it is hell of expensive!!! Was really lucky to find Mark, Mel and myself a house just a half an hour journey to the fair grounds for relatively cheap here, as all the prices of accommodations increase exponentially in this period. It is also real expensive to get into Munich during the Oktoberfest period - made it a point to go down to book Mel and my train tickets from Croatia extra early, as the Deutsche Bahn has cheaper fares if you book in advanced that go for almost 50% of what you'd pay if you book it on the day itself, which is worth it!
So crazy planning aside, we make it to Munich, and the first thing we do is to go buy ourselves Dirndls! We were both rather on the fence about it because Dirndls can cost 50-130 euros for a whole set, but Mark was so enthusiastic about us going all out that we decided to just do it!
Mel and I managed to find both our dirndls at a push cart in the Munich Central Station at the lowest price possible - 50 euros - but we did discover this massive store above selling everything Oktoberfest related along Karlsplatz, which is Munich's shopping street. Epic post purchase dissonance going on here :(
We gear up in our Dirndls and Lederhosen and head out! Hello, Mark's shoes - he feels insecure because all the Germans wear traditional shoes with cool high socks. He contemplates buying socks to look more authentic!
The Oktoberfest field confuses and baffles at the same time as it is massive and choked full of people. We wander around looking for a tent, and on the way we buy a hot dog, Mark buys a hat, and just take a lot of pictures and soak in the atmosphere!
We manage to make our way into the outside area of a beer tent where there are people drinking - it's packed to the brim and takes forever to squeeze our way around. Even ordering beer is hard - the waitresses refuse to take orders unless you are seated (which is why you either come early to get a table, or find nice people to share with!) I'm tired of being sober, so I ask a nice looking German girl how she got her beer since she didn't have a table, and she tells me a piece of useful information - ask the male waiters, they are more helpful!
It's no joke holding the beer mugs as they can get really heavy, so we go in search again looking for a free table - and this is no mean feat as it is PACKED. So if you aren't an Oktoberfest expert, and you didn't make a reservation + came late like we did, here's what you do (or at least i did) - I spotted an empty bench at a table in an obsolete corner that no one seems to want to sit at because it's impossible to get to.
1. Went up to the people at the table and pretended to wave drunkenly and happily
2. Smiled a lot
3. Asked if we could sit with them
If they say yes, clamber in on top of the benches and start making friends with the nice people who let us join their table. Simple as that!
And with our table means we can now order food - what I've been looking forward really badly (thanks to Justin) - Pork Knuckle, or Schweinehaxe in German! It's a whopping 18.95 euros here in Oktoberfest, but the three of us share it because it's so huge. Crispy on the outside and soft of the inside. Yum!
Horrendous Tower Drop that Mark swears we must try turns out to be the most fun ride in the whole Oktoberfest! I think it has something to do with drinking a lot and not being able to feel that plunge in my stomach when we go down (though I do remember cursing Mark the whole way up haha). And of course, seeing the whole of starry Munich from all the way up there was pretty amazing for that split second before we went shooting back down to earth!
After more rides, we hit another beer tent for a top up. There's a huge queue outside waiting to get in, so we sit at the table outside and wait for them to open the doors! Here's something we didn't know - we can't bring the beer from outside the tent into the tent, even though it's the same beer garden. What??? Ended up discarding half a mug. Painful stuff!
