Oktoberfest - A sobering experience

I got back from Germany today, having been at the Oktoerfest the night before. So now I have certainly done something that appears on numerous bucket lists. Not mine though, I'm not dying of cancer or global warming yet. If I had a bucket list, The Oktoberfest would of definately been on there, along with completing the Annapurna Circuit, and driving the length of the Pan American Highway.

Many people dream of going to this beer festival. A festival dedicated to intoxication! Whatever next? Someone not getting murdered in Midsummer! Either way, it was something that I had always a vague inclination to experience. Mostly so that I can make many connesieurs of beer envious of my trip. It's the thing to do isn't it? I guess that wins me some kool points.

Being in a mass swarm of Lederhosen was a rather fun experience at what is easily a contender for the world's biggest funfair. Rule of thumb dictates that you get drunk go on the numerous rides, throw up, then drag yourself back to a beer hall. The cheering echoing from every corner was only slighted ruined by the sound of ambulances rushing past every few minutes for the many inebriates. Most of whom were collapsed on the floor before the sun was even fully risen. And this was before I had even entered a Beer Hall.

Given that people had been queuing since 7am to get into each of the beer halls (there were loads), we had zero chance of actually getting into one, as we rocked up at like 4pm. But we held the trump card, luckily Matthew had a friend, who had a friend, who had an uncle, who worked in one of the beer halls, so after having been standing around for many hours we finally got into one. Please note, a lot of the festival is just standing around. The beer hall we got into was considered the baby of the beer halls there and therefore held a rather paltry 10000.

More walking around and waiting for a table to become free. It didn't, so we just barged onto one whose occupants had momentarily left, and sat ourselves down. Before I knew it, I was dragged up onto the benches and fearing for my life. My friend who, is, well, a lot bigger than me was jumping up and down like his life depended on it. For the next many hours I just had images of the bench just breaking and many gallons of beer going everywhere.. it was happening around us afterall. So there was little old me jumping up and down on the benches pretending I knew the words to a number of german toasts. However I was saddened to note that that HEEEEEYYYYYY HEEEEEY BABY..OH AHH I WANNNA KNOWWWWWW OHHHHHH IF YOU'LL BE MY GIRL *stab stab*, has not yet died out and was repeatedly played with the entire hall singing along. Oh and YMCA and I will Survive were also popular choices. What did get annoying after a while, was that at the end of every song there was this beer cheer. It got a bit boring after having sung (what I thought were the words- later found out I'd been singing gibberish) the damn thing more times than a googleplex.

Now, one thing I can't stand about the Germans is their weird love for sparkling water (mit gaz). I can't stand the stuff, and I don't see how it is refreshing. Anyways as I am on medication, I couldn't drink beer and because it was absolutely boiling, I asked for a jug of water..... And the woman returned with a 4 pints worth of sparkling water and charged me 7 euros for the 'privelidge'. Suffice to say, a lot of it was left....Seriously, it's like eatting copper.

My sober self did have a lot of fun though, just as much as everyone else! Needless to say, those Germans do know how to put on a good show...even if they do suck at winning certain other things :-)