Oktoberfest!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Prosit! We sure had a blast in the Augustiner-Bräu tent at Oktoberfest. Crowds, music, pretzel, chicken, thrill rides, Bavarian attire, fun. If you notice, Janet looks happy, yet Ken looks like he has a mission!

On the train ride, Wiff and I reviewed my Hofbräuhaus Song lyrics. He had taught the song to Rich and me 42 yrs ago, and I thought I might be singing it again today with thousands of others. We looked at the other Oktoberfest facts and figures I brought along that I had printed out from Wikipedia before we left.

 When our subway train arrived at Theresienwiese, just before noon, nearly every person on the train was heading to the Fest. Even though it had begun only 90 minutes earlier, and we thought we'd be there early to beat the crowds, it was nevertheless crowded. And so many people were wearing their Bavarian costumes, which Janet and I liked so much. We were surprised how many thrill rides and other carnival rides there were; it was more than just beer drinking.

During our early walking around, we got to see three of the horse-drawn beer wagons. This one, from Hofbräuhaus, and also from Paulaner and Hacker-Pschoor. The horses were elaborately decorated, and the beer tents were too.

 We also saw millions of the ginger-heart souvenir cookies (Lebkuchenherz).

 We loved the animated scenes above the entrances to many of the tents. Here's a pig on a spit with two Fräuleins wearing dirndls who are turning the spit.

Two more of the beer wagons with their teams of decorated horses. Only six brands of Munich beer are allowed at Oktoberfest: Paulaner, Hacker-Pschoor, Spaten, Hofbräuhaus, Löwenbrau, and Augustiner.

Here's the one we decided to try, to see if there were three available seats - Augustiner-Bräu. It was said to be the local favorite because it was the oldest (1328), is still locally owned, and they're the only brewery to still age their beer in wooden kegs. 

 Here's what it looked like on the inside, and it was still early in the day! Lucky for us, Wilfried found a table with three available seats. We soon ordered "drei Maß", or three liter-mugs. 

And here comes our beer! Wiff had told us about all that foam, that once it settles it must reach the liter mark on the glass. We didn't care. They were 10 € each, or about $13. Finally we could savor our Oktoberfest bier!

 We couldn't resist one of those super pretzels! Wiff then ordered a chicken for each of us.

This photo shows the band playing in our tent. Part of the fun was listening to the music and hearing the audience recite certain lyrics, especially when they involved a raising of the mugs in a toast.

We enjoyed visiting with other Americans at our table. One had been an exchange student to a Swiss family, and she would be off to visit them just as we would be off to visit our Swiss exchange student. Before long, they decided to leave and go visit another tent. But they hadn't finished their beers! How could they just leave half a maß of that fine beer? I couldn't let it go to waste, so I decided to drink them!

When I needed to visit the WC, I found a trough about 30 ft long! It was very crowded for anyone coming or going through the WC door. Eventually, after I had finished the two half-mugs leftover from our table mates, we decided to do some more walking around.

She wasn't REALLY that wasted (but maybe I was!).

Here are several more photos I took as we walked around Wiesn:

That lion's arm moved as he drank his stein of beer.

We visited one other beer tent just to see what it was like inside. Here's the Hacker-Pschoor band.

While we were in there, I got this shot of these men standing on their benches for a Prosit!

During our walk, I got very thirsty - an indication I had a bit too much beer. So I bought a plastic bottle of water. What was interesting was that it cost an extra Euro so that you would return the plastic bottle! So, the deposit on a tiny little plastic water bottle was about $1.30! We stood there as I drank the water, and then I gave the bottle back to them and got my Euro. Good thing Wiff was there to explain all this.

We finally decided we would depart and head home, at about 4 pm. Once on the subway, I just lay down and slept it off! Luckily Wiff was sober enough to get us transferred to the correct train back to Burghausen. At one point, we were on a train ready to depart and he realized we were on the wrong train. He got us straightened out and we had to wait a while, so I just slept on the station bench. Janet will add her comments about this I'm sure!

Back in Burghausen, Wiff drove us back to our hotel and said goodbye, and we'd see him and Renate the next day in Salzburg. However, we immediately realized that I'd left our room key and car keys in Wiff's glove compartment. The proprietor let us in the room, and I called Wiff to see if he could drive back and bail us out. He laughed about it and soon returned with our keys.

After a while we decided to have dinner in the Gasthof restaurant, just downstairs. It was a notable dinner in that for the only time on this trip, I did not order beer with dinner. I was still tipsy from Oktoberfest, so I ordered water. Also, I ordered the infamous Leberkäse, so I must have been a little off. Janet's spätzle with Swiss cheese was much tastier.

Comment by Janet 
This was quite an amazing day. Having Wilfried arrange our travel helped us get to Oktoberfest with relative ease. We were all pretty excited to have time together and to experience this tradition. Once we were seated in the tent and had a huge pretzel to share, the mugs were delivered. As the others were leaving the table we asked about their half-filled steins. Since they wanted to visit other tents, they confessed they just could not consume all their beer. It was one of those knowing glances with Ken, we smiled and laughed as he poured the remains of one into his mug. Before long the second one remaining was also enjoyed. I wondered how on earth he could be drinking so much and seem so unaffected. However, as we left the tent I knew Ken was pretty intoxicated. Wilfried and I kept a close watch on him and only once did he vanish. Thanks to his upbringing, he had been taught that if he were ever lost or separated from his family, he was to stay right where he was. We found him, all three of us laughing and happy again. I would be surprised if Ken remembers much of the day, but from what he wrote above, he evidently does. He slept all the way back and turned down a beer to go with his dinner. It really was quite a fun day that we will never forget, keeping in mind one of us probably remembers more than the other. OKTOBERFEST WAS GREAT!!!