Oktoberfest

So after my previous entry with its slightly downcast view of Oktoberfest the time came to have myself well and truly schooled in all things Oktoberfest from the one place that knows them:  The Theresenweise (die Wiesn) in Munich, home of the one, the only, the original Oktoberfest.  I should say now that I went for a day rather than staying overnight or through the night so my view is pretty much of the middle of the day.

So it was on the coach at 07.20 and away on our 3 and a half hour ride to Munich.  Once we got there it was a short walk to the Wiesn’ and to a tent.  Now “tent” to most people has a particular image, even if you say “marquee” but this was something else: 3 stories high, with easily the floor space of a football pitch and a built in kitchen, not to mention hundreds of people and a raised stage for the brass band.  It was hard to believe that these things are temporary (check google maps) – the steel structural beams not helping that impression.  Most of the tents followed this pattern, layouts, décor and of course beer varying between them.  Each of the 6 brewers who brew within Munich are entitled to attend with a special beer, which must conform to a special set of rules.  Some of the bigger, more well-known brewers have more than one tent (Paulaner, Augustiner) which seemed to be busier (we got to a Paulaner tent first and sat down whilst later we just had to walk straight through an Augustiner tent) whilst the likes of Hacker Pschorr seemed to be a bit easier to find a space in.

So what was it like?

•  Busy, share a table and be prepared to share, which could just improve your experience. (although Claire didn't approve of me making friends.
• Expensive: 10eur a Maß (even for radler) and at least that for the food its very easy to burn through a lot of money.
• Stereotypical:  Lederhosnen and Drndls everywhere, brass bands and lots of “Prosit”s (between every song for one band) – especially amongst the Geordies.
• Massive fun:  The atmosphere is like a permanent carnival – which is effectively what the whole thing is about – a group friends and a few hours are all you really need to add for  a truly memorable day (or one you can’t remember depending on how hard you go).

Lessons learned:

• Budget for at least €50 – this gave me enough beer to fill my time but not break the bank.
• Visiting a couple of tents is fun– this depends on your timings but if you can get there in enough time to be able to move around before everything fill us to bursting (about 1pm when I was there) – its nice to be able to experience a couple of different ones and try a couple of beers.
• Eat! – Bad things may happen otherwise and expensive as the food is it is good.
• There’s a Lidl with cheap bead and bottles water at the bus station (ZOB)
• The Irish have the best IRA jokes.
• Claire disapproves of making friends, even hedgehogs.
• Claire is easy to wind up on a coach.
• Claire probably wishes she hadn't asked to be mentioned by name.