We arrived in Munich and it was like we had some how also caught a train to winter. It was cold and raining and confusing. After almost 3 months of sunshine and a tan to prove it (even Roisin had a lovely glow). I think we had forgotten that winter existed. We trudged along on the tram to our hostel, which took the longest time thanks to the traffic, but once we arrived we were pretty amazed by what we found. Located slightly out of town, was ‘The Tent’ and it really was just that – a field lined with trees and fairy lights, a cafeteria, a check in cabin, bathroom stalls, a campfire, a volleyball net, two-man tents and three large marquee type tents set up. It honestly felt like we hard arrived for our adult version of school camp. Time to crack out the torch, midnight snacks and horror stories! We lined up to check in, receive our 3 blankets each (we could collect more if we wished once we had experienced the temperature inside the tent/marquee, and I made full use of this option) and our wrist-bands that had the address of the accommodation and phone number on it (this will prove to be handy later on).

We threw our things in the tent and ran off to catch the tram and head back into town as we had a dinner date with Mel and Kane. We met them at a classic Bavarian pub and spent the next few hours hugging, kissing, drinking, eating and chatting to our hearts content, we had a lot to catch up on! We decided to head into Oktoberfest with them and some of their friends tomorrow, so we turned in for an early-ish night and to prepare.

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Now I have never really bee a huge beer drinker, but I must say that I do prefer beer overseas to in Australia (which is probably a mind-set more than anything, but it might just be me growing up). Never-the-less, I was a bit concerned I may not like Oktoberfest, but having see most of the town out in their traditional outfits last night and the excitement that seemed to be bubbling around the town, the enthusiasm was contagious and I soon forgot any worries I may have had. We woke up full of excitement and anticipation, enjoyed breakfast at our cafeteria (where you paid for whatever you took which was a nice way to organise it) and got dressed in our traditional garb. It is safe to say we were now brimming with enthusiasm!!

Honestly, I don’t think I expected anything more from Oktoberfest than a field full of beer tents in which people consume beer after beer (and admittedly, there was quite a few people doing just that), but I was overwhelmed to see that it is so much more than that. First and foremost, it really is an overwhelming experience, the 40 hectare grounds are  turned into a big funfair with loads of amusement rides, haunted houses, games and carnival food. I really felt like I could have been in a theme park anywhere in the world (other than the lederhosen that is)!! The smells, colours, sights and sounds meant that for the first half an hour we walked around in a daze, gawking at all the different things that you could ride, eat and drink, as well as the myriad of costumes people were wearing, and taking far too many photos. It was lovely to see that there was also lots of children and families running around, as well as some of the most darling elderly couples you have ever seen in your life. Then we turned into crazed children, consumed by the energy that was flowing around us. It might sounds ludicrous but it was actually incredible. Max and I decided to go on the Olympic Rings roller coaster (for some unknown reason) but once the car started moving I realized that it was not a good idea at all. I was terrified and my tummy turned and twisted, and I am pretty sure Max and I squealed a LOT more than anyone else. Luckily we hadn’t had any beer before the ride. We clambered off and then made our way to the meeting point to find Mel, Kane and the boys, deciding to dive right into one of the beer tents.

Once inside the tent I found the Oktoberfest I had been imagining. There was rows and rows of benches where you take a seat and order the beer. Each of the 14 big tents belong to one of the famous breweries (Augustiner, Hofbräu, Paulaner or Löwenbräu) and they each have a specific brew for the occasion. Some of the bigger tents hold 10,000 people and about 6.5 million liters of beer (or 13.736.947 pints!) are consumed in the 16/17 days of the festival. In the short space of time we were walking to our table, we watched a guy climb on top of a table, under the applause of his mates, down a litre of beer in less than thirty seconds, and then be dragged off the table and escorted out be security – could only get better from here right??

We sat down at one of the benches and ordered a round of drinks. We chatted and got to know each other, shared some pretzels and I was berated for forgetting to bring the playing card (apparently Max and Roisin had asked me about it when we left our accommodation and I had said that I had them.. I still do not remember this conversation occurring AT ALL, so who knows where my head was while it was happening). It is fair to say that it was hard to take it all in – the  music, cheering, clinking of glasses, the decorations, the impressive strength of the beer wenches, the weird and wonderful moving funny hats (roast chickens mostly), the giant trays or giant pretzels, the gingerbread-love-heart necklaces (lebkuchen), ladies selling the lebkuchen as badges/necklaces/earrings/anything personalised, the smell of quintessential Bavarian food and beer, the outfits (which were surprisingly tasteful – we learnt that only “stupid tourists” wear the short/skanky versions we see back home) … the list goes on but it is even overwhelming thinking back on it!

We quickly discovered that we could not keep up with the boys and their drinking as by the time we moved to the next tent, we were three beers down and shortly after were throwing up in the toilets. Roisin, Mel and I headed outside to chow down on some chips, otherwise I think we would have headed home to bed, (at Oktoberfest eating is 100% not cheating) and met an absolutely lovely (and smashed) couple on their honeymoon. They were great fun and she eventually lead him back to their group of friends with a bribe of chicken. Once we were full (and much happier and more alert) we headed back into the tent to join the others and in the 30 minutes – an hour that we were gone, the mood had changed (it seemed like the strength of the beer, and the speed with which we had consumed it, was starting to affect even the boys). The evening continued on till about 10pm and was a compilation of tears, arguments, broken  steins, misconstrued comments, table dancing, free wine (from the angry man behind Roisin), the best schnitzel I have ever had, a plate of boiled potatoes, singing-a-longs and laughter. We somehow managed to get split up, Roisin and I went home, Max ended up taking a taxi home (thank goodness for that wrist band because who knows what our address was), Mel ended up staying with the boys and Kane lost his costume, went on some rides and assuming Mel went home with us, ended up at his apartment alone. The exact sequence and order of any of the above events is anyone’s guess.

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“Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Rosh…. Happy birthday tooooooo yoooooooou”

Today was Roisin’s birthday, and to celebrate we were heading back into Oktoberfest, but we decided to have a slower start (for the best I think, no need to get to Oktoberfest by 9am. Although one of our bunk-mates had a different idea. He had arrived about the same time as us yesterday, had immediately changed into his lederhosen and had headed into Oktoberfest. On the way back from dinner with Mel and Kane we ran into him and his pals on the tram and they were all sufficiently intoxicated. Then the next morning he was up at 6am going back into the festival. Spoilers – it was day 5 before he changed out of his lederhosen!!). So we relaxed and swapped stories about last nights antics before heading into town to have lunch and catch up with Isaac, who was also in town for Oktoberfest. We headed back to the festival grounds and enjoyed walking around, going on rides and eating chocolate covered strawberries (mmm) until we met up with Mel, Kayne and the boys in the late afternoon and ventured inside a new beer tent. It was a bit busier than yesterday given it was later in the evening, so we split up into boys and girls and shared tables with some others. All of the tents seemed to have a slightly different atmosphere….but no matter what that was, there was always a lot of singing!! We played a few rounds of cards, and enjoyed a few steins, before we decided to venture over and join the boys who were participating in the stand-on-the-benches-and-swing-you-steins sing-a-long. Now if there’s one song we heard about a thousand times (probably not even an exaggeration) it is “Ein Proist”. I swear it rang out of each tent every 20 minutes or so in an honest effort to help revellers get nice and lubricated. The song starts out repeating Ein Prosit (Eyn Pro-zit) Der Gemütlichkeit (Dare Gay-mute-lich-kite)! I was very curious as to what I was pretending to sing-a-long to every 20 minutes, so I did some google-ing. Apparently you can’t translate Gemütlichkeit directly into English (it’s one of those uniquely German words like Doppelgänger) the best English translation is “coziness”or “good cheer”. But Gemütlichkeit goes a step further and encapsulates a feeling of belonging, social acceptance and leaving your troubles at the door. Whenever Ein Prosit is played you’re obliged to stand up with your beer and sway along to the tune, toast with everyone at the table and chug. I’ve got to say that although the main purpose of the song is probably to encourage more drinking, whenever the song came on it really did make the tent feel more “cozy” as strangers turned to each other, smiled, swayed and clinked their glasses together.

We separated from the boys again to go enjoy the other huge part of this event – the food (the boys were idiots for not joining us). We love our chicken, schnitzel and potatoes! Food is such a big part of the festival that around half a million roast chickens are consumed every year, plus hundreds of thousands of grilled ham hocks, sausages (especially the Bavarian white sausages called weisswurst) steckerlfisch (fish grilled on a stick), piglings and other meat dishes – Oktoberfest is a meat lover’s heaven. There is an even entire tent dedicated to grilled oxen. When our bellies were full we returned to the boys and it seemed like the tent had collectively had 5 more beers and were now all immensely intoxicated. Within 5 seconds Mel was almost punched in the face by a passing fist (as it glided on to hit another person in the face). We saw two fights, were accosted by boys and had beer spilt everywhere. We broke up these joyous activities by practising our ‘resting bitch faces’ to fend off the boys, and practically falling over laughing at the fact that my best version of this face was basically a grimace and then a fit of giggles. #Oktoberfest.

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Today we needed a break. All of the revelry of Oktoberfest was too much excitement for us! We headed off to explore the side of Munich that wasn’t centered around liquid gold.

We hopped on a tram and headed to the Eisbach, a small channel of the Isar River that runs through Munich’s big, central park, where river surfing began. Apparently surfers have been flocking to this river since the 1970s, but let me tell you, it is not for the faint of heart. We stood with about 20+ others and watched the mad-men work their magic. They had to be ready to ride from the moment they hit the water, and it was fascinating to watch how each of the surfers tackled the challenge differently. A part of me thought they were crazy, the water looked ice-cold, and about a thousand times I thought one of them was going to whack their heads on the rock that lined the river.

We went to a nearby Italian restaurant for lunch which was terrific. The food was great, but the best part was the waitress – this lovely old Italian lady who must have thought that we were more than a little bit batty. She took great care explaining the “menu of the day” to us, and became somewhat confused herself when we still didn’t seem to understand the third go round. She was very chatty and started telling us all about Munich and Oktoberfest. She mentioned how the security was much greater this year, and that was putting some of the local off, as well as there being less people attending so far this year in general. I also enjoyed the little arguements she was having with her husband behind the bar!

Given it was a beautiful day, we headed off into the sprawling Englische Garten (English Garden) –  one of the largest urban parks in the world. We strolled around the paths, dark with stands of mature oak and maple, before we emerging into a sunlit meadows of lush grass. We could not help but find a spot where we bask in the sunshine for an hour or two. Despite the size of the park, everything felt like it was in close proximity (in a good way). The cyclists, walkers, joggers, musicians, dogs, ducks, students and soccer players all happily sharing this network of paths and fields. After a nap, some soduko and a touch of reading, the heat had begun to disappear from the sun and we headed back to the hostel for a rest before dinner. Roisin had found another place for us to try (got to love tripadvisor) and after we had finished scrolling through Facebook, we headed back into town to check out Burgers Hamburgerei. It would not be an exaggeration to say that these were some of the most delicious burgers I have had the pleasure of tasting. With toppings such as caramelised onions, gorgonzola cheese, halloumi, guacamole, a huge range of sauces, sweet potato fries and their own home brew of beer we were in culinary heaven. Once we had fully taken the time to savour our delicious meals, we headed out to a traditional basement level pub to meet up with Meg and her pals (yay another coincidence that we were in the same place, same time). The pub had a terrific vibe with a live band and people spilling out the doors, all laughing and generally being merry together.

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This morning the girls decided it was about time they learnt a bit more about what made Munich.. well Munich so to speak. As they joined a Sanderman’s tour and wandered off to see the top landmarks and discover the stories behind them, such as the Glockenspiel, the Hofbräuhaus and the Frauenkirche, I went on an adventure of my own – to the Nymphenburg Palace. I had wanted to visit this stunning palace on my last visit to Munich but ran out of time, so I was looking forward to not only seeing this magnificent summer residence to the birth of the long-awaited heir to the throne, Max Emanuel, but also to loose myself amongst the immense grounds. The interior decoration of the main palace really seemed to represent the variety of  styles from the different royals who lived behind the walls, ranging from Baroque and Rococo to Neoclassicism. My favourite room was probably the light-filled Great Hall in the centre of the palace because of the lively ceiling fresco. You could just picture the type of parties and people that were once entertained in this room. One of the most unique rooms was the Gallery ofBeauties, where you can find 36 paintings of beautiful women (or women that King Ludwig I of Bavaria found beautiful) from all sections of society. Next I ventured through the former Riding Stables of the palace and the Porcelain Museum where you can find the most important court carriages, sleighs, equestrian collections and some of the most beautiful porcelain figures I have ever seen. Certainly wouldn’t have wanted to knock anything over in there! Time to explore the gardens..

The first thing that struck me was how well the design of the garden and the architecture of the palace fitted together. The original Baroque garden, with the large fountain and central canal bordered by avenues of flowers were simply stunning and were home to all kinds of birdlife. I loved seeing all sorts of people strolling the grounds freely, those all kitted out in Bavarian clothing as well as those clearly on their weekly run. They had a real community feel to them. The last thing I wanted to see before I went to meet the girls for lunch was some of the Pavilions that are symmetrically dotted around the park. I visited both the Amalienburg and Badenburg Palaces. They were both very impressive, especially given their small size. The Amalienburg was an exquisite creation with beautiful paintings and carvings and each room was unique in design such as the Hall of Mirrors, the Blue Cabinet and Bedroom, the Yellow Room, the Hunting Room and the Indian Cabinet. The Badenburg was equally as breath-taking, with a large Banquet Hall that took up two storeys and had impressive artwork, the Electors’ Apartments that had beautiful Chinese wall paper and a pretty stunning bathing pavilion.

I took my time leaving the beautiful grounds of the Nymphenburg Palace, exploring some of the extensive forest-like park, dominated by a central-axial canal and divided by numerous avenues and perspective axes. It had a very different feel to the gardens directly in front of the palace, with natural-looking design elements, a selection of trees and shrubs arranged to grow as nature intended, meadows with moulded surface levels and artfully contoured woodland borders, lakes and brooks with banks and islands shaped true to nature, and elegantly winding paths. I felt a bit like Alice in Wonderland.

Back in the real world I ventured off to meet up with the girls which proved to be only somewhat more stressful than expected with tram delays that no one seemed to explain (even the locals looked pretty dumbfounded…and angry). Unfortunately the girls hadn’t loved their guide this time, so after a look around the markets, we decided to head to a beer hall to eat and drink some of the afternoon away. Leaving the pub we found ourselves suddenly surrounded by drunken Italians. This might seem like I weird sentiment, but we had been warned about the influx of Italians at Oktoberfest this weekend because of a public holiday in Italy, we just didn’t think it would be so noticeable. Unfortunately for us they were mostly ludicrously drunk and threw drunken comments at us left right and centre. Off-putting at the best of times, no less so when coming form someone in a 3pm drunken stopper (no judgement of course). We were not exactly sure what to do with the rest of our afternoon/evening, and decided on heading into Oktoberfest to go on the rides and eat the food. Sort of be a tourist of the festival!

It’s a whole different experience wandering around sober in the afternoon (maybe in part because it seems like everyone else is roaring drunk). It was wonderfully hilarious. Everyone was just having a great time and the atmosphere was as electric as ever. From the families and the elderly, to the drunken masses, everyone was having a ball! We went on a few fun rides and roller coasters, enjoyed some delicious chocolate covered strawberries and Max went on a ridiculously terrifying upside-down-spin-around crazy ride while Roisin and I watched safely from the ground. From there, we headed to the old-fashioned Ferris Wheel which has been an Oktoberfest institution for decades and as it turns out, is the best way to get an overview of the entire fun fair and all fourteen beer tents. I loved the old-fashioned cars of the Ferris Wheel (and I felt much more comfortable just going round and round at a leisurely pace, instead of being turned upside down at an insane speed!). Although Roisin still didn’t love the heights (granted for the first go around, we did keep stopping every few moments and we were in a car with a few VERY inebriated men who seemed to think it was a grand idea to rock the car around…), it was impressive to catch a glimpse of the hoards of people strolling around the grounds and we were very glad we had the opportunity to explore during the week when you had a bit more space to stumble around.

I must say that my favourite part of our afternoon, hands down, was the people watching. We saw a group of 8 guys, walking two-by-two, just fall over. For no reason. On top of each other in a pile! They then struggled for ages trying to get up, not being able to reason out a strategy and continuing to fall over on top of each other. The most fascinating area of Oktoberfest was probably the stretch of grass on a hill we found where everyone obviously goes to pass out (or have a sneaky rest). I’m glad we didn’t know about this one our first day, or this might have been where we ended up! Here we found plenty of “beer corpses” (people sleeping while sitting/lying down – a much better spot that on the sidewalks, or the streets, that we later saw people sleeping in), loads of people doing the old head-nod, people eating, kissing and one guy lying flat on his back – totally out of it – with his friends sitting in a semi-circle around him. Initially we all thought “what terrific friends this guys has, all looing after him”, however as we got closer we saw that they were pulling out clumps of grass and covering him in it! About 10 minutes later when we walked back down the hill  he had a nice little mound of grass forming on his belly. We had to admit that they were still pretty great friends, I mean, they could have simply left him to fend for himself, and instead they will now have a great story they can all share! Grass stains are not that bad!

For dinner tonight we decided not to venture too far from our beds and found a Greek restaurant around the corner with excellent reviews. We were not disappointed in the slightest. It was a great little place, where the waiters were hilarious, honestly don’t know if they spoke a word of German or very much English so most of the time we used gestures. The food was delicious, the gave us free ouzo and dessert, the chef and owner both came out shook everyone’s hands and made polite conversations (although again with us it was mainly gestures and agreeable noises) and it didn’t even cost a fortune! A lovely last meal in Germany – despite the lack of Bavarian cuisine.

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We were quite sad to say goodbye to Munich, especially while it was surrounded by the atmosphere of Oktoberfest, but we might not have been able to handle too many more litres of beer. I thought I would sign off with some of our tips for anyone wanting to visit Adult Disneyland i.e. Oktoberfest:

1. It’s a marathon, not a sprint — you’ll be drinking all day, so there’s no need to rush it. Pace yourself. Those liters of beer are strong. Damn strong.
2. Hydrate: Drink a lot of water while you’re there (don’t forget you are also using up some energy with all that singing, dancing and swaying  you are doing).
3. Go DURING the week if you can!! You don’t have to worry about getting a table early, you certainly do not need to get there at 8am and it is much easier to “just wing it” (not to mention there are less people in general – lining up for food, rides and toilets).
4. Eating is not cheating. It is the only way to survive. Yes the food is cheaper outside the tents, but you know what? It is not THAT expensive inside, it is delicious, you will be able to keep your table, AAANNNDD you might not even want to go home at 4pm after throwing up in the toilet. #goals.
5. Go on the rides! They are a blast! … but go BEFORE the beer.
6. Learn the language. Right, so I know that German isn’t really one of those languages you can pick up easily over night, but if you learn a few common phrases it always helps! (it might even help you get on the servers’ good side).
7. I would say get a costume – you certainly don’t need one, but hey! It’s a fun addition to the atmosphere, most people in Munich are wearing them – not just at the festival, but all around town – and if you go to an op shop you can get something for next-to-nothing!
8. Last but not least, even if you don’t like beer, I would say Oktoberfest is something you should experience at least once, because there really is no way to completely describe the vibe of Munich during Oktoberfest without seeing it for yourself. It really is just that. An experience.