Greetings from Oktoberfest held in Munich, Germany! I visited Munich for Oktoberfest from September 26th through 29th. I had a wonderful time at the festival and seeing all my Tulane friends. We decided that Oktoberfest is a cross between Mardi Gras and Disney World, so I hope you can understand why all college students flock to Munich while abroad. Thursday: I left Milan for Munich early on Thursday, arriving around 2 and checking in to the airbnb around 3. Rachel and Tyler were not arriving till later that night, so I ventured into the city center myself to explore, eat, and buy myself a dirndl. I started in Marienplatz at the town hall, Neues Rathaus and walked around, stumbling upon an outdoor food market. I chose one of the many spots for a quick, extremely late lunch, having a delicious sandwich "Ochs'n-Semmel mit Zwiebeln'." I had asked the people behind the counter what they're favorite was which is how I ended up eating the above sandwich, ox with onions. It was absolutely delicious. After I ate, it was around 5'oclock so I went back to Neues Rathaus to see the Glockenspiel. I'm not really sure what I was expecting from the Glockenspiel, but it was both cool to see and underwhelming. The figures moving around reminded me slightly of the scene in the first Shrek movie where Shrek and Donkey listen to the Far Far away puppet song. Post Glockenspiel, I walked to Angermair to buy a dirndl to wear at Oktoberfest. Angermair was packed and overwhelming to shop at alone especially since I had absolutely no clue what I should be looking for size wise. I ended up spending 3 hours (till closing) in the store trying on different options. Most of the time was spent waiting in line for the dressing rooms which was frustrating but understandable since my hands cramped trying to do all the buttons on each different dirndl by myself. By the time I was done with dirndl shopping, I was hungry again so at my Cousin Vicky and her boyfriend Thomas' suggestion I went for dinner at Augustiner Stammhaus for more authentic Bavarian food. I ate schnitzel and a beer. Friday: Our day started early on Friday so we could experience as much of Oktoberfest before the festival became insanely crowded on Saturday. Oktoberfest takes place in Theresienwiese where there are 14 tents each with their own traditions and character. We started in Hofbrau Festzelt, one of the most famous tents associated with Oktoberfest. The tent has standing room only in front of where the band plays which is probably why exchange students spend most of their time here because other tents require reserved tables. Upon entering the tent, we ran into so many exchange students also in Munich for the weekend. I even saw some friends from home who are also in Europe studying abroad. We spent an hour or so in the tent enjoying our beer and the tent's atmosphere before leaving to find food and explore other tents. The good thing about Friday at Oktoberfest was that it wasn't too crowded so we were able to enter and exit the different tents as we pleased since they weren't filled to capacity. Rachel, Tyler, and I shared cheesy bread, a bratwurst, and pretzels. We also popped in to the Hacker Festzelt tents and the Ochsenbraterel tents which felt much more local and calm than Hofbrau, but since we couldn't get seats inside the tent to be served beer we kept on moving. Oktoberfest is also a full blown carnival asides from the beer tents, so we explored the rides and games area, deciding to spend the euros on the swings. The view from the swings of the entire festival from above made the ticket price worth it (there was also no line which was a plus). After we explored, we sat down in the (Hofbrau?) beer garden, enjoying another beer and talking with an older local couple who lived in Munich and were going to Oktoberfest for 30+ years! We then met up with some of our other friends from Tulane who had been touring Munich earlier in the day for some more beer. We ended up all heading back to our air bnb post Oktoberfest on the earlier side since we wanted to get to Oktoberfest super early for Saturday Morning. Saturday: Oktoberfest does not open till 9 am on Saturday's but the line to get in is insane. Its recommended to get there super early so you can run in and get a table at the tent of your choice. We knew a lot of people were going on Saturday so we ended up sleeping in past our early alarms and arriving at 9am. The line was absolutely as crazy as everyone said it would be but it moved quick and we were in the festival by 945. We went straight to Hofbrau to find all our friends that were also in Munich that weekend. Surprisingly, we found them right away and got to enjoy the table that they waited in line to run to. We spent all morning in Hofbrau drinking, dancing, and taking pictures. It was so much fun to see everyone and experience Oktoberfest with them. At one point, the band played "New York, New York," "Country Roads," and "Sweet Caroline" in a row and the entire tent (or atleast the entire contingent of American exchange students) scream singed along standing on the benches. Such a fun and crazy experience! We also sang along to the "prost" song which was stuck in my head at the time, but I honestly don't remember any of the words now. All in all a really great time in Hofbrau. Around 230 we vacated our table to explore the festival and eat again. It was so much more crowded on Saturday so exploring was a much different experience but it was a lot of fun people watching and running into people from Tulane all over the festival. I became Oktoberfested out by 5 and went back to my airbnb where everyone I had been with on Friday were already passed out and making dinner. Since I had an early flight on Sunday I did not end up going back out to Oktoberfest but I think the amount of time I spent on Friday and Saturday were sufficient. If I were to go again I would honestly rather go during the week when the tents aren't super crowded since you become stuck in one place once the tents hit capacity on the weekends. Sunday: My flight back to Milan was at 10 am so I woke up and went directly to the airport. I flew Lufthansa round trip (and somehow my cheapest ticket option when I booked put me in Business Class on the way back?) and the flights were wonderful. My favorite thing is flying into or out of Milan heading north because you have to fly over the Alps and Switzerland and the views are out of this world. Best Moments and Final Thoughts:
By far my favorite moment in Munich was on Saturday during the festival when the band started playing the three songs and everyone in the tent sang along. It reminded me so much of home and was a lot of fun. I would go back to Oktoberfest in the future (I need to wear my dirndl again!), but I would definitely dedicate more time to exploring more of Munich. It was my first time in Germany and Munich and the city's history was not lost on me. The cab took me past the Olympic park on the way to the airbnb from the airport. Its important to me to experience and see Jewish history while abroad, but this hit a little differently. Honoring the Israeli athletes during the Maccabi games and knowing Shep Messing (a Soccer Olympian who lives in Port Washington and was down the hall from the Israeli athletes in Munich) made me more sentimental than usual. There was a plaque about the athletes in Neues Rathaus also that I never translated from German, but thinking about all these aspects definitely made me that much more appreciative of the fact that I could enjoy and experience Oktoberfest that weekend.
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