Willkommen zum Oktoberfest!!!!!

***Warning this is going to be one of those "Every cloud has a silver lining" kind of stories...***

It all started right before we were leaving for Paris; an idea was being tossed around about getting a huge group together to go to Oktoberfest in Munich. They looked it up and the cheapest they could find was we could rent a private bus to take 41-49 of us for 41 euro. We would leave late (like 11pm) friday night, drive all night, arrive in Munich around 9:30 or 10am saturday morning, stay all day and enjoy Munich and Oktoberfest, and then head back to Zwolle around 11pm saturday night to arrive at about 8:30am sunday morning. We thought that was the best chance we were getting to go to Oktoberfest, and agreed as long as it was still 41 euro. So sure enough this whole past week leading up to the weekend we were trying to convince people to come. We had close to 50 interested, but then people started backing out because of the price. Maria, one of the Danish girls happened to find a decent group of "volunteers" from a city nearby, Omen, that would love to go, and we were once again over 40 people and ready to go. 

Part of our group ~ waiting for the bus :)

Party Bus!
Of course if you're on your way to a drinking fest you are going to name your bus: The Party Bus! 
So there we were, on our way to München. Now we didn't think we were going to be the only ones, and thank god we weren't, but we figure you can't be on a bus called The Party Bus and not be partying....so we started pre-gaming and drinking :) After all we had to get ready, for in roughly 11 hours we would be at the gates of Oktoberfest. Though because it was such a long drive, and we had a long day ahead of us, within a few hours we were asleep for basically the rest of the drive.

Pregaming

München

Allianz Arena

Now unlike a few from our group, most of us didn't want to spend close to 12 hours in the grounds. So we split up and started touring a little of the city. I gathered a small group that also wanted to see the Allianz (football) Arena: Home of FC Bayern München. We got on the metro (again such nice accessible public transportation) and headed for the Stadium. When we got there we hadn't realized that there was a game that day...I mean I knew there was an away FC Bayern München game, but the arena is home to not only them but also "TSV 1860 München and they had a home game. So the plan of going there and shopping and possibly taking a tour fell through, but then we even considered going in and watching the game since some tickets were only 15 euro, but we didn't plan on spending the whole day there (we were there 2 hours still before game time). One of the ticket booth ladies' gave me directions to one of their other stores inside the central metro station, and we headed out for it. On the way we decided to make a stop by the BMW werk and museum. 

 The BMW Museum is located near the Olympiapark in Munich and was established in 1972 shortly before the Summer Olympics opened. Known as the salad bowl or white cauldron, the silver futuristic building was designed by the architect of the BMW Headquarters. The roughly circular base is only 20 meters in diameter, the flat roof about 40 meters. The entrance is on the ground floor and is where the reception is located. First, the visitor ascends on a spiral upward in the building to visit the exhibits. Slideshows and smaller, in-depth exhibits are located on four "islands" inside the building. After "looping" the actual exhibition visitors reach the upper floor, where there are individual exhibits, a small cinema hall and several interactive exhibits that explain the technology further. An escalator leads visitors finally back into the ground floor. The design reverses the spiral from top to bottom and the order of the "operation principle" Frank Lloyd Wright built in Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Map of Olympiapark grounds

Olympiaturm "tv tower"
Highest reinforced concrete tower in Euoper\

The Olympiapark in Munich, Germany, is an Olympic Park which was constructed for the 1972 Summer Olympics. Mindful of the connection, the West German Government was anxious to take the opportunity of the Munich Olympics to present a new, democratic and optimistic Germany to the world, as shown by the Games' official motto, "the Happy Games." The logo of the Games was a blue solar logo (the "Bright Sun") by Hungarian artist Viktor Vasarely. The concept of a "green Olympic Games" was chosen, and so too was the orientation toward the ideals of democracy. Officials sought to integrate optimism toward the future with a positive attitude toward technology, and in so doing set aside memories of the past, such as the Olympic Games of 1936 in Berlin. However, these Games were largely overshadowed by what has come to be known as the Munich massacre...  Found in the area of Munich known as the "Oberwiesenfeld" ("upper meadow-field"), the Olympiapark nowadays continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social, and religious events such as events of worship. It is a wonderful park in the middle of the growing metropolitan and fits right in with its original futuristic sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilized by metal ropes, which was considered revolutionary at the time.

After seeing a few sights Munich had to offer, we decided it was time to get our drink/party on and head for OKTOBERFEST!!!!!!!!

Oktoberfest ~ Wiesn

Oktoberfest in Munich starts Saturday, September 22, 2012, and ends Sunday, October 7, 2012. The Munich Oktoberfest originally took place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. In the United States, it is often thought that Oktoberfest only occurs during the month of October, while traditionally it has to start in September to include the first weekend of October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and a celebration of Bavarian culture, food and drink. It is the world’s largest fair attended by more than 5 million people each year. With seven million litres of beer being served during the festival and only beer conforming to the Reinheitsgebot (German beer or Bavarian purity law), at a minimum of 12.5% Stammwürze (approximately 6% alcohol) may be served. The beer must also be brewed within the city limits of Munich, but don’t worry, there is always plenty to go around. The Oktoberfest has been held since 1810 in Munich. Many other cities across the world also hold festivals modeled after the German Oktoberfest, with attendees wearing lederhosen and dirndls while drinking (traditional) German (Bavarian) beer and eating German food. 

Some food being the local cuisine, like Schweinebraten (roast pork), Würstl (sausages), Brezn (Pretzel), and, naturally, Sauerkraut or Rotkohl (red cabbage). 






When we first got onto the grounds, it seemed to remind Charla and I of a city/state fair or festival back home, because we came in near all the rides. I was a little odd seeing so many adults on them, because back home its more common to see people younger than 20 on them, whereas here it could be grown men testing their the limits of their ability to hold down their food and alcohol, and man were they good at it! We made our way over to the other side of the grounds where a lot of the beer "tents" were. And I'm still unsure why they call them tents, when they're clearly giant frickin' buildings, but that's besides the point...and here is where the trip starts to take an interesting turn...

After walking around for a bit and seeing all the different tents to drink at, we got in line for one that looked promising. Turns out just cuz there's a crowd and some movement doesn't mean you'll get in....or that it's even "open" according to the security men. -_- waste of an hour in that line in the rain. So we walked around a bit and checked out a few of the souvenir shops, bought some food, and found another place that we thought would pan out. At this one we got to the front a lot faster and were excited that we should be one of the next groups to be let in. But for some reason they just stopped asking how many were with you and letting some in, unless you spoke German and/or had a "return" wristband to go back in. The whole crowd kept asking when are you letting more in? why aren't we moving? etc. and they would just ignore us and then one of the guys would just yell at us (IN GERMAN) and shoved us backwards. Talk about being rude....it was horrible, and yet there was really nothing we could do but take it unless we wanted into that tent. So there we stood for another hour or so until we were even more soaking wet (cuz of course it was still raining) and finally said screw it and gave up trying to get in that tent. At this point we were mad, wet, and really frustrated on what to do. So Alex suggested we just leave and go start drinking in a bar outside Oktoberfest and just come back later in the night, and we decided that was probably the best option we had and started on our way towards an exit. Just then Charla spotted something and asked what it was, I looked over and saw what she was talking about and shouted IT'S A BIER GARDEN!!!! LET'S GO! and sped walked on over to it. It wasn't very crowded and looked like a decent enough place, so I led us into the back nicely shoving people to get in to near the back end of the bar. There we met to very nice guys from India who helped us grab a bartender's attention and FINALLY had our first beer at Oktoberfest....

Another Biergarten we saw

The place I had my first Oktoberfest bier :)

Oktoberfest had redeemed itself worthy and from there the story of our adventure found that silver lining. We, Charla and I, decided to try a beer called Cola-Weizen which was Coca-cola mixed with Weis Beer. It was delicious!!! and according to our friends it's actually very common for them to mix different things with their brews. The rest of the guys in our small group just stuck with the Weis beer (Weißbier). 

We spent close to 4 hours there; drinking, chatting, having the time of our lives! We met people from a variety of countries: Italy, Austrailia, India, Holland, Ireland, and of course Germany, just to name a few. And about 2 liters of beer later, Charla and I decided to venture back out into the rain and take one last look around the grounds. We were in such a better mood now that we had found a good tent and had an amazing time that we didn't mind walking through all the garbage on the streets (cuz I swear there were no garbage bins ANYWHERE!!!!) and all the people stumbling around us. We had made it to THE Oktoberfest and had the experience we will never forget. We each bought a few souvenirs, and headed back to find the guys and leave. When we found them we had one last round together with our new friends and then made our way to the exit. Thankfully Charla had remembered the street names and I asked a nearby ambulance driver how to get there and he pointed us in the right direction. 

Auf Wiedersehen, München!!!

Everyone at the stop was soaking wet, but still in a lively mood. It seems we all had a rough start but eventually found a good place to sit, drink, and be merry..When the bus finally arrived we all cheered as it truly had been a long day and were glad to be on our way back to Zwolle. The ride back went by fast, as in we actually all got some sleep and were at least a little comfy, but that also could have been because we were all still a little tipsy or buzzed. We drove non-stop (apart from filling up for gas) all the way back, and even though we had slept most of the drive we were all happy to crawl back into our beds for a few more hours. All an all I do recommend going to THE Oktoberfest in Munich, however if you would like to go in one of the big beer tents, then try and book a table in advance (yes I found this out after I went...) at the official site http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/ or just to check out what there is. Otherwise just winging it works sometimes and you could get lucky and get into one of the bigger tents, but I will say I haven't heard many complaints about the smaller ones. It is fun to say you've been and drank at Oktoberfest, but I will admit next time I'm in Germany during the fest I will be at one of the ones in the smaller villages. 

Here are just random pics from other groups and their time at Oktoberfest :)

 And now just random photos from the trip...

Germans in their
Lederhosen!!!

Ali took a photo of DongSeob Song
(D Song) taking a photo of him.

Charla and I on metro to Allianz Arena

Our small group - minus
photographer Ali

Alex was a little out of it
on the ride back...

Me in front of Hofbräu haus :)