Sunday, September 26, 2010

Oktoberfest - Of Friends, Old and New

           This year marked the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest, and my first trip to Germany. It was actually my first non-university sanctioned trip, and overall, I’d say things went pretty smoothly. Erin and I caught our flight, without showing anyone any form of ID (weird?) and got through to Germany without going through customs. (I’m going to be honest – I was pretty bummed. I was hoping I’d be able to rack up some stamps this semester.) We met up with Chaele, who’s studying in Paris, and attempted to figure out the subway system because we’re way too cheap/inadequate at German to take a taxi. We bought a pack of ten tickets for our trip, which was wholly unnecessary, because there didn’t seem to be any place to have to use them – we literally just walked straight onto the subway. Eventually we found that there are really unclearly labeled polls into which you’re supposed to deposit the appropriate number of stubs, but I’m not that responsible, and wasn’t even sure how many stubs each trip cost. Needless to say, we didn’t buy any more tickets. Gotta cut costs where you can, you know?
            After wandering in the wrong direction for a bit once at the appropriate stop, we accosted a poor German woman and tried to use hand motions to tell her where we were trying to go. (Understanding such little German really made me realize how much Spanish I know.) To our embarrassment and relief, she actually spoke English, rendering our miming even less useful than it would have originally been. We eventually found the Creo Living, and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves with some pretty snazzy accommodations. 

            We had decided that it would be a bit too typical-college-student of us to just go straight to Oktoberfest and spend the weekend in Munich without actually seeing any of it, so off we went to see the sights! We wandered around the city center, and took pictures of things we thought to be important (i.e. the face-sized pretzel Chaele bought.) Perhaps it was a longing for the familiarity of Guzmán, or perhaps it was just because no day this semester would be complete without an excessive number of stairs; we decided to climb to the top of the tower at the Church of Our Lady in Munich. It’s the highest point in the city and offers beautiful views. The staircase was an incredibly tight spiral one, but it only went up about halfway. The rest of the way was ascended through an elevator. This was both a blessing and a disappointment. We also explored the inside of the church itself, which was really neat because it had a very distinctive feel, different from any church I’ve been to in Spain or France.
Important looking building

Important looking pretzel

Different vibes, right?

View from the top

            After exploring the main city, we made our way up to the famous English Gardens. (I didn’t know they were famous, but apparently they’re a big deal. According to Wikipedia, my source for all things, these gardens are bigger than Central Park.)  The main attraction of these gardens is a large Chinese Pagoda that one would think would be relatively easy to find – we had no such luck. We did find some other big gazebo-type structure though, so we were pretty satisfied.


            Having given the touristy thing a shot, we decided it we could spend the rest of the weekend at Oktoberfest with a clear conscience. We took the subway immediately there from the gardens. We didn’t know exactly where to go, so we just did the logical thing and followed the lederhosen. (Oh, yes. There were lederhosen.) The only appropriate word to describe our feelings at the moment would have to be giddy. When we actually saw the festival, we were in awe. It is gigantic, and not at all what I expected. That first night we learned a few important lessons about Oktoberfest:

1. Beer “tents” are actually buildings. There is nothing “tent” about the elaborate halls we found ourselves in once we finally got in. 

2. There are really rollercoasters!!!! There are also ferris wheels, and spinny things, and slides, and all sorts of rides. This seems like a bad idea, no? 

3. Getting beer at Oktoberfest is ironically a lot harder than one would think. Seriously. We got into the famous Hofbrau tent only to find that they wouldn’t serve us if we didn’t have a table. All of the tables had people at them.

4. After leaving Hofbrau and eventually maneuvering our way into the Lowenbrau tent (just a sneaky run through the door before it closed; not a big deal), we learn the way to circumvent number 3. We finally looked desperate enough for a beer maiden to serve us, and then realized that making friends is not hard to do. We spend the evening with our new friends Isaac and Claire from Australia, the creepy Italian who’s obsessed with Chaele (I mean Sarah? She felt Chaele was too complicated), Anthony from New York, and others we met along the way. You don’t need a table – you need to know people who have a table, and all that takes is a Pros’t. (Cheers! Obviously I picked up the important German words.)

             After that reconnaissance mission, we returned to our hotel where the rest of our friends were still arriving. We made plans to leave early the next morning so as to avoid the long waits we had just encountered. We were out the door a mere 40 minutes later than planned, and even had some friends (Duke friends) who were already at a table in a tent! Things were looking up. Unfortunately, the morning was another Oktoberfail filled with lots of waiting and very little movement, with the added bonus of rain and cold. Luckily, we took the opportunity to buy some food so as to expand our previous day’s diet of beer and bread products to include meat! We all got chicken sausage burgers (how German!) which were so delicious it was unreal. Perhaps that was just the being in the cold and rain for hours without eating anything talking, but I’m still not over that burger. Eventually, we realized we were not going to get into the tent our friends were in, so we made our way back towards where we came from. We ended up waiting in line for the Hofbrau house again, although this time in a line on a much sketchier side of the building. There was seemingly no rhyme or reason as to how many people would be let in at a time and why, but eventually we made it to the front of the line. We realized that people had been bribing the bouncers which probably surprised me more than it should have. That just seemed too much like a movie for it be real life, but then again, I guess Oktoberfest is on the verge of not being real life as a whole. We ended up getting in by working our charm and looking cold and desperate – a much better option. Of course the first person I see once inside the tent was a girl who lived on my hall freshman year. So predictable, Duke.
Inside Hofbrau. Note: Standing on benches, elaborate decorations, partyyyyyy!

              Armed with our knowledge from yesterday, we immediately went about searching for a table. We saw an end of one with no people in it, so we just sat, no questions asked. We met some people from Germany and some from the University of Richmond. People even ran into high school friends! We were sitting right by the band. Some of their favorites: Sweet Caroline, New York, New York, and of course, Ein Prosit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR8VmCDdt5o). Ein Prosit is a famous drinking song which nearly everyone in every tent seemed to know. I guess since they played it every twenty minutes people figured it out. Erin and I employed the help of our German neighbors to assist us. I’m pretty much a pro, now. I think I could be mistaken for a local, to be honest. The only thing I was missing was some Lederhosen.
                In addition, I learned that they don’t actually sell the enormous beersteins that the maidens serve you. (They hold a liter each – beer maidens could literally carry twelve full ones at a time. I counted and was thoroughly impressed.) They sell some super cool souvenir ones which I invested in (no wonder Oktoberfest allegedly brings in more than 1 billion euro a year!), but I wanted a legit stein from a tent. I trust that it’s clear I’m super stealthy when I say I’m currently drinking some water out of my very own HB Munchen beerstein. I guess in retrospect, it wasn’t too hard to do, and unless you walked out of a tent with a stein very obviously in your hand no one was going to take it away from you. Regardless, this water still tastes like victory. 

               While some people drink the night away in a beer tent, we had enough by about dinner time. We went to a bar/restaurant by the hotel where some of the girls who met us in Munich had gone the night before. We got two unimaginably large portions of schnitzel (again, so German!) and ate nearly the whole thing. It was delicious. There was a band playing, and some old couples were dancing. It was very cute. We ordered some dessert which was basically dough and applesauce – it took at least 45 minutes to make. Why? Anyway, while we were waiting for this dessert, there was some major hustle and bustle occurring in the restaurant. They pulled a bunch of tables together to make two which would accommodate about 20-25 people each. Suddenly, what seemed like the goth/biker convention of Munich rolled in, and the sweet, old people dancing were replaced with an angry mosh pit. It was an interesting transition to say the least. After enjoying our long-awaited dessert, we took our leave and headed back to our hotel. This morning, we navigated the hotel back up to the airport without a problem. We had made it through Oktoberfest without losing people or things – on the contrary, we gained some of both. 

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