Oktoberfest aftermath

I would call the day a success.  I arrived in Munich at approximately 6:30am, so I had time to wander around and prepare myself for the day ahead.  I got a coffee and muffin in Starbucks at the train station, and let an hour or so pass by before I decided to hop on the metro.  From the main train station, the festival was only 1 or 2 stops away; easy enough I figured considering I would most likely be heavily inebriated later in the day as I would try to make my way back.  I arrived at the "Theresienwiese," the park where Oktoberfest is held every year.  Work crews were still cleaning up from the day before, washing the pavement and getting all the beer kegs delivered to the tents.  I attempted to scope out a plan of action, as there were three tents I really wanted to visit, but I figured once I got into one of the tents I probably wouldn't leave.

Finally 10am rolled around, which is when a few of the tents first open.  I peeked inside a few before making my way into the Hofbrau tent.  I knew from reading that this tent was notorious for being packed with foreigners, and my thoughts were that I would meet up with some other tourists and make some friends.  After walking around the tent to see where the important areas were (bathroom, souvenir stand, etc), I picked an empty table, and soon was joined by an older gentlemen from Denmark who lived in Malta and spoke 9 different languages.  We ordered our first round and were soon joined by two Italians (the tent was PACKED with fans of the Italian football club Juventus), and soon after by two german men, probably father and son.  They in turn called over two more people, german girls, and our table was now full.

The atmosphere inside the tent was great.  On one hand, all the Juventus supporters couldnt get enough of chanting their fight songs and whatnot, and on the other the band that was playing was great.  Traditional German drinking music, a few American sing-a-long songs (not the right word, but songs that EVERYONE knew i guess) and the beer girls walking around carrying sometimes up to 15 steins of beer at once!

..........


Five liters of beer later, I thought it would be a great idea to actually go get something to eat.  It was around 4:30 and I hadn't eaten since the muffin at starbucks at 7 that morning.  One bratwurst with mustard later...

...I wake up in the metro stop for the main train station around 8pm.  If you'd like to know what I remembered of the three hours in between, please ask me personally haha.  I headed back to starbucks and sat there for 3 more hours until it was time to get on the night train back to Budapest.  I paid the extra the money for a sleeper compartment.  It was a neccessity.

Someday, hopefully soon, I will return to Munich for Oktoberfest, and this time with a very large group of people to make for a heck of an experience.