Oktoberfest

Last weekend had to be one of the most eventful in a long time. Thursday, the whole group took a trip to Frankfurt for the day, visited the home of the famous German writer/ poet Goete, took a museum tour, saw a few Rembrants, Renoirs, and Picassos, then topped it off with a pre-oktoberfest dinner and a few beers. We headed back north to Marburg for one good night sleep before the Oktoberfest.

Come 4:30 am Friday, I get up, get ready, and get my Oktoberfest face on. A cold, 6 hour, multi-train ride later, we arrive at the infamous Oktoberfest grounds to beautiful weather and a happy crowd. Right away we headed for the number 1 beer tent and found a single table open out of possibly 500. Fate? Destiny? I dont know but we met some other nice Americans on vacation from Italy and they had 12 empty seats open! 3 liters and alot of "prosting" and german drinking songs later, we decided to move tents before we spent all out money (9 euro per liter) in the first hour n a half.

Some of the group members were already drunk, so we needed to get fresh air and find a place to set up camp for the rest of the long day. We found another popular beer tent, and waited in line until it opened at around 4:00 pm. As soon as the doors opened, I lost my group in the mad dash for a table. 20 minutes later, amidst the loud cheers and longs, i found my people and we drank another liter, met some friends from Austria, talked to some lovely Bier Fraus (the women who carry 5 or more liters in each hand) and had some more good laughs. Not long after 4 liters, we decided to head outdoors.

A buddy of mine took a liter mug (Mass) out of the tent, which is quite forbidden, and the security guy stopped him and asked if he paid. My buddy said he didnt remember, and didnt have a reciept, so he bribed the SG with 10 euros. I bet that security guard made hundreds of euros selling the mugs to drunken tourists. Just outside of that tent, we found the field where all the drunk people go to sleep/ pass out/ throw up, or pass the time. Met a few guys there taking care of their friend.



We finally ended up in an outside Biergarten (beer garden)with a few girls from Switzerland, a couple from Scottland, and a lot of random germans. We met lots of friends, drank a bit more Bier, and had a blast until 11:30 when Oktoberfest closed.

For all of you wondering; Yes, Oktoberfest is a drunk festival. Yes, there are hundreds of pretty girls in traditional dress (the guys in Liederhosen). And Yes, its the best party you'll ever attend.

Conveniently, we partied into the morning of one of our group members' 21st birthday. She may have been the luckiest person I know to have partied at Oktoberfest on the most important birthday an American can have.

Getting back was a funny joke. We thought we would be ok with staying up and going to bars until our 5:30 am train ride back, but in reality we all fell asleep with the hundred other Oktoberfest veterans in the Munich train station. Waking up and catching the train, switching, and ultimately navigating our way back to our beds was a 7 hour adventure from Hangover Hell. All in all it was worth it. I seem to be the only one who didnt come back with a souvenir of some sort, but at least I can say I remember it all.

Today was a one day trip to Wiesbaden; an important city in Germany for politics and German culture. Although bombed out in WWII, the city is beautiful (but stinky) and had some good cites.

Trip for this weekend: Prague??

Taking life by the horns and wrestling it to the ground is probably the best thing you can do here.

Thanks for staying tuned to the updates. I finally have internet but still have rediculous amounts of class so there will be updates when I have time.