Super Bowl of Drinking

So there's a little thing called Oktoberfest which goes on in Munich every year around this time. Some tourists are spending 3 to 500 euros a night for lodging, which they probably booked last year, just to be here and see what the real Germany is all about, ha ha . And here I am writing a blog about it in my paid for apartment the night before a national German holiday. Maybe I should go check it out? Well, a bunch of us from work decided to check it out last week Wednesday, and for that reason alone is why I'm a little apprehensive to going back. It's a very serious tumultuous occasion where the weak are left for dead and for those who can handle it well, they basically get really really really drunk.


We arrived at the fest around 6:30 or so and needless to say, it was pretty much impossible to get into any tents. We walked through a couple that were way too packed and then back out into the freezing rain. We finally got into the Schotten Hammel where we met up with the rest of our co-workers.


On the Oktoberfest website it says that the tent we were in has a seating capacity for 6000 people. Considering I didn't see anyone actually sitting in their seats makes me think that the capacity number supplied from the website is merely a suggestion of how many people might want to sit after a multitude of beer and something like 1700 chickens.


Neil, Curtis and Clive, respectively from left to right, enjoying the festivities singing along with the um-pa-pa band's rendition of "Summer of '69."


This is Ron getting all rowdy. He's pretty much the best person at RTT when it comes to pretty much anything. Throughout the night I think, with his help, we managed to break a couple a glasses while toasting. But of course this is just part of what happens during these two weeks in Munich.


While riding the subway to the Oktoberfest, also known as Wiesen, there were a couple "dudes" standing next to us drinking beers. One of them dropped his beer from standing height and the pressure from it being full allowed it to shoot straight up out the top of the bottle and all over some little kid. The kid started crying and the mom was wiping off the beer. Everyone became silent and Ron simply said, "Yeah, but ok whatever this is Wiesen!! These things happen. No problem."


Another fun fact about the two weeks, during which all of Bavaria basically shuts down and goes into a frenzy, is that the street is covered in glass and all the people are wearing lederhosen. I mean it just goes on all day long no matter where you are. I see this guy with a short sleeve wool v-neck style shirt, the beer stained lederhosen with arctic rated wool mountain climbing socks and boots, pull his blackberry out of his flap and walk over to his S-class Mercedes to put something away. I say to myself, "something just does not look right about that," and continue on through my Disney Land experience of what is now Germany.

I was standing on the benches along with everyone else dancing and toasting to the songs. I kept putting my arm around this guy in jubilation. I figured he probably didn't go out much and this was his chance to leave the depths of his IT job and really do it up. Nice mustache.


Needless to say, a couple of us were done counting which liter of beer we were on and sometimes it doesn't make it into the mouth. This is just what happens during a festival of libations or what I like to call Wednesday. Clive in the corner with the evil grin.


So like any good fair, there are roller coasters. This was the last image of the night as I gave up on any reason and decided to go on this crazy thing. This was one of the more tame rides. Down the way is a machine called the vomit-torium which flips you up, down, over and back again, and when the ride is over they hose it down. Wow.


I think I might have to go back sometime this week before it is over. It's just really really crazy and there's a lot of people, including the ones your with, to handle. I don't have a problem handling myself, but to relate it to something your parents always told you about driving; "We're not worried about you, we're just worried about all the other crazy driver's out there on the road." Ahhh, I get it now, thanks Mom.