Oktoberfest!

"Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit.
"Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit."

(German drinking song sung often at Oktoberfest, approximately every 15 minutes, lol and I've read that there really is no good translation but this one seems to be the closest...)

"A toast, a toast, a cozy place!
A toast, a toast, a cozy place!"

We made it to Munich around 12:15pm after a three hour train ride from Heidelberg. We met a nice American couple who have been living in Germany for a couple of years with their young kids because the husband is in then U.S. Armed Forces and has been stationed here. They love it and aren't looking forward to going back to the USA next year.

Thankfully our hostel wasn't far from the train station so it only took us minutes to get there and check in, although we had to leave our bags in the lobby area because our room wasn't ready (which we're getting used to and are getting more comfortable with since we can, at the very least, lock our bags).

We stopped at a pharmacy to get some more stuff for Jeff, he's stil not well which is so hard, especially at Oktoberfest... If you know Jeff, you know he likes beer.

We're within walking distance of the festhalls, maybe seven minutes but instead of following a map you can follow one of the MANY, MANY people dressed in either drindls (for women) or leider hosen (for men). Admittedly, I'm a little jealous and want to be dressed up too, but they're not cheap and I'll have to lug it around for 5 more weeks... Not convinced though... I may have to get one since we celebrate it at home too... Urgh! Can't decide!!

Anyway, we made it to the huge park area that is all set up like a giant fair, with rides and games and food stands everywhere (a lot of pretzels...). We picked a huge festhall to go into and found a seat immediately. It isn't as busy (and yet very busy) around noon on a weekday, most of the tables had notes though, saying they were reserved for 3pm, so we knew we had until then. A lady brought me a litre of beer (a litre!) and I happily took lots of pictures, lol. Jeff didn't have anything but watched me. Every now and again, "Ein Prosit" was sung which was entertaining - lots of people standing and clinking glasses in toasts.

There were soooooo many people in the festhall, a sea of people! I can't imagine what it would look like at night time (we'll wander around tomorrow night as Jeff is resting tonight).

It took me an hour to drink my beer and then I wobbled through the fair ground taking pictures while munching on a pretzel. By the time we got home I had felt the full effect of my German beer... Note to self, I need more than an hour for a litre of beer... I crashed and had an afternoon nap.

We headed to the grocery store and picked up a few things, but not many as we don't have a fridge or kitchen area here which is really frustrating, especially since we have paid a small fortune for this room (we don't even have a small lamp or anything so it's super bright until we go to bed - maybe we've been spoiled at other places?). Then we grabbed some dinner from a place down our road, we got pasta.

Jeff's now reading a magazine and I'm trying to decide if I should get a drindl...

We'll hit the hay early tonight so we have lots of time to explore tomorrow, although I don't know how well we'll sleep as we're on a loud and busy road, not to mention the many sirens (ambulance - not good) and drunk people making a ruccus outside. I may need to pull out the earplugs!

Anyway, we've made it here and have a whole day ahead of us tomorrow to wander through the festhalls and maybe even get a seat (at least until 3pm).

Until then, alvederzane!