OkTOBYfest! (Part 2)

Whew! Where to begin? Well, quite a bit of time has passed since we were whooping it up at Oktoberfest and much has happened. Fran and Heather were both here and are both now gone, so there is all that good stuff to blog about and "catch up" on. It's been a very quiet first day in this new "post guest" period. I am coming down with (yet another) cold. Luckily these wimpy german bugs haven't lasted long. I'm usually able to kick them in a few days with the help of Cold FX (and luckily my parents generously gifted me a mega sized bottle before we left Canada. Thanks mom and dad!)

Anyway, moving back to the topic at hand. To sum up, Oktoberfest was even better than both Toby and my expectations. Yes, it was packed with people, but thanks to Toby's preparation, and a bit of luck, we ended up having a great time.

Let's look at the pictures, shall we?

Friday October 5, 2007

Here we are the morning of our big Oktoberfest day. We planned to be up early and on the train by 9:00 (at the latest) so we could be there before the tents opened. Unfortunately Deutsche Bahn had different plans for us and there was a train strike from 8:00 - 11:00 AM that day. Oops! And, it was pouring rain! So we stood in this train shelter from about 9:30-11:00 hoping that a train would come despite the strike, while it literally POURED rain outside. No trains came to rescue us but the first one did come right at 11:00 AM, just as promised.


We tried the Schottenhamer tent first.


Here we are at 12:00 with our first drinks of the fest. Prost!


Good job Kelly!

My future brother-in-law Grant and his two buddies Jon and Alan flew in from England for the occasion. We met up with them easily by texting back and forth as to our whereabouts.

Toby texting:


Here are the guys, quickly making up for lost time. It didn't take them long to catch up and surpass the beer intake of Kelly, Mel and I (or team Radler* as we called ourselves).

* A Radler is beer mixed with lemon-lime soda.

The decor:


At this point Grant was having so much fun he was already making plans to come back next year...with lederhosen.


After a few hours in the Schottenhamel tent we decided to try our luck at another tent. We didn't have reservations (they need to be made almost a year in advance) which meant that the table we were at was only available until 3:00 when the people with the reservations showed up. This happens in all the tents, as the day wears on, so you need to either find one of the unreserved tables (hard unless you go early, wait with the crowds and then storm the doors when they open) or hope a nice person with a reserved table will let you sit with them. So off we went to try our luck at the Hacker-Pschor tent.

Unfortunately this is where the plan went a little haywire. Grant and his friends were stopped at the door because of their backpacks and were denied entry. While they went to check their bags we went into the tent to search for seats. They were told to hurry back since there were rumors the tent was closing at 3:00 PM (less than an hour's time). The four of us went out in search of seats but the best we could find was two sets of two seats at two tables close to each other. This was very, very lucky anyway, since the tent was packed and it was only the kindness (and maybe curiosity?) of our "hosts/hostesses" that allowed us to get a seat. And, unless you can get at least one friends butt in a seat, no beer for anyone.

These are the gracious Germans that let us sit with them. On the left is Stefan and on the right, also Stefan. They were great to talk to, especially left Stefan, who was not from Bavaria and also considered himself a "tourist".


Kelly and Mel with their rowdy table.


This tent seems to be more popular with the locals (while all the rowdy tourists gravitate to, say, the Hofbräuhaus tent). Left Stefan called it a "high quality" tent. The interior was beautiful with the ceiling painted to look like the sky.


Prost!


Cooking the delicious chickens.


A merry band of elves found their way into the Hacker-Pschorr tent...


... but unfortunately Grant and his friends did not. They accidentally went into the wrong tent and after a few very confused text messages (We're at exit 2B. Well, so am I and I don't see you. etc) we realized the mistake. So we all decided to meet on the midway to see what we could do from there.

And low and behold, an Oxen stand appeared to provide sustenance



What was it you said Grant? "Once you have the roast oxen hit your lips, there is no turning back."



Then, lady luck was on our side once more as we snagged the whole table at an outside biergarten.


All smiles.



Luckily I didn't experience this, but I suspect many an Oktoberfest participant does at some point.


The long wait for the train to Gilching. It was probably only 8:30 PM but it was a full day nonetheless.


Toby got a little rowdy on the walk back to our apartment and found himself in a corn field.


Saturday October 6, 2007

We took it easy on Saturday while Grant and his friends tried their luck at die Weis'n. We did some sightseeing in the historic core of Munich and then hit a Dirndl shop so Kelly and Mel could give them a whirl.

Kelly ended up buying this gorgeous purple one (here we are playing dress-up that night). She looks very Bavarian and even made a song up called "Bavarians" to the tune of Aquarius. Catchy. A little too catchy in fact as it got stuck in my head all day.


We met up with Grant and his gang around dinner time and had a nice meal. Grant had the Haxn or pig knuckle.


Kelly likes Spaghetti Eis!


The guys.



Sunday Oct 7, 2007

Mel left us at 5:00 AM to catch a train to continue her European travels. We wish her all the best for the rest of her trip!

We headed to the Englischer Garten for lunch at the Chinesischer Turm beer garden. We created a Bavarian feast of roasted fish, roasted chicken, weisswurst, bratwurst, rotkohl (red cabbage), potato salad, fried potatoes and a giant pretzel with Obazda (a Camembert cheese spread). Mmmmmm!!


Then we went to the BMW museum at the Olympia Park. The museum was disappointing because it was only a temporary exhibit.


But we enjoyed going up the tower and taking in a view of the Olympic park and Munich.




We said goodbye to Grant at the subway station. He then headed on to the airport to catch his flight back home and we headed out on the autobahn for a nice three hour drive home - NOT! With the traffic and construction it took at least five. We rolled into town late and tired, but happy with our Bavarian extravaganza.


See you again next year Oktoberfest!