We met up with our friend Matt late Friday night, he had flown in early and decided to scope out Oktoberfest. He informed us that everyone was dressed up in lederhosen and dirndls (lucky for us we were forewarned of the dress code and bought costumes in London...unlucky for us in comparison to the traditional garb everyone else was donning it was pretty evident that we in fact had purchased our outfits at a costume store) and he had just waltzed into the Hofbräuhaus House...one of the most difficult tents to get into. Side note...if you are looking for a real traditional German tent this tent is not for you...if you are looking for a good time with lots of internationals head on over.
Now we had heard many stories of how we should "do" Oktoberfest...but I'm pretty sure ours was the best. First, eat a good breakfast...its Oktoberfest you should have one goal in mind (aside from not losing your friends or belongs) "don't be that guy/girl" no one likes the sloppy person passed out in front of a tent. Carb up this is a marathon not a race. Second, hit that ATM, it's cash only so fund accordingly. Third, hop on the underground and follow the sea of lederhosen to the proper exit. Fourth, there is no such thing as a line. We arrived at HB around 10 am and were ushered towards the beer garden to wait in line with the rest of the reservationless...so we did what any impatient American would do..."how much will it cost to get us in?" (another friends waited in line for 2 hours...in the cold) And fifth, find a table of interesting people. There are morning and afternoon reservations, a table fits about 10, and unless you want to stand and support your liter of beer on your own you need to leech onto a table. Thankfully my travel partners were Matt (one of the most gregarious and outgoing people you will ever meet) and my sister (who could basically make friends with a rock and every guys type)...we made a lot of friends. On another note...Oktoberfest is probably one of the biggest confidence boosters...not only is it primarily (foreign) men (who LOVE California) but everyone is wearing beer goggles...
You know the feeling you get when you're watching a live game...the sights, the smells the energy...that's what Oktoberfest is like...the morning is the warm up and once the band gets going...game on. Loud polka begins to flood the hall...normally no one is ever excited for polka...but at Oktoberfest...it is awesome. And when they tire of polka and start playing the good old American classics...it gets wily. Tragically the "dance floor" does not form until night...so we make due with what we have table tops (yet another reason to mob the tables). The best part about sitting at the tables (aside from the prime dance floor) is the constant barrage of food and drinks from the waitresses...once your stein looks like it might be losing steam there she is forcing another one upon you. And Matt being Matt made friends with all of the waitress (didn't matter that they didn't speak the same language) we were always well taken care of. The first day we were in HB for 12 hours...casual. Every time we thought about trying out another tent we would look outside at the swarms of people trying to break in and knew we were in the right spot.
Oktoberfest is like the adult version of Disneyland (and HB is like the Matterhorn) you definitely need a two-day pass...anything else is overly ambitious anything less there is no point in traveling alllll the way to Munich. HB was too good to us so we decided to kick off our Sunday back there then tent hop. We expected the hectic atmosphere from Saturday and we got it sans the queue. It was great all the study abroad kids and Americans had already gone home which left us with a hall filled with Aussies, Brazilians, Italians, Swiss, Danish...you get the point. Time gets lost when you are in a tent...the beer, the food, the new friends...a day of hopping turned into another day well spent at HB (only 10 hours today). The day was just as exceptional and I even got to brush up on my cotillion moves...swing dancing the night away with some delightful Danish men. All in all, I would go back in a heartbeat. It was the perfect mixture of mayhem and culture and I couldn't ask for a better way or with better people to celebrate my birthday.
