Bier Steins, Weißwurst, & Brezels

I just got back from a fun and exhausting weekend in Munich where I was visiting for Oktoberfest! I had a great time and loved seeing some familiar faces.

Me in my Dirndl with Maya.

I took a train from Wien Westbanhof, which is only 1 u-bahn stop away from my stop, to Muenchen HBF, the central station in Munich. The train was very nice and had beautiful views of the Austrian country side! I arrived at 2:30 and received a bbm from Kailey, my DG sister who I was sharing a hostel with and who is studying abroad in Perugia, Italy, saying that her flight had been a bit delayed so she would be getting in at 3:15. So to preoccupy my 45 minutes, I bought a map of Munich and then decided to see what was outside of the station. There was a store across the street selling traditional Bavarian clothing, Lederhosen (traditional men's outfits of the region) & Dirndls (traditional women's outfits of the region), and typical impulse shopper that I am, I bought a dirndl after only "going in to just try them on". I figure I will just have to wear it again for halloween next year and somehow make it into a DG social outfit. After my little shopping trip, I found Kailey and we walked to our hostel, Hotel Atlas City. It was in the perfect location, only a few block from the train station, a 5 minute walk to the Oktoberfest grounds, and a 10 minute walk to the city center.

Giant Pretzels & Giant Beers!

After settling in, Kailey and I finally got in touch with Maya, another one of my DG sisters (studying abroad in San Sebastian, Spain), who told us to meet her at the Oktoberfest grounds. We walked over there following her directions to find where exactly they are as the grounds are huge and there were so many people walking around. We ended up walking every direction but the direction she was in, but finally found her with Robyn and Kelley, two of her friends who also go to Richmond, at a biergarten right outside of the Oktoberfest grounds. It was a great atmosphere. We all ordered a Maß, which is the 1 liter bier stein, and sat at a picnic table and caught up on each others lives and our different abroad experiences thus far. Then this girl came around with a big basket of huge pretzels. She sat down with us and talked to us for a while about what its like for the people of munich during oktoberfest and how she liked working there. After the biergarten we went to a traditional German restaurant. I had soup with a meatball like dumpling in it that was delicious and split a plate of fries with Kelley. We also had a few more beers. I had a dunkel beer which is a dark german beer which was really good.

 Kailey with her beer & giant pretzel. Kelley, Me, and Kailey in the biergarten.

Hofbräu Tent!

Waitress carrying 8 steins!

On Saturday we woke up at 6 am to get ready to be at the tents around 7/7:30 to wait in line to get in the tents and get a table. We waited outside of the Hofbräu Festzelt tent which is the tent with the big crown on top. We finally got in at 8:30 and got a table on the balcony upstairs. The atmosphere in the tents was crazy. There was a group of italians going crazy and singing songs near us and everyone would start cheering whenever the waitresses began bringing over the first steins. People would get up on the tables and start to chug their stein and if they couldn't do it the entire tent would boo at them. We met a group of americans that were with a girl from sweden, and a few italians, who were studying together in Italy. We were in the tent until about 11 when they kicked us out because the tables were reserved. Then we went outside on the patio and mingled with more people and then later found a table, got some chicken, more beer, and met some guys from dublin and from america. It was so hot on the patio that the guy next to me from dublin took his friend's Hofbråu hat and put it on my head to shield me from the sun and let me keep it! I was able to bring back a Hofbräu stein and a Hacker-Pschorr stein as souvenirs. In the afternoon on Saturday, Kailey, Maya and I were able to find Emerald, my twin in DG, who was there with her school and we met her friends and rode the ferris wheel with them, maya had to go back before the ferris wheel because she was too tired.

Alex, Me, Kailey, Kelley, Sam (new friend), Robyn, (new friend), Maya in the tent

The Hofbräu Tent seats 6,896 people inside the tent and 3,622 people outside.

After the ferris wheel ride, Kailey and I went back to our hostel and took a nice 3 hour nap. Then I woke Kailey up at 8 and asked her if she wanted to go get dinner. We walked down to the city center and after much searching finally found a place that had food, and it smelled delicious! I had a pizza, and Kailey got bratwurst and pommes frittes (french fries). So funny because Kailey who is studying in Italy is already sick of pizza so she wanted some german food, and I, who am studying in Austria (with very similar food to german food) really wanted some italian food. The meal was good and then we walked around the city center a bit and saw some of the beautiful buildings there. It looked like disney world or something! Then on our way back to the hostel we stopped by an ice cream stand and bought spaghetti-eis which is ice cream that they put through a pasta strainer so it comes out looking like spaghetti, then they put on strawberry and chocolate sauce, a strawberry, and a cookie. It was very good!

Beautiful Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) & me with my spaghetti-eis.

On Sunday, Kailey and I said our goodbyes. I went to the train station thinking there was a 10:14 train to Vienna but had to wait for the 11:27. I occupied my time at a cafe, drinking very good cappuccinos and reading my book. I had a muffin, bought some UK magazines (finally my fashion fix! and in a language I can read), and bought a few sushi rolls for lunch on the train and boarded my train to Vienna. I accidentally sat in a few reserved seats and people just stared at me until I asked them if they were reserved. All you have to do is tell me you have it reserved! But once I was back in vienna, I worked out, showered, and met Elizabeth, her mom, her mom's friend, Cori, John, Emily, and Emily & Elizabeth's new apartment-mate Stevie for dinner at Il Sestante, the delicious italian restaurant with outside seating outside of the big white church. I had tortollini wiht proscuitto and a glass of cabernet. It was a beautiful night out and a great way to end a fantastic weeekend.