At the beginning of this month, Camille and I hopped on an 8 hour bus ride down to Munich to see what all the fuss was about. How crazy could a beer-carnival-festival be? Well this happens to be one of the oldest, most well-known, and largest festivals in the world. This year attracting around 6.4 million visitors who consumed approximately 7.3 million liters of beer (each beer is a liter, called a "Maß"). And at 10 Euro a beer, that is some serious consuming for a 16 day festival.
Camille and I went during the final weekend of the festival and had a splendid time! We tried our hand at Couchsurfing for the first time (if you don't know about it, look it up, it's rad). And despite our fear of having all of our organs harvested in the night thanks to multiple U.S. stereotypes about travel abroad and the begrudged sighs from our parents, everything went off without a hitch. We were originally going to stay with a student from Munich, Lydia, but due to a timing conflict, we ended up staying with her boyfriend, Ben, who is also a student, and meeting up with Lydia later in the weekend. They were both such splendid hosts!! The normal harshness associated with the German culture (at least in Berlin) was a complete 180 from the hospitality offered by our Bavarian friends. We got drinks at a local restaurant and were able to chat about so many interesting topics. Unfortunately, at this moment my iPhoto isn't working (a mystery of catastrophic impact while traveling around Europe) but I will post the adorable picture of Ben and Lydia after I figure out how to fix my iPhoto app. They were really just the cutest little couple and Camille and I are so grateful to have had a great place to stay and lovely people to show us around!
Now on to the festival: first things first, the traditional Bavarian garb for the event was, in our minds, essential to a true Oktoberfest visit; especially because 1. we look German enough and 2. we speak German enough (Camille more so than me). The dresses we bought are called dirndl (the men's are called lederhosen) and it was just too fun and hilarious to wear them around the city!
The real question on everyone's mind: How much beer did you drink?
Well Camille is more of a champion than I am (no surprises there) and on Sunday while at the Hippodrom tent, she finished about 5 liters over a 6 and a half hour time period. I was struggling after 1 liter, but by the end of the day had finished at least 2 and half liters (I cheated and bought a Radler for my second beer though). But there was no getting lost, separated, or losing of possessions so by the end of the weekend I would call it Jordan and Camille: 1, Oktoberfest: 0.
On both days that we visited the festival we met some really exciting people! The first evening we were seated at a table with 4 visiting Americans from Florida, a German couple and the boy's brother, and a little Bavarian man who spoke no English and as it turns out is a florist at the train station in Munich (how adorable is that?!). My terrible but coherent enough German was sufficient to small talk with the little Bavarian man and I really had the best time practicing and communicating. Everyone else at the table spoke English and the Americans from Florida didn't speak any German so it was an all-around good time of miscommunications, Prosting (traditional German "cheers," but taken more seriously), and merriment.
The second day (our only full day at Oktoberfest) we got to the tents at around 11 a.m. and sat down with a German family: 2 brothers in their 40's, the 10 year old son of one brother, and a cousin of one brother. At first they were not thrilled that we didn't speak much German, but by the end of the day we were all good buddies. I've never seen anyone drink as much beer as 3 grown German men. It's just incredible. The Hippodrom tent was amazing inside! So much color and music and cheering! We went home the next morning exhausted, broke, and entirely happy.
My final thoughts about Oktoberfest:
1. I would love to go again someday
2. German beer is the absolute best
3. YOU should go at least once in your life, you won't regret it!
Much love <3 p="p">
Now on to the festival: first things first, the traditional Bavarian garb for the event was, in our minds, essential to a true Oktoberfest visit; especially because 1. we look German enough and 2. we speak German enough (Camille more so than me). The dresses we bought are called dirndl (the men's are called lederhosen) and it was just too fun and hilarious to wear them around the city!
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| Dirndl and Maß beer at the Paulaner tent. |
Well Camille is more of a champion than I am (no surprises there) and on Sunday while at the Hippodrom tent, she finished about 5 liters over a 6 and a half hour time period. I was struggling after 1 liter, but by the end of the day had finished at least 2 and half liters (I cheated and bought a Radler for my second beer though). But there was no getting lost, separated, or losing of possessions so by the end of the weekend I would call it Jordan and Camille: 1, Oktoberfest: 0.
On both days that we visited the festival we met some really exciting people! The first evening we were seated at a table with 4 visiting Americans from Florida, a German couple and the boy's brother, and a little Bavarian man who spoke no English and as it turns out is a florist at the train station in Munich (how adorable is that?!). My terrible but coherent enough German was sufficient to small talk with the little Bavarian man and I really had the best time practicing and communicating. Everyone else at the table spoke English and the Americans from Florida didn't speak any German so it was an all-around good time of miscommunications, Prosting (traditional German "cheers," but taken more seriously), and merriment.
The second day (our only full day at Oktoberfest) we got to the tents at around 11 a.m. and sat down with a German family: 2 brothers in their 40's, the 10 year old son of one brother, and a cousin of one brother. At first they were not thrilled that we didn't speak much German, but by the end of the day we were all good buddies. I've never seen anyone drink as much beer as 3 grown German men. It's just incredible. The Hippodrom tent was amazing inside! So much color and music and cheering! We went home the next morning exhausted, broke, and entirely happy.
My final thoughts about Oktoberfest:
1. I would love to go again someday
2. German beer is the absolute best
3. YOU should go at least once in your life, you won't regret it!
Much love <3 p="p">
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