Oktoberfest = Beer, Lederhosen & Food

Oktoberfest might be one of the most amazing festivals ever created. There are many elements that make Oktoberfest a huge success, starting with the very popular beverage, BEER. Munich has the best beer in the world, and the abundance of it is out of control. Another important element of Oktoberfest is lederhosen. Lederhosen are the suede pants that the men wear, ranging in different colors of brown, to black and some green. Some lederhosen have a lot of detail sewn in, very nice. There are also different styles: pants, shorts, and capris. I prefer the capris. The true lederhosen outfit will also contain suspenders. I love lederhosen and I think all men should have a pair. Some women wear lederhosen as well, but most of the ladies wear dresses with aprons and their breast pushed up. If I return (and I hope I do) I am going to buy a dress. The final important element of Oktoberfest is food. The food was actually excellent. I ate some Bavarian chicken, which is like roasted chicken, but better. The flavor is amazing. I also ate the standard sausage and sour kraut (twice in one day). And then we tried some soup, and a random meet that had a pumpkin seed sauce, both of which were fantastic.

Details of the weekend:

Katie and I arrived Friday night and met Carm at the hostel. The official start of Oktoberfest was Saturday, so Friday night we went out to the Haufbrahaus. It was crazy busy and there was a huge line to get in, so we bought some beer and drank in the street for a while. We made some friends with los italianos peligrosos (the dangerous Italians). And then found a table with some older Spanish men from Alicante who where all about singing Spanish songs. It was a great start to the weekend.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed toward Oktoberfest. I was expecting a crappy field with some tents, not so much. The fest is on a fairground that has some serious buildings built for beer drinking. The beer halls were massive. Basically each of the major beer companies has their own beer hall (to bad there were no Miller or Bud hall, JKJK). So we did not know where to go so we followed the lederhosen and stood in line only to find out an hour later that the tent was for reservations only. So we left to find another place and at this time almost everything was full. I had a minor shot of panic go through my mind but I knew that it would all work out. Where there a lot of beer, things always must work out. We found a table a random tent and sat with a mother and her two kids. It was actually a great score because we knew they would not be hanging around to consume mass quantities of beer. They ate and left and then we had a German grandma sit with us, and later are soon to be German friends.

We were lucky enough to have some nice German people sit with us. It was exactly what I had wanted from Oktoberfest. They taught some German culture, including their love for snuff, which comes in white and brown form. Snuff basically smells like Afrin, but it is in a powder form, and you sniff it up your nose. It does not really do anything besides clear your nose for a while. If you do the brown snuff you will have some surprises in your nose the next day. HaHa. We stayed in the first for about 4 hours then moved onto the Augustiner tent with our new friends. They had the hook-up and we were able to get a table almost immediately. From this point on drinking and fun continued. Oh yes, and the singing. They love to yell the tune from that White Stripes song from a few years back. Another popular song is, “Hey baby, oh, ah, I want to know if you’ll be my girl?” That was repeated quite often, but like I was told, everyone understands it so that is why they sing it.

What can I say, Oktoberfest was a blast and I really hope that I can do it again in the future! I highly recommend it to all.