Oktoberfest

Last Friday, my roommate Minh and I hopped on a 7am train to Munich, Germany. After layovers and delays, we got into Munich around 2pm and headed straight for the city center to check everything out. Because of Oktoberfest, the streets were full of people in their lederhosens and dirndls (traditional German outfit/gingerbreadpeople-esque) roaming around, happy and ready for beer. We walked into shops (mostly touristy), saw beautiful churches, famous landmarks and lots of beer gardens. Someone told me I absolutely had to go to Hofbraühaus so we made our way there for some awesome beer (the size of my head) and traditional German sausages! Everyone was singing, yelling and chugging liters of beer - it was delightful.

We met up with our other roommate Allison later that night and stayed with her friends in a Marriott, which was a luxury for an Oktoberfest trip, even if I had to sleep on the floor. 7 of us girls woke up the next morning at 6am to head to the festival and try to get a table. We succeeded, only after an hour of waiting and holding on to each other for our lives as the crowd shoved each other through the entrance. That part was no bueno but as soon as we secured a table and got our first liters of beer, all was right in the world. The drinking commences at 9am with people cheering for those who are brave (or stupid) enough to stand on tables trying to guzzle down an entire liter of beer. If they down the whole beer, people go crazy and yell and sing more but if they don't, pretzels are thrown and boo's are heard throughout the whole tent. Throughout the day, a band played music and everyone sang together, beers up and swaying... the kind of thing you might picture happening when you think of Oktoberfest.

It really is an experience like nothing else in the entire world and I'm super glad I was able to go. The atmosphere is wild and you meet tons of people from around the world, all while enjoying the best beer, pretzels and sausages of Germany. I loved Munich more than I ever imagined and I would love to go back some day and visit more of Bavaria! Here are pictures from the weekend:

Roommates! Allison, me and Minh 

Getting to the festival at 8am

Waiting for the doors to open at 8am

Our first round of beers

The mess of people in the Hofbraü tent at Oktoberfest

There were tons of puppet and magic shows downtown Munich

Awesome architecture

Me in the city center

My first beer in Munich at Hofbraühaus

More beer tents

A really popular beer tent