I left the hotel at about 9:00, figuring on a quick breakfast at a cafe then a four stop subway ride to the fairgrounds. Another spectacular day weather-wise: bright sunshine and low to middle 70s. Great drinking weather.
Food, check. Subway ride, first two stops, no problem. I needed to change trains to a connecting line and I just missed the right train pulling out of the station. No fear, three other subway trains were listed on the electronic subway board for 8, 12 and 18 minutes away. Six minutes later there was an announcement in German only, something about something at the Hauptbahnhof stop, and the times on the board changed to 30, 33 and 36 minutes.
I happened to hear two guys talking in American English just behind me on the platform. I turned and introduced myself and they introduced themselves as Kenneth and Andrew from New Jersey. Couldn't make that up if I tried.
Here are Kenneth (right) and Andrew (left) at the Lowenbrau tent.
We chatted amicably for a while and we even consulted our city maps. We determined it would take at least as long to walk to the fairgrounds as it would to wait for the train. So wait we did, until the times changed on the electronic board again and a lady squawked more German at the crowd through the loudspeaker.
I devised a scheme whereby Kenneth, Andrew and I could hop an alternate subway line, catch a tram, and then arrive only a few minutes walk from Oktoberfest. They agreed the plan was sound and they decided to accompany me.
We made it to the grounds at about 10:45.
We made our way to the closest beer tent (really a semi-permanent hall), the Lowenbrau tent. It was fairly empty but people were starting to arrive in waves. Most of the tables you see in the fourth picture down had reservation signs taped to them; there was only a small area of unreserved tables. We found a free table, Kenneth ordered the first round, and we enjoyed our gigantic beers (they are one liter and cost €8.20 a piece). Ken and Andrew are aircraft mechanics and work for Continental. They deadheaded over to Munich for a couple of days of Oktoberfest (deadheading is the process whereby airline employees can hitch a ride, for free, on any of the airline's flights. The only limitation is that they must fly standby. In their case, they each got a seat in first class on the ride to Europe, a $3,000 value!)
After our first beer, we decided to check out another tent before things got too crowded. The next tent was the Paulaner tent, and it was livelier by half - the oomphaa band had started to perform. There we had another enormous beer. We were having fun at the Paulaner tent and were chatting with several other people at our table and the next one over, so we ordered another round.
I also had food - a half of a game hen with pan roasted potatoes, carrots and beans. Yummy. Later in the day, at another tent, I had a giant pretzel, like the one pictured to the left.
After the Paulaner tent I parted company with Kenneth and Andrew. Good guys, but I was drinking too much, too fast. So I wandered the grounds for a while, taking in the sights and watching drunk German guys in leather shorts try to compete at your typical carnival-type games.
Needless to say Oktoberfest was an amazing experience and brilliant for people watching. I did get tipsier than I had planned on which made walking a bit more challenging. The Oktoberfest brews may have been stronger than your average beer, or maybe it was the prodigious quantities (but I only had four steins of beer the whole day!). In any event I could have stood another day at the fairgrounds, but more than that would have been tough - I don't know how some of those guys do it!
When I returned to the hotel I discovered that the Wi-Fi was no longer working, so my apologies if you've emailed me or posted a comment and I haven't replied yet. In fact there were three Japanese businessmen at the front desk complaining loudly about the Internet being down. This post may not make it out until either the problem at the hotel is fixed, one of the airports tomorrow has free Wi-Fi, or I make it home.
Location:Romerstrasse, Munchen, Germany
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Communicate with Ken now!