We departed Venice at 6 am for our 5 hour drive to Munich. We checked into our hotel, returned the car rental at the airport, and we were FINALLY ready to head to downtown Munich for the festivities.
If you know me, you know that I love to dress for a themed party and this was no exception! This is an example of traditional Bavarian clothing worn in Germany; Lederhosen for the men and dirndl for the women.
Oktoberfest is part of Bavarian culture and has been since 1810!! It was nothing like I had envisioned. It was just like a large state fair; complete with carnival rides, food vendors, games everywhere, and children running around screaming. We walked into the first tent, and a waitress helped us find a seat as I am sure we looked like lost puppies. We sat next to a couple, the husband didn't speak any English and his wife spoke enough to communicate but her German accent made it difficult to understand her. We enjoyed the universal smiling gesture and clinking of our beer mugs to show we were having fun, even though the conversation was slightly awkward.
Only beer brewed in Munich can be served, only by the Liter and with a minimum 5% alcohol.
Beers were about 10 Euros each, and we tipped about 1 Euro per beer. German Bier= DELICIOUS!
I was amazed at how fast the service was, especially considering there were thousands of people in these tents! As soon as our beer was empty, there was another one in front of us. The process was so organized.
There are 12 large tents located on the grounds and we went to about 3 different tents. Each tent was owned by a different brewery, each had a band and a different theme, but they were all about the same. The second tent we went to, we met a group of Germans who spoke perfect English and we had an absolute blast with them! What really caught us off guard was how many AMERICAN songs were being blasted. "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams and "Country Road"s by John Denver were the most popular songs in all the tents we went to. All the Germans would get up on the tables and scream the lyrics-it was so fun! My favorite part was how pumped everyone was when the German national anthem was played by the band. Although Oktoberfest was a blast, I would not recommend going "out of your way" to go here. Obviously if you are in the area at the right time, go! We spent about 6 hours at the event and that was plenty of time! It would have been more fun if we spoke German, or if we went with a group of friends instead of just the two of us.
The last day of vacation was spent perfectly and we went out with a bang! The next morning, we didn't have to be at the airport until 12:30pm. We were suppose to check out the World's First Brewery, which was right down the road from our hotel, but we were just too tired (and hungover). We ordered room service (for the first time ever) and enjoyed the last few moments of our European vacation together before heading to the airport. Thankful for the memories we made together and until we meet again, Europe!!
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