Accommodations were hard to find in Munich. So much so that the only affordable option we found was to rent a small two person tent in a campsite full of identical tents from the “Stoke” party group. It was quite a bit outside the city, but luckily there was a bus stop close by so we could easily get into the city as needed. Being the end of September it was starting to get quite cold at night so we used pool floats to keep us off the cold ground and bundled up tight at night.
Oktoberfest was one big party split into many different drinking tents. Each brewery had a decorated tent. Each day we tried to get to the festival early enough to be able to get into the tent, once it filled up, it was almost impossible to get in. One time Sara left the table to go to the bathroom, took a wrong turn and ended up outside. Security wasn’t buying her story about getting lost, but she managed to sneak back in through the door all the servers were using. That was a close call, since we didn’t have any way to contact each other who know how long we could have been wandering around for!
In between making friends at the different drinking tents we made time to explore the city. We enjoyed some lovely Wiener Schnitzel and Pork Knuckle at Gasthaus Isarthor. Across the river at Wirtshaus in der Au we tried the local Duck, pork, bratwurst, and dumplings.
Oktoberfest wasn’t only about drinking, there was also a proper carnival with plenty of rides to enjoy. The only ride we went on was the spinning swing-set, which went much much higher than I expected.
Each time we went in a new tent we would make a new table of friends. They ranged from family’s spending a fun day together, to a mismatch of party-goers like us that all happened to sit down together. One thing was common – you had to keep drinking/eating or else the waitresses would make you leave for somebody that will pay. Each tent had a band playing traditional drinking songs almost non-stop, and the later it got the rowdier it became.
Oktoberfest was definitely the best way to finish off the European portion of our trip! Next stop was home for a few days for Sara’s brothers wedding while figuring out where to go in South America.
