Oktoberfest Part 3 - Alone and Confused

The third part of Oktoberfest was by far the craziest. My best mate Mike came to visit for Oktoberfest, having just broken up with his girlfriend he was well up for a lads party week, and trust me, it didn't disappoint! He came quite late in the evening, which was quite lucky because the guys from part 2 had left the day before and my apartment was a mess! I took the opportunity to clean up and also replace the bandage on my broken hand.

He got in at around 9, so we only had time to get some takeaway and some booze and an early (ish) night to get ready for Oktoberfest in the morning!

Mike did not really know what to expect for Oktoberfest, he thought it would be more like a fair, with fabric tents instead of lots of structures that look actually permanent but still get taken down after the festival. He was surprised to see the the tents were like buildings and that there was a full blown amusement park. The first thing you see is the huge Ferris Wheel in the middle of the field. Because of how big it was we decided to make that out meeting point in case we got separated. That is important for later.

The first morning we were in the Hofbräu-Festzelt, with the 6-6.5% Hofbräu Oktoberfest beer. Similar to my previous Oktoberfest posts, we drank them quite quick, clearly I didn't learn from the time I broke my finger...

Sometime during our third maß we met some fun characters, including "The Future!". Here are the videos of some of them downing their maß:

It's not included in the video, but "The Future" puked up all that beer only a few seconds after, and the WHOLE Festzelt was laughing. Incredible scenes.

We also met some quite sexy ladies, although stupidly only got one picture.

Mike doesn't even remember this part - explains what happened later

A little while later it all went blank, neither of us have any idea how it happened, but we got separated. When I realised I went to the meeting point, the Ferris Wheel, can't miss it, right?

There I waited for around an hour, constantly calling Mike's number. One of the messages I wrote went like:

"Mike you **** answer your ****ing phone! Now I look like a dick because I can't hang up"

No idea.

This is a text that Mike sent me that night:

Notice the timestamp on the text.19:14, by this point Mike was lost for about 2 hours! Means we were pissed out of our minds by 5 in the afternoon! We don't know what happened, but there are several theories, but I'm pretty sure he got kicked out of the tent and went to and left the meeting point earlier than when I got there. Either that or he passed out and got there after I waited there for an hour...

He found my place eventually, the buzzer woke me up because I was being an amazing friend and having a nap... He explained that someone drove him home after he got in a little kerfuffle with a jealous German. Then we went for Chinese food, Mike kept on telling the waitress that he spoke German. The only words he said to her in German were "Guten Tag", and said in a funny way, like he was Dutch... I couldn't stop laughing.

With the first of our adventures finished I decided we would have a tourist day, and wander around Munich's landmarks. This is Mike getting to first base with a large stone lion...

The next day was another Oktoberfest day, and after 4 maß of beer we were joined by my friends Adi and Kai. After not too long Mike was drunk again:

After a couple more I caught up with him in drunkenness, and thought it would be a good idea that we go to another bar to sample a different Oktoberfest beer. Try and paint a mental map, this bar is exactly half way home and less than 10 minutes from home. I thought, what could go wrong?

I was left alone and confused again.

Somehow we got separated again, and this time he lost his phone, so we had no hope. At that point there is a gap in both our memories, but he eventually made it back. Once again I proved how good a friend I am and was woken up when he rang the buzzer...

Comments and Questions welcome, not that I can answer many! Read Mike's blog at Mind of Lavidius

Viel Spaß homies!

Quick Maß counter update (edited)

To be honest I don't really know how many maß of beer I had during the Oktoberfest period, but considering I hosted a reunion with my university friends and my best mate came down and we got paralytic (literally) twice I am saying I had 20 litres. Although in reality it is probably more. So the new score is 42 Maß! -->

Update: I went once more to the Oktoberfest and had another 4 maß, much fun!

Viel Spaß homies!

Oktoberfest Day 1 (Bierleichen)

One of the biggest attractions to me starting my life in Munich was of course the possibility to live near the worlds biggest beer festival and party. This is now my first Oktoberfest, and I was and am so excited!

The Oktoberfest starts with the tapping of the keg at 12 noon, but if you try to get there around or just before that, then there is absolutely no chance you'll get a seat! It's for that reason I met my friend Alex at 8:30 so we can get into one of the big tents as soon as they open. Even then it was difficult but we found a nice spot in the Paulaner Winzerer Fähndl (big) tent. The problem is that means you are waiting in a beer tent for 3 hours before you  have your first beer. Hence the other guys didn't look that excited:

The party and the atmosphere started kicking up around 11:30, and then the brass band started walking around the hall playing some Bavarian drinking songs. Then the owner of the tent took a microphone and started talking and counting down the seconds to 12 from 45 seconds! That was a bit boring.


The first beer was served at 12, but we didn't get ours for another 40 minutes. Once it arrived the mood got really good. I drank mine a little faster than I should, causing problems later in the day (more on that later). The Paulaner Oktoberfest beer was quite nice, but too Lagery for my tastes, does the job though at 6.5% alcohol!

The mood improved a lot when the beer arrived

Inside the tent was really nice, the people were nice. I'll put it this way, there was a lot of eye candy everywhere!

And on to the name of this post (Bierleichen). It is a term used by Germans, or experienced Oktoberfest visitors, it means "Beer Corpses". It refers to the youngsters that don't realise the strength of the beer, get too drunk and pass out. While technically this didn't happen to me it kinda did. On the way home I either tripped, slipped or plain fell and broke my finger! It needs an operation and everything, my first visit to Oktoberfest!

The last 2 posts have been typed one handed because of this lol, but anyway it was so fun, and can't wait to get back there! 


Viel spaß homies!

Ausländer in disguise (Lederhosen!)

A lot of non-Germans I have met in Munich are hesitant to get a pair of Lederhosen for reasons such as they "just don't get it" or they think they don't know or feel part of the culture enough to partake. I'm not one of these people so I decided to get a pair to try and disguise myself as a Bavarian (until I spoke obviously). On the topic of speaking; I'm now 10 months into my Munich adventure, and I would say my German is not bad, but still a long way to go. I think I might write a post in German (ohne Übersetzer).

Anyway, here are my Lederhosen:

If you were to come visit me during Oktoberfest would you get a pair of Trachten (Traditional costume, in this case Lederhosen or Dirndl)?

Viel spaß homies!

Ausländer

So I have been inspired to write a blog of my happenings by my friends Sarah & Erik and a couple of guys at work suggested it also. That got me thinking, what can I blog about? What do I do, or like enough to make a blog interesting and keep it going. That's is a difficult question to ask yourself.

People that know me probably know that I like a drink, mostly beer and whisky. People that know me well also know that I am a big cycling enthusiast. Having these hobbies and interests is awesome considering where I now live. You see, about 5 months ago I got a new job - in Munich! For those that don't know, Munich is famous for its beer and food, I call it "very German". There is so much possibility for talking about the beer in Munich from an Englishman's perspective.

As for the cycling, I am also really well located. The area around Munich has so much incredible natural beauty to it that I could cycle any direction from my house and find something startling and pretty. Then for longer excursions I could (and will) go to the Alps, the Austrian Lakes, or follow the famous Danube or Tauern rivers.

So that is what I think I can bring an interesting perspective to the blogosphere, an "Englander" living in Munich. I will write reviews of the beer I am trying and the beer houses and gardens I drink them in. And also when I go cycling I will show you guys what the area of Munich is like for a cyclist. Hopefully it will entice some of you to come and join me here!

If you are interested in any of these things please follow my blog and I will do my best to keep you interested and entertained with my shenanegans.

A short word on the name of this blog "Ausländer", in German it means "Foreigner" (or Alien).

Viel Spaß homies (Have fun homies!)