And the Crowd Went Wild

We planned to get up around 8 am to begin out Oktoberfest extravaganza...but by 6:15 so many people were up and getting ready in The Tent that we decided to get up too. Apparently we had misjudged how early people will get up to stand in line and wait to drink beer. :)

Once we were on the tram it was easy to find our way to the Oktoberfest grounds. Just follow EVERYONE else. I was amazed by how many people really dress up in the full out Liderhosen and Gertels...wow. We were planning to go see the Opening Day parade...but as we walked through the grounds (at 8am...4 hours before they could begin serving beer) we noticed that the lines for the beer tents were already incredibly long. And after asking around a bit we heard that on opening weekend many tents closed their doors by 11am due to overcrowding. After a bit of hemming and hawing...we got in line.

And so we were a part of the mass crush to get into the hall when they opened the doors at 9:30. You know how you hear about people being crushed to death or trampled in a crowd. I had never before truly appreciated how that could happen. But as my face was smashed into the door frame and my left arm almost removed at the shoulder...I had a new appreciation for "Mob Mentality." Yikes.


Somehow we made it in...and the three of us were still together and we found a decent table. (We found out later you can't get served unless you're at a table.) And settled in to get to know the people around us in the 2 hours before anything would happen. We played cards, ate giant pretzels, tried to figure out how the people next to us got cokes...and then...the band came in.

And the crowd went wild. The band made it's way up to the stage. And the crowd went wild. The president of Haufbrauhause (I think) made a speech that no one could understand. And the crowd went wild. Girls started taking off their underwater and throwing it up onto the giant statue hanging in the middle of the ceiling. And the crowd went wild. They tapped the first keg. And the crowd went wild. They started serving beer. And the crowd (really) went wild.

At Oktoberfest they serve beer in 1 liter beer steins. The glass of the stein is probably 3/4 of an inch thick...and then when it's full of beer....well I had to use two hands just to lift one! I was amazed by the Beer maids who could carry 8 at a time! Yikes! No wonder they all have wrist braces on!

And then it was pretty much what you'd expect. People drank beer. There were beer drinking/toasting (Proust!) songs, which some nice German kids we were sitting with tried to teach us. My favorite toast was explained to us like this:

Julian: It means Cheers to your balls!
Us: Your balls?
Julian: Yes, you know, testicles.
Us: Right.
Julian: You know there is a sack...
US: We know! We know!!!

They also sang really random old American songs while some guys in Liederhosen on the stage lead little dances. Songs like: John Denver "Take me Home Country Road" or the one that goes "Heeeeeeey, Hey Baby! I wanna know, if you'll be my girl."

We were impressed by the bathroom system...even though the lines were long you never actually had that long of a wait. Those Germans sure are efficient! We met some random old guy who had a bunch of food coupons and kept buying us food, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, weird cheese dipping sauce for pretzels.

After awhile...quite awhile...you sort of loose track of time in there. We decided to leave the beer tent and see what else Oktoberfest had to offer. Answer: not much. They have some pretty cool rides (but at 8 euros a ride, we just watched). There is more food and souvenir shopping and that's about it.

AE realized she had left her shirt inside the beer tent. We went back to see if we could get in to go look for it (unlikely). But as we joined the back of the line one of the Beer maids came up to us and asked us if we wanted to go in. We said "Sure" and she lead us in the back door. She was a sneaky one though...she told us we all had to buy a beer (none of us wanted any more beer at that point). So we bought one to split...she was pissed....but, hey! She was the sneaky one. We found AE's shirt, amazingly and I was struck by the difference in the beer hall after only a few hours.


When we were there early in the day it was good, wholesome fun. Sure people were drinking....but it seamed clean, safe and quaint somehow too. Now after 10 hours of steady drinking and being rowdy the place just felt like any other dirty bar with out of control people. I was only too glad to get out of there.


And so concluded our one day extravaganza of Oktoberfest. When someone asked me later if I was glad I went I could wholeheartedly say "Yes." Then they asked me if I would ever go back and again I could answer with a wholehearted "No." It was amazing to experience...but now that I've done it...It's done.



The next morning we were up by 7am and on our way to the train station. After 10 hours on the train I said goodbye to the girls and got off in Arezzo. (They had another 2 hours to Rome, a quick overnight and then early flights the next morning back to the States.)

As I left the Arezzo train station to get my bus back up to my little mountain town, I felt like I had left my arm behind on the train. After spending 6 weeks, day and night with those two girls it just felt...weird that they weren't with me anymore. And even though the trip had ups and downs, it was, in the end, perfect and I wouldn't have changed a thing.


And so concluded the amazing 6 week adventure.

Up next: what HAVE I been doing since my return to the Yoga Borgo.

Blessings,
KNL