Oktoberfest

Believe it or not, Oktoberfest mostly takes place in September. This is because the weather is nicer in September, which was definitely true last weekend. We were in Munich for the weekend to check out the true Oktoberfest. 16 of us drove up on friday night and then returned home on sunday. It was quite an adventure, but so much fun!

I drove up with Adrienn, Shane and Evan. We rented our car from Europcar, which was cool because I got a discount through work and it only ended up being ~$184 for 3 days, including an extra driver. Shane and I picked up the car friday afternoon and proceeded to the meeting spot (a gas station in Zurich) so that we could drive up with the other cars. We waited....and waited. Evan and Adrienn showed up (they had gotten on the wrong train so they were late). Then the Berg's car showed up: Vance, Tommy, Lindsey and Kiran (friend from Calgary that is visiting). Apparently they were held up by some confusion at the rental place, involving my roommate's car. We set off to leave, and managed to lost the Berg's car within 10m of the gas station. Sigh....long story short, the 4 cars drove up separately (I won't bore you with the details of why the other cars didn't meet us, I'm sure you are already wondering why I haven't gotten to the good part of the weekend).

Our drive was pretty good, Shane drove and we had some wicked tunes to pass the time. We got to go through Austria on the way, so I can officially add that country to my European countries that I have visited list (we bought kabobs, mmmm). We were held up by a giant traffic jam, as well as some light complications, so ended up at the campground around midnight. Since the original plan had been to meet at 10 (that when the campground closed and we wanted to get a site) we were doubtful that anybody would be there. But by some miracle of Oktoberfest, Devon's car (Devon, Travis, Warren and George) and Richard's car (Richard, Bernard, Henry and Olivier) were already there! And the Berg's car showed up a few minutes later. We all rejoiced over the fact that we managed to meet up with each other, and then tackled the question of where to sleep. Everybody else opted for sleeping in the car, but our car drove to a field down the road and set up our tents.




Shane, at our renegade camping site.











The next morning we awoke early to find bulldozers driving past our "campsite". Luckily, nobody seemed to care about our tents, and we packed up and went to meet the group. They were all in the midst of getting campsites (a highly chaotic process) so we joined in and by 10am everyone was set up and ready to go (except Bernard and Henry, they were going to meet Henry's friend). We jumped on the bus (after some confusion about which bus to take) and went to Oktoberfest!




Warren got totally decked out for the event (he actually purchased the lederhosen!)














Our first view of Oktoberfest. Think Stampede, but replace cowboy hats with lederhosen and add 30 more beer drinking venues. And remove the rodeo















We went directly to try and get into one of the tents, since apparently they are the best places to be. Well, as direct as you can be with a group of 14 (aka, lots of stops to buy food and hats). We crammed into a mob of people outside a tent, with information that they would eventually open the doors to let people in. But after 1.5 hours of waiting, we gave up with that idea and just went to one of the outdoor biergartens. It was a beautiful day, so I was fine with this plan. However, Devon, Shane and Evan were determined to get inside, and Devon and Shane (and apparently Vance) eventually did later in the day. The biergartens were really fun. The beer all came in 1L mugs, which was fine by us. We drank and ate chicken (mmmm) and met lots of people.


Prost! ("Cheers" in German)
Lindsey, Adrienn and I with our beer











Tommy, Kiran and Vance in their Oktoberfest hats (keep your eyes open for pics of everyone wearing Kiran's hat throughout the day)











Evan accidentally broke one of the beer mugs (doing what else, drumming on the table) and used the pieces to amputate Vance's arm.















Biergartens!
left to right: guy that we dubbed "marker guy", Evan, Olivier, Richard, Lindsey, me, George.












George and Warren (another hat sighting)















After a few beers, and a rousing game of Never Ever (Tommy: "What Vance, you've done that!!!) some people wanted to go on some rides. I chose not to fork over 6euros, but most of the group went on the Drop of Fear (or whatever the German-named equivalent is) and a roller coaster (after some poor line-up decisions by a certain somebody, lol). Afterwards we went to find another beirgarten (since they are the only place other than the tents you can buy beer), but not before losing Shane and Adrienn. Oh well, every war has casualties. Not really sure how that fits in, but I'm leaving it.





Olivier (cow hat!), Kiran, Richard and Vance, sitting around after the roller coaster.









The next biergarten was pretty crowded, but a few of us managed to squeeze into a table to get drinks for everyone (they will only serve you if you are sitting down). We met lots of people at the table, it was really fun. Saw somebody nearby puke on the table (that was the third person I saw puke that day! The first was some really drunk German girl outside the beer tent at about 11am, haha. The second was Kiran, reminiscent of Chem camping last summer, hahaha....oh spiritus...). Anyways, the waitress came and rinsed off the table with a mug of water and then everyone sat back down. That's when I made my decision to refrain from touching the biergarten tables much in the future.


Lindsey, Vance, Tommy and me. Tommy's hat has a fiberoptic deely that lights up! It was so cool, too bad somebody stole it....











Eventually we decided that it was time to head home, in order to not miss the last train back to the campground. We had to wait a bit for the bus connection, but that allowed time for a late night Burgar King snack. On the bus ride home, Vance was falling asleep and doing the classic "head bob". Some other people on the bus thought this was pretty funny and turned it into a game where they cheer every time....haha, Richard got a sweet video of it.




What, can't a person have a nap on the curb while waiting for the bus?















Back at the campground, we met up with Olivier, George and Warren who had left separately. After a bit of hanging around, I decided that I was ready for bed so went to my tent. Later in the night Adrienn returned with news that she had lost her purse and Shane had lost his camera, oh dear. This was accompanied by the sounds of Tommy puking outside his tent, haha. Well, nobody expected it to be a fiasco-free weekend.



George's sleeping spot: the trunk of their car. I think I prefer my tent.











The next morning everyone pretty much got up, packed up and left. Richard, Bernard, Henry. Olivier and Kiran decided to stay in Munich for the day to sightsee, the Shane and Adrienn went back to look for their lost items, and Adrienn was lucky enough to discover that somebody had returned her purse, and it's contents to lost and found! Shane never got his camera back though, sucks. While waiting for them to return Evan and I got a ride to the store with the Berg's car, and then had a nice detour around the city trying to get back to the campground, haha.

I drove on the way home, which was fun since I haven't driven since I left Calgary. We made it back to Baden without any trouble and then I returned the car to Zurich the next morning on my way to work. That was a bit of an adventure, since I had no idea what route to take through Zurich and had no navigator. Stupid one way streets....anyways, I got the car back eventually, and made it to work on time (it was a good idea leaving early from home, haha).

So that was our Oktoberfest adventure. Good times, if I ever go back I'm going super early to get into a tent and then staying there all day. Devon said it was really cool inside, lots of music and dancing and stuff. Oh well, still was an awesome weekend!