Prost to Oktoberfest!

     The weekend of September 30-October 3, I met my cousin Katrina and our friend Carli in Munich, Germany to celebrate the 200th Oktoberfest!
     On Thursday morning I had to get up at 5:00am so I could catch my 7:00 flight to Munich. Originally I had planned on walking to the train station and then taking a cab from there to the airport so I could save some money, but when I woke up it was pitch black outside and it didn't get any lighter by the time I had to leave. I didn't want to walk in the dark by myself (Florence isn't exactly the safest place to be walking around in the dark especially if you're a girl) so I decided to have a taxi come and pick me up from my apartment. Even though it cost me 26 Euro to get to the airport, my taxi driver was very nice and I was very happy with my decision. When I got to the airport I saw a few of my classmates from USD who are studying in Florence with me. We chatted while we waited to board our flight and after an hour delay we were finally on our way to Oktoberfest!
     Once we arrived in Germany I waited for Katrina's flight to get in, which landed 2 hours after mine. While I was waiting I sat and read my book, and did a little people watching. After living in Italy for a month it was refreshing to see different faces and hear a language other than Italian. I also got my first view of lederhosen. Lederhosen are traditional clothing worn by the men of Bavaria: the South-Eastern region of Germany which includes Munich. They are leather shorts held up by suspenders and decorated with embroidery. They are mostly worn on special occasions and Oktoberfest is one of them! After Katrina's plane landed at noon we saw each other for the first time in a month! That may not seem like a long time, but for us it is. Since we both go to USD and our family is really close, we see each other at least once a week pretty much all year round. She is my cousin and one of my best friends, so you can understand how happy I was to see her.

     In order to get to the center of Munich we had to take the S-bahn (the train). The trip took 45 minutes and the scenery on the way there was beautiful. There were so many fields and trees and barely any buildings. Everything was so green. It wasn't what I had expected Germany to look like, but I was pleasantly surprised. When we arrived to the main train station we took a taxi to our hotel. We checked in, dropped our bags off in our room, ate the delicious mini packets of Harribo gummy bears they had left on our pillows, and then began our search for lunch. We were starving! 

     The front desk recommended a restaurant down the street so we decided to check it out. After a 15 minute walk (our hotel was off the beaten path) and a little searching we were able to find it. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was very nice and warm and cozy inside. For lunch we ordered two meat dishes and split them. They were both delicious. It was so nice to add a little protein to my diet which had mostly consisted of carbs for the past month (bread, pasta, pizza... and more bread).We also ordered a half pint of beer each in order to start off our Oktoberfest weekend the right way.



First beer in Germany!

     After lunch, Katrina and I decided to visit Englischer Garten: a huge park in Munich that is absolutely gorgeous. In order to enter the park we had to cross this bridge that had a stream running below it. The stream was so quiet and peaceful and it ran right past a row of beautiful homes.

I definitely wouldn't mind owning this house!

     When we walked into the park it was like walking into a forest. Everywhere you looked there were bushes and tall green trees covered with vines. For the next hour Trina and I walked along the paths taking lots of pictures and just enjoying the scenery. We saw a lake, a big open green field and many people riding their bikes and jogging. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place and if it wasn't so cold I could have stayed there forever!

     When we got back to the hotel we took a nap until Carli arrived and then went to dinner. All I have to say about dinner was that we went to an Italian restaurant (against my will! lol) and the only enjoyable thing about the whole meal was getting to catch up with Trina and Carli. After dinner we went back to the hotel and went to bed early so that we would be well rested for Oktoberfest the next day!

     Friday morning we woke up bright and early, got dressed, walked to the subway station, had some delicious pastries for breakfast and then took the U-bahn (subway) to Oktoberfest. We walked out of the subway and a few minutes later we were at the festival! When we walked in the entrance I was amazed at how huge it was. There were hundreds of colorful carnival rides, game booths and food stands. After taking it all in for a few minutes we made our way toward the beer tents. There are fourteen beer tents and the Hofbrau House is one of the most popular so we decided to go there. Thankfully there was no line (sometimes it takes hours to get into one tent!) and we were inside by 9:30.

Carli and I outside the Hofbrau House Tent

Inside the Hofbrau House at 9:30am

     We had no problem finding a table to sit at and by 10:00am our beer maiden served us our first beer. (Let's just say that is the earliest I have ever started drinking!) Our beers were served to us in one liter steins and they were massive. A stein filled with 1 liter of beer weighs about 5lbs! And the craziest thing is that these beer maidens (most of them are pretty tiny) carry up to 10 full steins at a time!

Our tiny beer maiden!

     Once we got our steins we began drinking. Because Trina and I aren't huge fans of beer we decided that once we finished 2/3 of our stein we would get a pretzel to help us finish off the rest. We started wanting the pretzel even before we reached the 2/3rds mark, but we stuck it out. When we finally reached our goal we were so excited. The pretzel we got was huge and it was the most delicious pretzel I have ever had. It was warm, soft and had just the right amount of salt on it. Talking about it is making my mouth water!  

 

Soooo good!

     As we were drinking our beer and enjoying ourselves we socialized with one another and made friends with the people sitting around us. We shared our table with a group of German boys our age and talked with them the entire time we were there. I also met two groups of Italian men (I can't escape them!) who were both from Naples. They were really nice and it was cool getting to talk with them because I got to practice my Italian!  There were a lot of people from USD so I went to their tables and visited them as well. I even ran into my roommates!

Germans!

Italians!

 Rommies!

      Once the tent was filled with people the atmosphere was incredible. Everyone (including myself) was banging their steins on the tables, clinking their glasses and yelling "Prost!" (Prost means cheers in German), beer was splashing everywhere, and everyone was smiling and laughing and having a great time. There was a band raised up on a stage in the middle of the tent (we were right next to them) and every few minutes they would play one of three songs. My favorite song (the only one in English and the one they played the most) went like this: "Heyyyy Heyyyy Baby! Ooohh Ahhhh! I wanna knowwwww, will you be my girl???" Even though the song was really random I sang along every time and it was stuck in my head for a good week after Oktoberfest ended. Another frequent event was the chugging of beer. A brave individual would stand up on top of their table, get the attention of the entire tent and begin chugging an entire stein of beer. The crowd would cheer them on and once the beer was finished they would cheer even louder, raise their steins and Prost!

     


     At 3:00pm we had to leave the tent because all of the tables were reserved for that time. We left with the group of German boys we had met and hung out with them at the festival for the rest of the day. The festival was packed with people. Everywhere you looked you could see people walking around in their lederhosen, people on carnival rides, and people enjoying yummy German treats from the food stands that surrounded the rides.

The festival

Lederhosen!

     Over the next few hours we went on the bumper cars, walked around, bought some souvenirs, and enjoyed some of the German treats. The first treat Katrina and I had was schnitzel. Schnitzel is a very famous German food so we decided that we had to have one. We didn't really know what it was when we ordered it, but we found out that it's basically a thin, breaded pork cutlet in a bun. I had mustard and ketchup on mine and it was fabulous!

Schnitzel!

     The second treat we had was a ginger bread cookie. Throughout the day Trina and I had seen tons of stands piled high with big, heart-shaped ginger bread cookies with frosting writing on them. Most of the writing on the cookies was words of endearment like "Ich Liebe Dich" (I Love You). The cookies also had strings attached to them and we saw tons of people wearing them around their neck. We decided that since they were so popular we had to have one too. Unfortunately our ginger bread cookie wasn't nearly as delicious as our schnitzel. It was hard and didn't taste like ginger bread at all! We were super disappointed and were glad we had bought the smallest one. We found out later that boys buy them for their sweet hearts and that you are only supposed to wear them around your neck and then hang them up in your room when you go home.... they aren't meant to be eaten. lol. No wonder they were so gross! Even though we were disappointed, at least we know for the next time we go to Oktoberfest!

There were stands with ginger bread cookies everywhere!

Our ginger bread cookie- "You are Loved"

     After spending all day partying at Oktoberfest we were exhausted and decided to head back to our hotel around 6:30. We skipped dinner because we were still so full from everything we had eaten (and drank) at the festival and went to bed early so we could be well rested for our trip to Salzburg, Austria the next day. Overall, Oktoberfest was one of the most awesome experiences I have ever had. It is something I will always remember and I will definitely be returning! .....Oktoberfest 2011 anyone????