It was an early morning. We had discussed wearing our traditional Bavarian clothing on the plane, but at the last minute decided not to. Ryan and Lori didn't get the memo, and showed up in the hotel lobby in their tracht. They took one look at the rest of us in our street clothes and went back up to their room to change.
Our flight was uneventful. There were several other groups dressed in full costume, so as it turns out we wouldn't have looked completely ridiculous.
After a long cab ride (the airport is about 30 minutes outside of town) we checked into our hotel and got a
heart-shaped gingerbread cookie. They also had the Oktoberfest tickets that we had mailed there (yay!)
We met in the lobby, dressed in our
dirndl and leiderhosen at 3pm. We had not anticipated wearing these outfits when we originally planned our Oktoberfest trip. In fact, the concept of coming in costume hadn't even crossed our minds - it was the Hertz employee who had suggested it when we picked up our rental car. He was either being very helpful or playing a tourist joke on us. We have no idea at this point if people actually dress up for Oktoberfest. We're about to find out.
The weather is dreary and pouring rain. When we had purchased our outfits, it had been sunny and ridiculously hot, and we were concerned about being too warm in them. This is no longer a worry as the temperature was in the 60's, plus the rain.
Did I mention that we really have no idea what to expect? Somehow I had pictured us arriving there, and then going into our giant tent or at least a covered area. So I elected not to wear my rain jacket. This was a big mistake.
It was a quick and easy train ride to Oktoberfest. Everyone - literally
everyone - is wearing dirndl and leiderhosen. Had we come in street clothes we would have looked ridiculous! So thankful the Hertz guy was there to save us from that embarrassment.
One you get in the gates, Oktoberfest is set up like a carnival or fair. There are the giant beer tents - but you can only go in there for the specific time that your ticket allows. And there are little stands scattered around outside selling pretzels, sodas, water, and other snacks. There are a couple of "beer gardens" with outdoor seating where you can sit down and get a beer outside. But there are NO covered areas to hang out at before your tent time.
Did I mention it is pouring rain?
We managed to purchase a couple of expensive 15 euro umbrellas off of an enterprising person wandering around selling them. And then we sat down at one of the beer gardens, after the bartender took his squeegee to the seats and wiped off some of the puddled water. We all sat down and huddled under our shared umbrellas.
We had about an hour of this before we could get in our tent. By the time we could stand in line to enter our tent, we were all soaked. Even those of us wearing rain jackets were soaked clear through their jackets. Around 5pm we get in line; our ticket time was 5:30. Finally, we can get in the tent and out of the rain!
The entire place was massive. There were giant hanging chandeliers wreathed in hops. We had balcony seats, which meant we were up above the main floor and had a waitress who brought beer to our table. You could only get on the balcony if you had balcony tickets and a wristband, so it was a little less crowded. Included in our tickets was a 1/2 a chicken, potato salad, and 2 beers. (Just two beers? You ask. Well, yes, when the beers are 1 liter each, two is plenty).
There was a live band playing on the main level, and a massive kitchen with all the chickens cooking.
Our waitress, Lisa, was very sweet. She told us she works 14 hour shifts for all of the 17 days that Oktoberfest runs. Carrying around half a dozen liters of beer steins and giant trays full of chicken and potato salad.
The restrooms were on the main level, and monitored by a very stern German woman who would yell at you (yes, literally yell) if you took too long in the stall. She wore a whistle around her neck and would frequently blow that too. The upside to this is that the long line for the ladies' room actually moved very quickly.
Our reservation time was from 5:00 - 10:30, but by 9:30 we had to tap out. Giant steins of beer downed quickly and in sequence can make even the bravest souls decide they've had enough.
It was still raining outside, but the rain had let up a little bit from when we entered the tent. The train ride back to the hotel was... interesting. Also some poor chap who made the unfortunate choice to eat french fries on a train full of intoxicated people was almost made to involuntarily share them.
Everyone was back at the hotel by 10pm. Robin, Steven, and Ryan stayed in the lobby for a while, talking, but the rest of us went to bed.
