Part IV: Surviving Oktoberfest

For the last leg of Euro Adventures 2013, we took a bus from Prague to Munich. I'd been to Munich before in 2002 (funny story, first place I was ever drunk- thank you high school Euro Tour!) and hadn't been a huge fan but this time we had a reason for going. It was officially the last weekend of Oktoberfest and we were going to meet up with the rest of the Birr family!

We caught a bus at the crack of dawn, so it dropped us off in the busiest train station in central Munich right around midday. While I'm sure the station is normally pretty bustling, with Oktoberfest is was downright chaotic. There were dirndls and lederhosen everywhere, with beer splashing all over the place.

German outfits aplenty.

Once we figured out what train to get on to make it to our apartment in the outskirts, it was relatively easy. I do have to say out of all the public transit trains/rails/trams I've been on, Munich's is the clearest and cleanest. We took it every day and a couple times I took it by myself. More major cities should take a page out of their book. Anyway, we made it to the apartment and met up with Adam's family.

Neighborhood we stayed in- Autumn in Germany!

Since we'd been staying pretty loyal to local cuisines, we hadn't eaten much outside of meat, potato, bread and cabbage in quite some time so we figured it was okay to try the Greek restaurant on the corner. Nothing to write home about in terms of the food so I'll spare you the details, but it wasn't bad and I was glad to have more vegetables represented on my plate. The remainder of the day we relaxed. It was nearing the end of our trip, everyone was getting the flu, and we wanted to be in tip top shape for Oktoberfest the next day. Dinner was at a local place in the neighborhood, where I gave schnitzel another try. It's fine, just forgettable. I just think there's much better Eastern European and Germanic cuisine options.

The next morning we were up early and ready to go (after several sudafeds and some potent eucalyptus oil). I was a little nervous because I don't drink beer (I actually kind of hate beer) but all the pre-trip reading material assured me that there would be other options. Walking up to Oktoberfest, a thought struck me and was continually validated throughout the day.

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is Disneyland for adults. It's rows of giant beer halls that are all themed and look like castles. There's carnival rides and food everywhere. Lebkuchen (giant heart shaped gingerbread cookies saying "I Love You" in German) are hanging in every available space. And it's not just for adults, it's a full family affair.

Lebkuchen stand

The first hall we hit we'd read good things about, the Lowenbrau tent. Plus it's theme was a giant lion and I'll go to anyplace with a cat theme.

Lowenbrau Lion

The hall was gigantic with endless rows of communal tables and benches. There was a grandstand in the middle for the polka band, which was already in full force (along with the drunkards waving steins around).

Inside at Lowenbrau

The guys ordered a round of liter beers. There weren't any non-beer options in this tent so I ducked out for a bit to go explore. After they were done with their beers, I suggested the hall across, Winzerer Fahndl. It has bottles of wine and looked like Christmas inside. That place was rather mellow, as it was more of an eating establishment and still before lunch.

See? Totally like Christmas.

When people with table reservations started to pour in, we vacated and went to another big beer hall, Speisekarte.

Beer Hall #3

Faced with beer-only options and a half bottle of wine serving as liquid courage, I bit the bullet and ordered the closest thing I could stomach to beer, a liter of radler. Radlers are half beer, half lemonade. While it was hard to stomach at first, half a liter in it started to go down a little bit easier.

Can you spot the radler? (Spoiler: Middle)

We chatted up some locals at our communal table and found a good tent to hit for lunch (yes- this all happened before lunch). The local girl recommended food at Kafer Wies'n-Schanke, so we trekked on over and got a table outside. This place had wine thankfully. I got a skillet of sauerkraut, sausage, some potent German mustard and rye bread. A hearty and authentic meal that was much needed.

Best sausage of the trip!

After that (and this is the point where I stop naming beer halls because things get a little blurry- but my educated guess is Braurosi), we went to another larger hall and another radler (this time made with Spaten- although I think it tasted the same as the Paulaner one) was ready to be consumed. After that, Birr and I were on a mission so we ducked into yet ANOTHER tent to get another round of liters. Due to my powers of deduction (i.e. my photos of a ceiling painted as a blue sky with clouds), we were able to cram in and find a seat at Hofbrau-Festzelt- no tent wouldn't serve you unless you have a seat.

Photographic evidence we made it to Hofbrau-Festzelt

After that it was mid/late afternoon and impossible to find seats in any of the other tents. Also, I should clarify something at this point. Since it was the very last day of Oktoberfest, it was the emptiest day as most tourists had left the city. If it was in full swing, we still would have had to arrive at the crack of dawn but probably would have been able to go to one tent, maybe two before having to camp out due to lack of seats. Another thing to know, parties under 8 can't usually make reservations.

You would think at this point we'd throw in the towel but we found the most unlikely of "beer halls" where you can get a drink if you stand. And they don't really serve beer, it's all liquor and wine. And it looks like you're in Candyland. Seriously, the "tent" is shaped like a castle with all these gaudy ceramic candy canes and gingerbread people everywhere.

Candyland

We ordered a round of these atrocious "orange drinks" that were some from Aperol, a liquor that I will never, ever consume again. After one of those, you might really start to think you might have been transported to Candyland and and start looking for the gumdrop forest (if it wasn't for the cover band playing Robin Thicke songs).

Orange drinks lining up to be poured...

But you look like this after drinking them.

After escaping the madness of Oktoberfest, we headed to the heart of Munich for some much needed substanance.

Farewell Oktoberfest- we survived you!

Another plate of sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes later, we found ourselves sitting next to this old man, who was also drunk and wanted to regale us with stories of his life. Turns out he'd been to Sausalito in the 1970s to film a documentary on those "damn hippies on houseboats." Such a small world and a little reminder that although it had been a great trip, I was getting ready to return to San Francisco soon. 

Our other full day in Munich we spent the morning wandering around the main square of Munich, which falls between the Odeonsplatz and Marienplatz stops.

Main square on a foggy day.

There's lots of shops and restaurants, plus the oddest homage to Michael Jackson that I've ever seen.

Not sure who the statue is for or if he enjoys being turned into a Jackson shrine.

Since we missed it at Oktoberfest, we had lunch at the famed Haufbrau House, so more sausage, more beer for the guys (I'd gone back to hating beer) and a full blown polka band.

Inside Haufbrau.

After that, we spent the afternoon walking Englischer Garten, which I loved. It was like the European version of Golden Gate Park.

Cafe in Englischer Garten.

It's still Autumn in the Garten.

Obviously these are only a few of the many shots I took in the Garten.

We even saw some guys surfing the river (I think these guys might need to come to California).

River surfers.

I loved it so much I actually work up early the next morning to run the park before the impending overseas flight.

Morning fog in the Garten. Gorgeous run.

For our last dinner in Munich we deviated from traditional fare again went to an Italian restaurant that our drunken friend from the night before had recommended. Not quite sure if it really even existed we were pleasantly surprised by the quaint establishment that had some delicious Italian food (apparently there are a fair amount of Italians that actually reside in Germany). It was a great way to round out a trip filled with culinary adventures.

My travel family. Thank you Birr's!

One other thing I'd like to add, I love German people. Yes, I know a lot of them from growing up in Minnesota and I'm even a quarter German. And I always root for them during the World Cup because they pull fake injuries in order to get PKs way less than all the other teams. These people are so nice and polite that I don't think they get the recognition they deserve. They're also incredibly honest. On our train ride to the airport we had to switch trains at one of the busiest depots. I was a little out of it (damn you morning run) and I had my first "Larisa moment" of the trip (hey- at least I made it until the last day). Twenty minutes into the ride on the second train I realized I was short a purse, which housed my passport, all other forms of ID, money and credit cards. On the verge of a hyperventilation attack we hopped off and grabbed a train back. So forty minutes later we get back to the stop and I'm thinking I'm going to be stranded in Germany for the foreseeable future (thanks to Birr for keeping his cool during all of this) and I walk over to the area we were sitting and there it is. My nice Marc Jacobs purse, filled with everything of value that I travel with, just sitting nicely next to where I had been sitting. In forty minutes not a single person had touched it, at the most central train stop in all of Munich. Amazing. I feel like had this been any other major city in the world, that purse would have been gone in a heartbeat. Thank you Germany, I will continue to cheer for your soccer team.

And of course, because this is Germany, land of beer, here's a recap from Birr. Someone who actually drinks beer (which you will be able to tell from the much more accurate and in-depth analysis along with a little heartwarming father-son bonding moment): 

I had thoughts of nothing but bier, as we left the Czech Republic and made our way to Munich.  Coming from a family with a strong and proud German heritage it had been a long and restless wait to visit the Vaterland – and what better way to visit and experience our German heritage than to go to Oktoberfest! 

If you are unaware Oktoberfest originated as a celebration of the marriage of King Ludwig I and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810. The party hasn't stopped since, and has turned into the world’s largest fair attracting millions from all over the world. It is still a 16-day festival running from late September to the first weekend in October. We were able to time our visit to coincide with the very last day of Oktoberfest 2013.

The fest is held annually in the Theresienwiese (called Wies’n by the locals), near Munich's city center, which is extremely convenient to get to via the amazingly efficient and extensive public transit system. Entering the grounds I couldn’t help but smile. My first impression was that we had walked into a real-world version of the board game Candy Land – super bubbly and colorful with paths leading everywhere to delicious goodness (i.e. bier). On second look, it was really more like a supersized version of the Minnesota State Fair, with the added exception of bier being everywhere instead of fried-foods-on-a-stick.

Even though it was barely past 10:00 in the morning, we were there for one reason – to drink bier, so we headed to the first bier “tent” we came across (all of the “tents” are permanent structures of enormous proportions, having an average capacity of 6,000 people). We happened to walk into the Löwenbräu tent, which was impressively large and surprisingly (or not) full of drunk or nearly drunk people. We were able to find a seat right away, and by 10:25AM had 1 liter of frothy golden Oktoberfest bier in front of us ready to be enjoyed. Note: all beverages in the main tents only come in one liter volumes!

Time to begin!

We soon discovered that the bier options were limited at Oktoberfest.  Most tents had three options including a dunkel or dark bier, and Radler or shandy bier that is half lemonade and half bier. More often though the bier maids (not sure if that is PC, but seems to fit the event still) just came up to you and asked if you wanted a bier, the third and default option. A “yes” answer would result in you being served an Oktoberfest bier. 

Oktoberfest bier is something special. First of all, a true Oktoberfest bier must be brewed within the city limits of Munich. Second, it has to have a minimum of 6% alcohol by volume. Finally and most importantly, it can only be brewed conforming to the Reinheitsgebot (German Bier Ruity Law).

The law was first penned in the city of Ingolstadt, north of present day Munich, on 23 April 1516. In the original text, the only ingredients that could be used in the production of bier were water, barley and hops. In the 1800s when yeast and its importance were discovered wordage was added to include it as well – yeast had always been present they just didn’t know about it (hurray for science).

The breweries that can produce Oktoberfest bier under the criteria are:

• Augustiner-Bräu
• Hacker-Pschorr-Bräu
• Löwenbräu
• Paulaner-Bräu
• Spatenbräu
• Staatliches Hofbräu-München

After nearly 12 hours we (my dad, Al, and I) had downed 5.5 liters of bier, including Oktoberfest biers from Hacker-Pschorr-Bräu, Löwenbräu, Paulaner-Bräu, and Spatenbräu. In Al’s words “we walked the walk; we talked the talk; we killed the fest like I knew we would. Great times in Germany.”  

Father and son bonding over beer.

Overall, Oktoberfest did indeed offer great times. It was a festive, carefree environment brimming with fun, camaraderie, and lots of bier. I wish I could breakdown the taste quality of each of the biers we had to determine a preference, but in the end Oktoberfest is less about the bier and much more about the experience. Leaving Munich, bier was still very much on my mind, but more in the way of the hangover. Until the next one…zicke zacke zicke zacke hoi hoi hoi!