We
came, we saw, we drank! Munich and its amazing beer! Yes, we have
arrived for the beer festivals of festivals, Oktoberfest – The 16
most important days in the Munich calender year! During our world
tour we have had the privilege to taste different national beers so
it was amazing to be here... We did however have to get to Munich
first.. This proved to be a little more difficult than we thought as
it seemed that the whole population of Europe was making their way to
Munich for the weekend.. We took a train that was so overcrowded you
could have mistaken it to be in India and not The Czech Republic!
Every carriage was full beyond reason, so people were standing side
by side in the aisles and carriage entrances! Dan, two ladies, 2 men,
myself, 6 suitcases and a dog spent the 6 hour train journey crammed
in the doorway entrance of carriage 278...
Not
the most exciting trip but memorable to say the least! All was
forgotten, depression replaced with excitement when we finally
arrived.. We were crazy enough however to book this weekend through
Top Deck adventures so we had three nights of European camping to
look forward to..... Again! The only difference was it was about -4
degrees at night which was a little tough... Thankfully we had a
never ending amount of beer to keep us warm LOL
So,
being a Friday night we didn't waste any time at the camp and caught
the first available shuttle into Oktoberfest!
The place was so
crowded, there were people standing in lines everywhere, all of the
beer halls were closed due to maximum capacity and the beer gardens
much the same... The festival resembles more of a theme park or
circus as aside from the 11 huge beer halls there are rides, roller
coasters, food stands (with the best that Germany has to offer –
Delicious!) everything... So we spend our first night sampling the
finest beers, food and getting in some great people watching (drunk
people are quite amusing to sit back and watch)...
In
16 days, over 6 million people visit Oktoberfest and drink 6.5
million litres of beer!
So for Saturday we arrived early and were
able to find the most amazing table and sat with a group of Italians
and a Munich Couple...
I
cannot explain to you how busy this place was, it was 11am and all
the beer halls were already closed due to maximum capacity! We were
so lucky! It was a glorious day and therefore better to be sitting in
a beer garden at a great table and drinking in the afternoon sun...
We had the most amazing beer wench, she was so old and could hold 8
steins at a time – so we all tipped here pretty well :)
There were
so many laughs and interesting conversations had as we didn't speak
Italian and the Italians didn't speak English but no matter today was
one of the best on our trip to date!
Sunday
was a little more painful as the last couple of days of drinking were
starting to wear us down but we still made an appearance for our last
day at Oktoberfest...Dans looking great...
Anna not so much LOL (just a pose for the photo!)
We were told that the beers here have no
preservatives so that you don't get a hangover... This did seem to be
the case however it was exhaustion that was getting us down a
little.. But all in all it was a brilliant weekend!
We
have another two days to recover in Munich before our exciting flight
to New York... We will spend 8 days in this amazing city – We can't
wait!
