Munich

Oktoberfest! It has various embodiments practically everywhere in the US, with celebrations of it all over the globe. And now I've been to the real thing!

Half of it was a lot like the fair, with rides and game booths and souvenir shops. But the other half is all about the beer. The tents, filled to the brim with people all wanting the same thing: to try some of the local flavor.

The first day we got all dressed up in our liderhosen and dirndls and stayed out to watch the parade that opened the festival. They had horses dragging wagonloads of kegs, just the way they did a hundred years ago. And then there were the bands and the traditional garbs and these guys who were carrying around huge whips, which sounded like thunder when they would demonstrate breaking the sound barrier.

By the time we actually got into a tent, it was raining pretty heavily out, and the tables were of course all full. Having gotten a few tricks from the locals, we didn't know how good we had it by getting in so quickly. When we couldn't get a table after a while, we gave up and went elsewhere. What a mistake that was. Because of the rain, no one else was leaving the tents. We got into a few more, including the candy castle one with all the desserts, but that one only had wine and that wasn't what we had come to Oktoberfest for.

We eventually settled for a beer garden in the rain, and managed to grab a table under an awning. Luckily, that was about it for the rain, and our table quickly became a hot commodity, which everyone tried to muscle in on whenever someone in our group would go to the bathroom. And we got our first beers! And Radlers, which are half beer, half lemonade mixtures. Yum.

The thing to understand about Oktoberfest beers is that they're huge. They're an entire liter, and that's a lot of liquid. One size fits all. And they're also about €10 apiece. They're actually less than that, but you have to tip your server every time, or they won't come back to serve you again. They've got a ton of other customers willing to tip. One of the locals was telling us that a server can make €50,000 in this one week, carrying 12 beers and getting €12 every time they go out. I don't know if that math is all there, but they're definitely making significant amounts just in tips.

People say that Oktoberfest can get crazy, and I guess that's true too. We were told that if you pass out or fall asleep they have bouncers that drag you out and drop you on the curb. We didn't see that actually happening, but we did see a lot of guys blinking on the curbs by themselves. The beer at Oktoberfest is also a lot stronger than many people are accustomed to, and there were people passed out on the street in some places. And lots of ambulances and stretchers going through, as well as police.

We stayed at our table for the rest of the night, vowing to get up early the next morning to snag a table in a tent. Half of us made it up and managed to stake out the Hippodrome tent early enough to capture a table. They had great music going and awesome food as well as the beer. I didn't like it as much as the other, but we weren't about to give up our table and leave until we were good and ready. Or they kicked us out.

I was surprised that the tents weren't really tents, but actual structures they put up every year. No canvas. When we did eventually leave the tent, we wandered and then eventually settled into another beer garden. It was really crowded, and we had to split up and sit at different tables, which was actually better because it gave us the chance to talk to some of the other people who had come to Oktoberfest. We met more locals who come every year, as well as people from the US and a great guy from New Zealand, Ben, who at 19 was randomly traveling around by himself all summer. It really does seem like most of the travelers I encounter are either from California or Australia, but I'm not sure why. Maybe we're more the adventurous types?

In one corner of the park grounds of Oktoberfest, there's a giant statue up on steps, where you can climb and see the best view of the entire festival. I think it put it in perspective a bit. It was such a huge area, and it was still a push to get through people everywhere you went, especially on such a nice day.

I think one of the best random parts of the day was when an old high school friend walked by and recognized me in the crowd. We stopped and caught up, which was amazing. I can never believe the randomness of the universe!

After walking the grounds a bit more, we went out to the city center where they have one of those traditional clocks that have characters that dance and spin at certain times of the day. We didn't get to see it in action, but it was still neat to look at. After dinner, we stopped in the square for a bit to listen to a trio playing Mozart. It was a relaxing ending to our last day together in Munich. Most of the group was headed home in the morning, and sad to go.

I had an awesome time with the group, most of whom I had never met before Europe. It was kind of amazing how well we all got on together. I guess I was just the right amount of geek to fit in, as many of our toasts were dedicated to Joss Wheaton and the crew of Firefly. Proust!