My buddy Andrew and I decided to hit up Oktoberfest for a day since Munich is only a three and a half to four hour train ride from Vienna. We wake up around 5am and leave Vienna on the 6:15am train to Munich. The train ride there went by super fast since I slept the majority of the way. On the train we sat across from 6 guys dressed in the full bavarian outfit for Oktoberfest. By the way, before even arriving at Oktoberfest we observed each of them drinking at least 2 litters of beer!
Once we arrived in Munich Andrew and I followed everyone dressed in the customary bavarian outfit to the Oktoberfest fair grounds in Munich. We had no idea where to go initially but our plan worked out since it only took us about 15 minutes from the train station to get to the gates of the event. After getting through the gate we saw the most crazy spectacle; an amusement park/carnival/drinking party all in one! We saw a variety of huge rides, most notably rides I like to call "spin and go puke rides." These rides involve you being spun in a circle at very high speeds high in the air. Usually the result of these rides, for me at least, is the feeling of intense nausea. And that is why I call these rides such a name, because after riding such a ride you are likely to puke! However, what made this very interesting was seeing drunk people ride these rides. I cannot imagine going on these rides intoxicated! Along with "spin and go puke rides" we saw a few roller coasters, which to our surprise had loops! Again, this is like nothing I've ever seen before. Watching drunk Germans walking around and going on these rides is something very odd if you've been to amusement parks in America where there is absolutely no alcohol.
After walking around the whole event we were invited by a German girl working a particular event to go in and observe a live TV show being produced. We walked into a tent and saw a large wheel like object on the floor where people would ride. The goal of the entire show is who can ride the spinning wheel the longest without being thrown off! It was a very fun/funny experience seeing people attempt to stay on the wheel. We watched the show for about 20 minutes and felt it was a good time to get something to eat before entering a beer tent for the afternoon.
For lunch Andrew and I stop at a food stand near the beer tent we want to go in. I had curry wurst which is super spicy sausage! It was really good but I regret eating it at the time I did. (I'll explain later) Right after we ate lunch we entered into the world famous Hofbrauhaus beer tent! We situated ourselves about 20 yards from where the band was to play. This tent was massive, it could hold about 10,000 people in full capacity. During our time there it reached about 8,000 or so people inside.
Once we sat down in the tent we ordered our first HB one litter beer. These things were huge! After about 30 minutes the band started to play. It was hailed in by the crowd by a well deserved huge round of applause! The band played bavarian style music and had a variety of different drinking songs. My favorite song was played every 20 minutes; the prost (cheers song). This song was when everyone raised their drinks up high in the air and swung back and forth saying, "Ein prosit, Ein prosit." Let me translate the song into English for you. "A toast, A toast, to the coziness of it all, A toast, A toast, to the the coziness of it all!" Once the song ended we all gave each other a toast and took a big drink of our litter beer! Basically, this process continued for Andrew and I at least for another 4 to 5 hours! (here is a short vid my buddy shot while we were singing "Ein Prosit" song.)
Throughout our time in the tent there were occasion loud cheers of people cheering on those who chugged their 1 litter beers within 30 seconds. It was quite hilarious at the time seeing people go through so much beer. I observed some people but down more than 5 litters of beer over the course of a few hours there. I could not believe this feat! If everyone thinks Americans know how to drink, think again, the Germans really know how to drink! (Here are some pictures before you read more)
During our time in the beer tent we hung out with a few Canadians, Germans, and Australians at the end. We enjoyed the Canadians the most. We talked about hockey, bars, Europe etc. It was a great time. The four hours or so we were in the beer tent went by very quickly! Andrew and I both enjoyed our time in the tent, but by 4:20 or so we decided it was best to leave the tent before becoming consumed by the event! After a quite confusing walk back to the train station we stopped at Burger King and ate a bit before getting some 1.5 litter water bottles for the train. We left at 5:30pm out of Munich for the ride back to Vienna. I slept for about half the ride back but awoke half way through the ride not feeling so well in the stomach region. I continued drinking water throughout the trip back and finally made it back to Vienna at around 9:30pm. After a 35 minute commute back to our dorm I drank about another 2 litters or so of water before passing out at around 11:45pm.
Oktoberfest can be summed up as the most amazing party I've ever been to. I will never forget my short time attending Oktoberfest. I really recommend everyone should attend this event at least once in their life. It was a great way to see German Bavarian culture as well as have a great time!
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