Oktoberfest - Beer, Beer and More Beer

Friday, September 19th

We woke up at 5am to get an early start for our drive to Munich. It took us about 6 hours or so with traffic to get there.

We met up with Michael, a former coworker of Jim’s. Jim went to a lunch meeting with outside counsel while Beth and I ate a pasta lunch at the law firm. I didn’t get the feeling that they work as many hours as lawyers in the US. I think the foosball table in the office was a hint.

Beth and I walked around the Viktualienmarkt which was a high end farmers market. I was very tempted to buy some fresh truffles. I’m glad the market in Bonn isn’t as nice or we would be penniless. In the middle of the market is a huge maypole.

We wandered into St. Peter’s Church and paid the 1.50 to climb the tower. Thankfully nobody in the group of white hairs in front of us had a heart attack. At the top, we were rewarded with a great view of the city. Climbing a tower as soon as you get to a city really helps you get a sense of where things are, and helps when you are trying to navigate on the ground level later.

After the big climb, we felt justified in rewarding ourselves with a beer and basked in the sun. That was probably the warmest 30 minutes of the entire trip.

We met up with Michael who gave us a walking tour around Munich. We walked by the Neues Rathaus (new town hall) which houses the Glockenspiel. At noon and 5pm the figurines on the carillon of the Glockenspiel circle around on two separate levels.

Next we went into the Theatinerkirke St. Kajetan. It was very different from the dark gothic churches I’ve seen recently. This was a large Baroque church with a completely white interior making the church feel light and airy. The ceiling with light pastel colored frescoes along with the white interior gave it a decidedly Italian feel.

After the church, we headed to the Englischer Garten which is Munich’s main park. It is larger than both Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London.

It is a lush park with fast moving rivers and lazy lakes. There is even an area of the park where people sunbathe in the nude. Considering that it was only in the 50s and cloudy, we didn’t see anyone trying to tan their fanny.

For being a population that loves order and rules, the Germans do love getting naked. Michael said that in the summer, people at lunchtime for a dip. They simply take off their work clothes and get in the water. It sounds like an interesting way to really get to know your co-workers.

There is an area of the Isar River in the southern end of the park which has a permanent wave. There were about 20 guys in full body wetsuits taking turns surfing on the wave. I can’t imagine how cold they must have been. I was wearing two sweaters, a wool coat and a scarf and was still cold.

We stopped in the park next to the Kleinhessloher Lake for beer and fresh pretzels hot out of the oven before heading back to the car.

We dropped off our stuff and met Michael later that night at an Italian restaurant he picked out. The owner was a crazy Italian guy who obviously loved women. He kissed our hands and made Beth twirl around before he would seat us. Later we saw him giving roses to women by attaching it to a measuring stick and holding it over their heads from across the room feigning shyness.

Michael ordered the pasta special of the day for four people which unfortunately had meat in both of them. Beth was a trooper and ate some of the pasta without pieces of meat. Germany is not a culinary hot spot for vegetarians. Germans love their meat!

Saturday, September 20th

Today was the first day of Oktoberfest so throughout the morning there was a parade which wound around the city and ended up at the fairgrounds. There were floats with lots of smiling, beer drinking Germans bedecked in their finest traditional clothes – Dirndls and Lederhosen.

Jim was able to get us all tickets to the Schotthamel tent through work. That tent housed all the local dignitaries so the mayor gives a speech and everyone in the tent counts down the tapping of the keg. Unfortunately, we missed that as we were separated by the parade we had seen earlier and the tent with no way across. However, after my first liter of beer it was forgotten.

At Oktoberfest, everyone dresses up in traditional clothes. Michael told us this the night before but I really didn’t believe him. I actually felt a little out of place and wished I had gotten a dirndl the day before. Dirndls dresses are flattering for just about every woman – full skirts, tight waist and your boobs pushed up and out. I don’t think I’ve seen that much boob in a while.

Jim’s office gave everyone 4 tickets – 3 for beer, a liter each and 1 for food. They had lots of pretzels and bread on the table to help you soak up the beer in your stomach. We had a bunch of ½ roasted chickens which were delicious. They also served sausages and some bread dumplings in a creamy mushroom sauce which was also really good.

Before we even got to Oktoberfest, I was concerned about the lines for the bathrooms and rightly so. After my first liter of beer I thought I should investigate. I am so thankful that I did. The line for the bathroom wasn’t so much a line as it was a heaving, bosomy mass of about 100 women trying to get through a tiny doorway to the bathroom. I realized that this is how cattle must feel. There were some security guards trying to “herd” us into the bathroom, but they realized it was hopeless and stood aside, hoping their presence would prevent any violence. Needless to say, I spent a lot of the day standing in line with my legs crossed wishing I had some Depends packed in my purse.

The men near our table were very taken with Beth. One old guy from a small Bavarian town wanted to marry her off to his son. He was wearing Lederhosen which looked about 30 years old. I found out later that they were passed down from his father.

Michael translated some of what the old guy said. Apparently his hat had edelweiss in it which his friends harvest from the tops of mountains. He said that a lot of his friends had died that way so the edelweiss was very special. He was going to give some to Beth but I think her lack of interest in his sons prevented him from parting with his edelweiss.

After about 4 liters of beer each, Beth, Jim and I headed back to the hotel for a little nap. Michael had tickets to another tent for the evening so he planned to meet back up with us at 10:30 to go to a club.

The Oktoberfest grounds were quite a different scene than they had been during the day. Now you saw lots of staggering, a few fights were breaking out and a few guys we saw had somehow managed to lose their clothes.

We met up with Michael and a group of his friends to go to the club – Nektar. The club was a very odd experience. It looks like your typical modern club, but everyone was dressed in lederhosen and dirndl, and they served currywurst in the entry way. (Currywurst is a sausage in a ketchup curry sauce.) I guess they figured that most of these people had been drinking all day and needed some sustenance before continuing into the early morning hours.

After about 2 hours, Jim and I were ready to leave so we left Beth in Michael’s very capable hands and headed back to the hotel. Walking back through the fairgrounds, I didn’t envy the guys cleaning the mess of over 100,000 drunkards.