Last weekend my friends and I went to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. It was nothing like I had anticipated. In short, nearly everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. We had all planned on buying train tickets and getting a group discount, which would have cost us about 50 Euros each, according to a ticket cashier we talked to on Thursday. However, when we went to the trian station on Friday to actually buy our tickets, the price had somehow jumped up to 70-something Euros...way too expensive for us and definitely not worth a one day trip, even to Oktoberfest. So, we scrambled some last minute plans together and called some friends we knew who came to Graz with their cars. Luckily, they agreed, so we left at about 4:30 a.m. last Saturday for the five hour car ride to Munich. We parked at Chris's dad's house and took a train to the downtown. When the train arrived, only half of us boarded before the doors closed on us. The rest of us were left at the station to wait another 20 minutes for the next train. This turned out to be a common theme during the trip. I think we got separated from each other a total of 10-15 times...it was ridiculous and frustrating, as only one or two of us had cell phones that work in Germany.
Anyways, after what seemed like forever, we finally found our way to the Fest. We were so pumped! There were drunk people everywhere and it was only 11 a.m. Right after we walked through the gate, however, the rain started and didn't stop the whole time we were there. When you combine puddles with all puke, scraps of paper, dirt, etc. that was on the ground, you get an incredibly disgusting mush that slowly creeps up your pant legs until your jeans are soaked up to the knees. So gross.
Because of the weather, there were huge lines in front of all the beer tents. Finally we found one and got to sit down inside, but the hostesses split our group up into three or four parts. We had just eaten lunch and only wanted to drink, but the restaurant would not allow that. We all had to order food (which cost a minimum of 9-10 Euros) and a beer (about 7 Euros). Also, we were only allowed to stay in the restaurant for an hour. After your time is up, the employees come and just start taking away all of your stuff...it wasn't so hospitable.
We left the restaurant and started walking around, when all of a sudden Noel, Jen, and I realized we had lost the rest of the group. It was absolutely pouring outside, but we found an outside biergarten and decide to go get a drink anyways. It was actually pretty fun...we met a really funny Australian couple who is living in London for a couple of years. We discussed politics and apparently made a good impression, so they offered us their pull-out couches if we ever need a place to stay. When we left, Noel and I took our massive bier steins and stuffed them into my pack. I made a quick get-away and now have a wonderful souvenir...not sure how I'm going to get it home, though.
Finally we met up with the rest of the group back in Marienplatz (the center square of Munich). We found a restaurant where we could all warm up and dry off a bit. We stayed there 'til it got dark and eventually made our way back to Oktoberfest, which was about to close at this point. We should have realized how hard it is to keep up with a group of our size when it's pitch-black and raining, but of course we didn't consider that. Within about 5 minutes we were all separated again. We continued to make the best of it and decided to drive the bumper cars for awhile...it was an amazing stress-reliever. We were exhausted at this point and everyone was leaving the park, so we started to head out. By now, we had separated again and it was just Tom, Jen, and I. Because it was so dark, we couldn't see which train stop to get off at to get back to Chris's dad's house but somehow we eventually made it. Half our group, however, had to spend the night in the train station because they missed the last train back. I guess it could have been worse.
On Sunday we tried to do some sightseeing around Munich, but we had just more of the same frustrating disorganization and I didn't have any dry pants, shoes, or socks, so I was pretty miserable. Everyone else was, too. We all left at different times and when we got back to Graz I realized my roomkey was in Marika's car, who wouldn't be coming home for another several hours.
After all that, all we could do was just laugh. It was so awful it was funny, and at least now we can all say we went to Oktoberfest.
*I apologize for the tedious, play-by-play account of the weekend...some of these posts will be more for my benefit than anyone else's so that I'll be able to remember everything I did while abroad. Bear with me!
