Oktoberfest - Day 2 - A Memoir by RG

Tuesday...

For as much bier was drank and as hard as we partied the day before, we all felt considerably decent after some water and food.  It was 4pm and we decided to go back to the Weisn for round 2.  After all, we flew 5,000 miles to be here! 

The evening started at the Haufbrahaus.  By this point we knew our way around it well & knew we would like the bier.  

The first Maß went down a bit slow, but once the bier started to flow we were ready to go!  

Above is a picture of Robb's "shoulder contest" with a random woman at Haufbrau.   

After 2 maß's we were ready for some dinner and to see some other tents.  We ventured over to the Paulaner tent where we were approached by 2 German girls selling bier tickets at a discounted price.  Dan and Robb bought 2 and we entered Paulaner the Paulaner tent.  

After pushing through the crowd we finally found a waitress and were told the tickets weren't good there!  They were for another Tent called "Hacker".  Looks like we are going to need to visit that tent and have a 4th Maß in a bit, after all, we can't waste these bier tickets.

We spent 45 mins or so in Paulaner and went over to Hacker.  Hacker was a locals place as it was all in German and extremely crowded.  Crowded beyond any comprehension of safety or fire code in the USA.  So crowded that the temperature inside was hot from all the body heat.  We drank our 4th Maß, ate some dinner and went back to the Haufbrau tent.  

We spent the next 2 hours at Haufbrau (until they closed it at 10:30).

Tonight the band was playing mostly American songs from the 70's, 80's and 90's, all in silly German accents.  

We sang along like fools, still toasting our maß's @ every "Ein Prosit" song and every time someone would yell "PROST!" 

Blow up costume on HB stage. 

At this point we were 5 maß's in and knew the words to every song they played and if we didn't.  We made up our own version.

They played a series of AC/DC hits, Michael Jackson, John Denver, Gloria Gaynor, 99 Luftballoons and then it happened.....

"We are the world....  We are the children...."  The entire tent erupted in chorus and we laughed and laughed.  The Germans knew every word and they loved it.  

Picture above was Robb throughout the entire song of "We are the world."  Lol

Guy on right was from south Florida.  We spent some time with their group late in the evening. 

Of course there was Maß stacking. 

Around this time Dan took his train to sleepy town (Choo-Choo!) and headed back.  

We closed the Weisn at 10:30.  We were 5 Maß deep and weren't yet ready for bed.  Definitely not after sleeping in so late.  

We followed a large group of people out of the festival on foot.  We didn't know where we were going, but we weren't staying here.  

We bought bottles of bier from a street cart vendor outside and followed the crowd.  

About 10 minutes later we heard a commotion happening behind us.  We stopped to see what was happening and realized it was a drunken fight.  As quickly as we realized what was going on, security (Policie) ran in and split it up. The men scattered on foot and one of the guys involved barreled into me.  He literally slammed me like a football player attempting a tackle.  Not purposely, it's just the way it happened.  Some how I managed to stay standing, but the impact took out a few ladies near us, the man who hit me fell, Jon fell, and the hardest knock went to Robb.  

We all helped each other up, but Robb stayed quiet for a moment.  He was the last to get up.  Jon and a few local guys helped to stand Robb as he said, "What just happened?"  Robb had been briefly knocked unconscious by the fall.  A lady asked if he wanted paramedics, and his first reaction was yes, but after checking himself out for a moment he determined he was okay.  

(Robb was sore from this for the rest of the trip & had a sweet bruise on his hip the size of a softball.) 

After the "knock out event" we continued walking with the crowd.  

We soon heard a crowd of people gathered around a guy playing the guitar.  I guess we were in the mood to keep singing & drinking because that's exactly what we did.  For at least 10 songs we stood in a large group singing along, jumping and dancing.  I want to believe the guitar player was talented, but honestly after 5 Maß & a pint everything sounds good.  

After leaving the guitar crowd we decided to have a late dinner prior to heading in for the night.  We found an Italian place that was still open, crowded and serving dinner.  I had some awesome lasagna and of course, another Maß.  

While eating the guitarist from outside came in.  Jon invited him to sit with us and bought him dinner.  I can't remember his name, but he was a really appreciative and friendly guy from London who was passing through Münich, living in his van.  He shared stories of his travels and counted the money he had earned playing tonight.  It was almost 200€ in coins.  Not bad for a homeless guy! 

After the guitarist left, Jon brought in a random Irish straggler named Johnny.  I don't know what this guy was wanted for in Ireland but he would not share and was very serious that his crimes were severe and he could never return.  It's probably best that he didn't share.  

I wish you well Johnny, you paranoid little Irish man! 

We returned to the hotel around 3am.  Didn't mean for it to get so late, and even after all the maß's we drank, none of us were nearly as intoxicated as the night before.

Oktoberfest day 2 was a success! 

Oktoberfest 2014 - Memoir by RG

I figure I will take this time to catch up on my blogging as I have 8.5 hours to kill on this direct flight from Dublin to Orlando.  

Oktoberfest 2014 - My story.

We all met up @ the airport in Munich around 11am.  It didn't take long to find Robb, get back and find the S-Bahn (train) into the city center where our Hilton hotel located.  

Although Robb was clearly the most tired of our group, we were all travel weary yet excited to finally make it to the festival.  

The trip to the hotel took about 45 minutes.  For whatever reason we decided to buy all day train passes, but quickly remembered that nobody in Munich actually pays for the train.  I'm still confused by this, but nobody buys a ticket.  Ever.  You can jump on and off the trains in Munich all day long and nobody would give a damn.  

We checked into our hotel around 12:30, changed clothes and headed for the train station.  Prior to leaving, Jon bought authentic lederhosen and actually wore it.  I had considered it, having been to the Weisn before, but at the last minute decided against it in fear that it wouldn't fit me.  

As we navigated the train system over to Theresewiesn (the festival grounds) we saw more and more people wearing lederhosen and other authentic Bavarian costumes.  We knew we were getting close & I was getting excited.

It was 2:00pm when we finally entered the festival.  I was a bit concerned that it may be too early and that nobody would be there on a Sunday afternoon.  Was I ever wrong.  

We pushed our way into the Wiesn (Oktoberfest) fair like cattle being organized into a gate.  On the other side were thousands of people moving in every direction, carnival rides with bright lights flashing, the loud ringing & dinging of games being played, children running around eating cotton candy, families waiting in lines to buy sausages & drinks from food vendors, early day drunks staggering from one beer tent to the next.  Everyone in good spirits, laughing, dancing and singing.  

We decided to head for the Haufbrauhas tent as Dan and I had great memories of it from last year.  It was time for our first Maß (1 litre of bier).   

Behind the Haufbrau Tent is a large hill that exits the fair in the direction of downtown.  It's a gathering place for people as well as a place for the drunks to take a break.  Many times the partiers who have "over imbibed" on the strong German bier, end up falling alseep on the hill.  It was still early this day, but around sun down the hill can be quite full of passed out partiers and some of the finest people watching I can remember.  

We entered the Haufbrau tent from the back side by the hill and walked a lap around the tables (sitting & standing) and band.  We located the WC (water closet) and decided on what area we wanted to spend some time at.  At this time the brass band was loudly playing authentic Bavarian music, the sea of people in costume were singing along in German, high fiving, hugging, dancing and swaying and every 10 minutes would sing "Ein Prosit" which ends in a cheer & a sip of bier with your friends.  

Dan and I knew from last year that we had to aggressively push our way into the crowd and force ourselves into standing by a table in order to purchase a drink.  The bier servers can only serve patrons at tables and must set the Maß in the table.  So we did just that.  Within a few moments we were ordering our first Maß & quietly observing the loud crowd of people who were obviously much more intoxicated than us.  

Our server, Sid & Louis from New Zealand pictured above. 

It didn't take us long to make friends and get into the spirit of Oktoberfest.  Maybe it's the friendly attitude of everyone or the music & food.  Nah, what am I saying...  It's the bier.  The German bier is strong and its flowing as fast as you can drink it and everyone is drinking it.  The songs are about drinking, people are playing games encouraging drinking, people are standing on tables having Maß drinking competitions with each other, the servers are calling you a wimp if you aren't ordering more.  It's all about the bier.  Bier and more bier.  

So we drank bier.  

A lot of it.  

We tried our best to sing along with the German songs & got excited when they would play a silly version of an American song.  It didn't matter though, we were making friends, eating German food and having a really good time.  

Robb's wrist fitting through the handle of the Maß. 

Friends we made from Oregon.

As Americans (and Dan & I being big guys) we stood out a bit to other Americans.  As the day progressed many others made their way to our table & introduced themselves.  

We even had a friend from Italy offer us all a white powder substance he placed on his hand for us to snort up our nose. 

I think we were all equally shocked when this happened, but later realized this is a commonly used tobacco product in Europe known as "nasal snuff" not an illicit drug.  Lol.  No, we didn't partake. 

After 3 Maß.. My bladder was full.  I had no choice but to leave my friends behind for a few minutes and use the facilities.  I remembered just how disgusting this process was from last year and held out as long as I could.  After telling the guys to "stay right here", "do not leave" I ventured into the land of filth known as the Wiesn water closet.  

After first entering the woman's restroom not knowing which was which in the crowd, I was pointed in the direction of the "troughs".  

As you can imagine this is a vile place and I'll spare you the details which included the man at the trough next to me splashing vomit on my shoe. 

After leaving the trough I was encountered by a man who paid me 10€ to punch him as hard as I could in the stomach.  After turning down the opportunity to slap a man in the face earlier (who asked me not to spare him) I decided to earn some cash this time.  If the drunk Europeans thought of me as an arcade game and wanted to pay me to smack them around, I might as well make some € for doing it. 

As you can imagine, I had quite a story to tell when I found my friends back at the table, and was ready for Maß 4. 

Maß stacking with friends. 

Maß 4 and 5 took place between 6 and 7pm.  I can clearly remember finishing #5 and thinking to myself, "I'm hammered!" The rest of the night, well...  Let's just say it's fuzzy.  

We stayed at the same table until a tired Dan left us around 9. 

A woman standing on a table chugging her Maß. 

Above is the last picture I took this night.  

I have hazy drunken memories of losing Jon, wandering around the Wiesn with Robb in the dark after it closed, losing Robb, wandering the streets of Münich, taking a cab all the way to the Airport Hilton and realizing that wasn't my hotel, then having to drive 30 more minutes to the right hotel.  Fortunately the cab driver only charged me for the ride from the airport back.

I figured there were about 3 hours of memory brain cells that died on Sunday night.  At 12:00am I sent a text to Robb from my Hilton bed asking if he was back? 

Jon wasn't in his bed & Robb wasn't yet back and his phone was dead.  Some how, even after my adventure, I was the 2nd person to return. 

.......

Tuesday

I woke up to a snoring Jon around noon.  My body felt like it had been through a war & there wasn't enough water in the sink to quench my dehydration.  My eyes were bloodshot & I had a morbid stench of piss, stale bier & German sauce about me.  Holy hell I felt bad.  

By the looks of my shorts and shirt worn the day before, it appeared I had fallen down a few times on my journey to the hotel.  There were hand marks, shoe prints & massive HP Sauce stains on my shirt.  The shirt smelled like stale bier & Sauce.  It was so foul, I had to get a picture to show the others.  The others.....  Were they back?  I see Jon, but where was Robb?

I quickly checked my phone and saw a single text from Robb @ 1:05am. 

He had made it back & charged his phone.  All were accounted for and it was a new day.  

We still have 2 more days in Münich! 

Time to do it again! 

Well that escalated quickly

Not even sure where to start.  

Last night was absolutely awesome.  Until it wasn't. 

Getting seperated is always a mess, doubly so on the other side of the world where you don't share a common language.  I'm not sure who left first, may have been me, but here is what I know. 

I left somewhere around 845pm, +/- 5 Maß later I was in need of my bed.  This was compounded by the fact all I ate all day was two slices of bread from Gummer's breakfast on the flight in.  I departed the Hofbrau tent and headed in the direction of the U-bahn - don't ask how I remember where the U was lol.  I stopped for food and sat down in a corner near the exit to the Weisen to eat my sausage and fries when low and behold I see Jon!  He's stumbling back and forth with a bunch of people (none of our people) and I jump up to catch up (simultaneously dropping my food) to him.  We hugged it out for a second and i urged him to return with me, but he wanted to journey on forward, so I left him to his own and set out for the hotel. 

I'm not really sure how I got back so easily.  I never made a wrong turn, never had to turn around.  100% retraced my steps back to the hotel. 

The others have better stories.  Lol

Robb tracking

We look up and wave to our weary traveler friend as he passes over us to the south east.  

Welcome to the EU! 

See you in Deutschland! 

Munich bound!

Headed for Dublin international airport.  Getting up at 4am isn't so hard when your body doesn't know what time it is anymore.  

See you soon Robb!