OKTOBERFEST & Bavaria, 1 liter beers is the norm
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2008
1
44
65
Trip End
Dec 08, 2008
Munich,
Bavaria,
Germany
Monday, September 29, 2008
It all started on Auguest 2nd when I was in Stockholm. I was staying in a hostel and was having a really hard time meeting people, just not the kind of people I was interested in. In walked these 2 guys traveling throughout Sweden on a holiday. The first words they spoke to me were, "Do you like Family Guy". Strange but it got the conversation going. We spend the next few days together and they invited me to come to Germany and head to Oktoberfest with them, I put in the back of my mind but that was 2 months aways and it was hard to think that far in advance.
I ended up making the decision to head to Munich about 36 hours before I had to leave. Stefan and I had been in contact but I was having a problem with accomodations and getting there. Stefan's mom thank god, works in the tourist info spot and she was able to arrange accomodations for me at a pretty good price too. It was decided I was going to take the 11 hour train journey to Munich and meet up with some old friends.
I was staying about an hour outside of Munich in the Village of Steingarden. Stefan picked me up at the train station and after 11 hours on the freakin train I was ready for bed. Unfortually Stefan was ready to entertain. We headed over to his house where his mother was preparing a tradional German meal. I knew at that point I had made the right choice to head this way. Stefan't mother spoke english well but his father could speak little to none. It was so awesome to have them welcome me into their home. We went out for beers in a town close to Steingarden, Fussen. That is where I was reunited with Florian, Stefan't friend that I also met in Stockholm. It was so cool to see the both of them again. I headed back to my room and crashed for the night.
I planned on making this trip to Bavaria more then just for Oktoberfest. Stefan told me that he could only go for one day because of work and Florian had school. I was totally cool with that. I wanted to see the town of Fussen while I was there anyways. I awoke about 10:00am and relaized that it was really late. I got ready quickly because Stefan's mother was waiting at the tourist info office to give me some advise on where to go and what to see. I met with her and she gave all the info on Fussen. Fussen was know mainly for the two castles ruled by King Ludwig, that stood up on the mountain above the town. One of them was the exact castle that Walt Disney modeled his famous castle from. I was very dissapointed that I had missed it the first time around to Germany so I was very happy to be able to see it. I climbed the hills and the castle was more spectacular then I had imagined. I can understand why Walt would want this castle in his amusment park. It stood so tall and had the elegance of nothing else. I have seen a lot of castles on my tour but this one was really special. I finished my day in Fussen and Stefan, Florian and I went out for a bite to eat and a few beers. The boys were really tired and I wasn't feeling that great so we all crashed early.
Stefan really wanted me to experience Oktoberfest with him so I decided to wait one more day to hit the big festival. I did though want to go into Munich and check out the city. I was there when I was 17 and I thought it might be good to go see the sights. I rode the 1 hour and 20 minute train back into the city and took a walk. I decided to go to the fair ground just to check it out. The place was packed, people after people after people and most of them drunk and this was 11:00am. I walked the grounds and realized that at 11:00am all 13 tents were already totally full and there was no way of anyone getting in. I knew that the next day was going to be a stuggle because a lot of people there had reservations for their seat. I got out of there and checked out the city. Well, not really the city, the shopping district. I needed some new socks so that is where I spent the rest of the afternoon, buying socks. I wasn't in the mood to sight see, I came to Munich pretty much just for the fetival. I headed back into Steingarden about 4:00pm where Stefan picked me AGAIN and we headed out for pizza and beer. All they do here is drink beer. The next day was drinking day and I had no idea that my body could hold that much liquid!
We woke up and left the Steingarden at 9:00am. I thought it was a little late to be heading in because if it was anything like the day before there was no way we were going to get seats. Stefan explained to me that he had scored V.I.P. Seats and we had our own box to sit in. We would have our own waitress and there would be no waiting for our beer to arrive at the table. When we got to the train station to take us into Munich I was greeted by 15 of Stefan's friends and we were all headed to the same place. I knew for a fact that this was going to be one incredible day. Drinking with 16 Germand and myself. I knew that if I was going to experince Oktoberfest this was the ONLY way to do it. I kind of felt like the fish out of water only because EVERYONE was dressed in the tradional later hosen and I in jeans and a shirt. Everyone was really cool. At 9:00am in the moring we had out first beer on the train. Good way to wake up and start you day. When we arrived at the fair ground we headed directly over to one of Stefan's friend's booths. He sold food at the festival and we sat and dined on White Sausage before we headed into the tent. I personally knew that if I didn't have something to eat that drinking liter after liter of beer would result in a very short morning for me. We ate and we headed into the tent.
It is so hard to sit here on the computer and even start to explain what each tent was like. People that have been to the festival know, but telling people about it just isn't enough. Anyways, the tents were huge, practiaclly buildings. I couldn't even guess to how many people it held but thousands and thousands for sure. We had arrived and we were shown to our private box, I still couldn't beleive that I had VIP seating at Oktoberfest. I didn't realize how valubale these seats were until the famous soccer players started to arrive and the german boys that I was with started freakin out. Some of the most famous Soccer player Germany has and they were sitting one table aways. I personally didn't know heads or tails who these people were but I knew I was in a good place. Our waitress came and we ordered out first stein. The next 7 hours were close to the best 7 hours of my trip. Singing, standing on tables, kissing girls, eating, and of course throwing back liter after liter of beer. Did I mention the countless bathroom runs too, the bathrooms were set up pretty much just to take a piss and the line for the mens was twice as long then the women's. I couldn't even come close to explain the fun we all had that day and like I said I was so glad that I was experinceing it truely with the germans. I stayed liter to liter with them which I was pretty impressed with. In total I think it was 5 liters and by the time we left the tent I was feeling, lets say, good. We hung out at the fair grounds for a little while, ate stupid food like fish sandwiches that one of Stfan's friends vowed not to eat when he arrived. We then headed back on the train to Steingarden where we stopped for one more beer at the bar and then I went to bed. It was one long incredible day and one day that I would have regreted if I had missed.
The next day I and Stefan were worse for wear so we hung out at his place, watched some movies and Stefan's mother prepared another incredible lunch. I had to catch the night train to Budapest that evening and was not looking forward to it. Stefan, Florian and I went out for one final dinner and they took me back to the train station for the final time. I told them both that I expect them to visit me in Canada as soon as they could. Good friends and great memeories, I can't even come close to thank them enough. I expect I will see them again one day....................
