Dancing on tables and singing at Oktoberfest

The best thing about being a part of Oktoberfest in Munich is trying to reconstruct afterward what exactly happened at Oktoberfest. I will attempt to construct an as faithful as possible narrative of the 6 hours I spent in the Hofbrau tent.

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It all began with my arrival Tuesday evening at the Sheraton Hotel, where I had a room paid for by an advertising company my friends work with.

 

 I even got a gift basket!

And a bathtub!

After staying in $5 or less accommodations in SE Asia, this is like heaven!

This Swiss castle we passed on the way up to Munich was pretty awesome too.

We met with the rest of our group, there were about 15 of us in total, in the hotel's lounge where we chatted for a bit before heading to a nice dinner.

Cheers!

Then we checked out a club called 8 Seasons where there were equal parts people dressed in club attire and those in traditional Bavarian costumes.

These two lovely ladies with me are Lija and Meagan. They were the ones responsible for the sweet gift basket I mentioned earlier.

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Our bus to take us to Oktoberfest was scheduled to depart from the hotel at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, which meant we had the morning to explore some of downtown Munich.

We headed back to the hotel where our Oktoberfest adventure began.

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We all loaded onto a bus that was supplied with festive bandannas and refreshments.

We arrived at Oktoberfest and were instantly greeted by crowds of people dressed in their Bavarian best.

Oktoberfest occurs in an area of Munich called Theresienwiese, which translates to Theresa's fields. Which begs the question, who the heck was Theresa? Princess Theresa of Saxony-Hildburghausen was the lucky lady who married Crown Prince Ludwig (later to become King Ludwig I) and it was their marriage ceremony held in 1810 that marked the first public celebration that later became known as Oktoberfest. Locals now refer to the area simply as weisn.

Me with my Italian friends, Stefano and Matteo.

 

There are many Bierzelts, or beer tents, and each one is totally unique.

Woooowhooo! We have arrived at our Bierzelt, Hofbrau-Festzelt, where we had a table reserved. The Hofbrau-Festzelt is the largest beer tent at Oktoberfest with a total capacity, including inside seated area, balconies, and standing room in front of the stage, of 9,992 and it has a reputation for being the most wild of das zelts!

When we arrived in the afternoon it was barely half full.

FACT: the number of rotisserie chickens, Hendl, sold during Oktoberfest has risen from 88,294 in 1950 to 521,872 in 2009. The record was 699,562 in 1997. I tried one and it was delicious.

Die Brezel are also quite tasty.

My first Oktoberfest beer. The beers at Oktoberfest are served in 1 liter steins that easily weigh a good 2 pounds each. My wrist was killing me the next day. I have no idea how die Kellnerin (the serving girls) manage to carry upwards of 10 Bierkrugs.

 

Lift your Bierkrug high and get ready to cheer because when the crowd starts chanting "Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit" it's time to clink steins and drink to good times with friends, some old and some very new! It could just be me, but it sure seemed that as the night wore on this chant happened with greater frequency. 

It was exhausting!

It's my pink bandanna twin!

FACT: in 2009 alone 69,406 hectoliters of beer were sold during Oktoberfest. One hectoliter is equal to something like 26.4172 gallons. That's about 1,833,512.55 gallons of good German beer consumed by about 6.2 million people. I did my best to contribute to 2010's records, which marks the 200th anniversary year for Oktoberfest, but I could barely finish 2 liters.

I had a hat and I liked it quite a bit but I lost it somehow. Isn't that the way of the world?
Although, to be fair, it wasn't my hat to begin with.

By the end of the evening the largest beer tent at Oktoberfest was filled to capacity and we were all standing on our benches yelling cheers and dancing to the tunes played by the live orchestra. They played "Country Roads" a total of 4 times while I was there and I "sang" along progressively louder each time.
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Auf wiedersehen Oktoberfest! It's been fun!
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Thursday morning we had a late start since we were all a bit sluggish after our Oktoberfest experience. We checked out of the hotel at noon and spent the afternoon exploring. There was a small market going on just outside our hotel.

Cheese, glorious cheese! I enjoyed some Camembert with some hearty German bread.

We took the subway to Universitat and walked along Ludwigstr. to see some more of historic Munich before making our way to the famous Englischer Garten.

The perfect breakfast.

Followed by a nap on the grass.

We are so not in Kansas anymore. That dude is totally naked, as were innumerable others.

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If I were to pick a picture that I thought aptly represented Oktoberfest, it would be this one of two young chaps recovering in the subway.

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Goodbye Munich! It's been a blast!