We arrived in Munich, took the 40-minute train ride into the city, and had a short walk to our hotel. We got situated and walked across the street to check email and then walked the five blocks to the Theresienwiese, the official grounds of Oktoberfest.
As we got closer, we could hear the pulsating roar of a huge crowd and feel the energy in the air. We walked around, mouths agape, smelling the food and watching the rides and people. It was similar to a county fair...rides, games, food vendors, haunted houses, etc., but think of a this county fair on the Las Vegas strip. We made our way over to the next "street" and the beer "tents" became the focal point. Tents really do not describe these structures. These structures held 7,000 people!
We walked into a tent and it was the party of a lifetime. There was a band playing and nearly everyone was standing on the benches dancing, singing, and "prosting" (cheersing/clanking glasses) with everyone in sight. Everyone was happy, fun, welcoming and instantly friends with everyone around. To top it all off, fifty percent of the people -- all ages -- were dressed in traditional German clothing -- lederhosen and wench dresses.
After getting a taste of the tent, we went outside and ordered a plate of brats and sauerkraut and discussed the beer tent we wanted to spend the rest of the evening in. We settled on the Spaten beer tent. We could only get served if we were seated, and because many tables were reserved and the crowd was massive, finding a seat was tough. We made our way into the center of the tent and before long lucked out and found room at a table full of older Germans. They were extremely nice and begged us to join them. Their names were Hans, Sylvia and Siggy. Their home was in Munich and Hans made reservations six months in advance to get that table. I think they were amused watching us have so much fun.
Beers were about $12 and each beer was one liter. Each beer tent only served one kind of beer, so ordering was pretty simple. The Spaten beer garden was 1700 meters squared and fit 7,600 people in it. The Spaten beer tent alone cooked 90 oxen during Oktoberfest (each ox weighs in at around 550 pounds).
We were having a blast chatting, singing, dancing, prosting and drinking. It turns out we drank three liters of strong German beer each and managed to get so lost on our way back to the hotel even though our hotel was four blocks from the Oktoberfest grounds. We stopped numerous people, but we were off the map we had, and we ended up having to take a train home. What a fun night!!
