A Long Awaited Adventure

So this weekend may have been the craziest I've had in a long time. It's been in the works since before spring semester ended, it's taken a few months of planning, and it was all so worth it. It was- Oktoberfest.

Affectionately referred to by the French as "the Beer Party" and by many Americans, including Brett, as "Beerfest," all of these are pretty much dead on. My friends and I got to the Oktoberfest grounds around 7:50am on Saturday to make sure that we could get a table in one of the Beer Halls. After standing in line at the Lowenbrau tent for about an hour, there were probably a few hundred people in line behind us with the same idea as us. The doors opened and all hell broke loose- it was like the running of the bulls. All notion of organization thrown to the winds, everyone made a mad dash through the bottle-necked doorway. Pushing, shoving, doing anything to get inside, everyone had their eyes on the prize inside the Beer Hall. One of my shorter friends at one point started getting swept underneath the torrent of people, so after seeing her getting clotheslines, I grabbed her around the waste and pulled her along with me. We finally got to a table where we sat down and watched the rest of the commotion settle. In order to be served, you had to be at one of the hundreds of tables set up inside, so they were probably the second hottest commodity of the day, behind the beer.

Shortly after the rush, the waitresses started bringing out liter steins of the home brewed Lowenbrau. From then on, it was singing, cheering, talking with people from all over Europe who had come to the festivities, and enjoying the authentic German atmosphere. Considering the thousands of people drinking in one location, the whole system is surprisingly organized due to the sit-down rule, but there was still a ton of fun to be had. We somehow got surrounded by a bunch of Italians who kept starting their own chants and drinking songs, in addition to the Bavarian band that played throughout the day. All in all, incredible experience.

And on top of that, I stole one of the steins I used as a little souvenir. After planning our escape route the entire day, we decided to just go for it and see what happened. My friends and I stuffed two steins in my backpack and headed for one of the doors, where the security guards were too busy trying to keep the mob out than trying to check bags on the way out. I smiled, waved at the guards, and strolled outside into safety.

Besides the Beer Halls, Oktoberfest is like a giant state fair, complete with rides, games, prizes, and food. The pretzels they served which were the size of my head were delicious, as well as the roasted chickens and roasted nuts that are staples of the festivities.

The day before this madness, I also made the journey two hours south of Munich to see something I've looked forward to since my Senior year English teacher had a poster of it in her classroom. Neuschwanstein Castle was built in the 1800s and was the model for Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland. It honestly feels like you're in a fairy tale when you get to the town of Fussen and see this and the other castle set into the mountain side. For those of you who know about the castle, you can attest to its beauty. If you don't, check out these photos I took of it from an overlooking bridge and around the grounds.


I hope this finds all of you doing well. Keep on keeping me posted of what you're all up to and I'll hope to here from you soon.

A bientôt!

"I have wandered all my life, and I have also traveled; the difference between the two being this, that we wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment." -Hilaire Belloc