Oktoberfest in Munich

Wow! What can we say, Oktoberfest exceeded our expectations in so many ways. We arrived in Munich late Saturday evening and were greeted by our Airbnb host, who had just come back from a night  out at Oktoberfest himself. So that was a great icebreaker. We said goodnight and went straight to bed (after some blogging of course) so that we would be well rested for Oktoberfest the following day.

Day 1: A Day at the Hofbräu Tent

The next morning we got up bright and early, put on our Bavarian outfits and headed to the festival. The Hofbräu-Festzelt beer hall caught our eye first, and we were so happy about our pick (it was definitely the rowdiest beer hall at the festival). By 10:30 am we had a litre of beer in our hands and new friends by our side. We learned the “Ein Prosit” song (you sing it, then you drink), and continued to sing it every ten minutes until we left shortly after 7:00pm. We had planned to only stay for a litre or two of beer, but when you meet great people, drink great beer, and eat amazing spare ribs, time escapes you pretty easily. Needless to say, we saw everything and nothing at Oktoberfest Day One.

Prost!

 Day 2: Oktoberfest Festival Grounds & More Hofbräu Beer

We were prepared to do a little more walking and a tiny bit less drinking. We toured around the entire festival site, and found a dessert house to share an Apfelstrudel and a much needed coffee. After our treats, we did a little shopping at the many vendors. Dermot turned on the charm and bought Desta a giant cookie necklace which said “Ich Liebe Dich” (which means “I Love You” in German), and Desta promised to buy the next round of spare ribs for Dermot. Oktoberfest romance at it’s finest.

At the footsteps of the Bavaria statue

Later in the day it was finally time to return to the place where it all began – Hofbräu. A few more beers, more spare ribs, and so many sing-a-longs later, we left Hofbräu to do one more Oktoberfest must do before the night was up – ride the ferris wheel. The carts in the ferris wheel were very large so we had to share – we entered our cart and we were immediately greeted in German. Desta quickly clarified things by proclaiming “We don’t speak any English!” …and then we laughed at all being a bit tipsy on the ferris wheel. We spent the rest of the ride chatting, and intermittently remembering to look out at the great night views of the festival.

On our way out of the festival we stopped and got a big Bavarian sugar donut, the perfect complement to a few days of entirely unhealthy (but oh so delicious) eating. It was also the perfect end to our time at Oktoberfest. The next day, we said “auf wiedersehen” to Munich, because it was time to say “hola!” to Barcelona, Spain.