Oktoberfest!

Today was the big day – time to head to the real Oktoberfest. Some motivation was required, as we were catching a train at 6 AM In the morning, to make it to Munich in time to get a table in one of the tents.

I was approaching the event with a mixture of anticipation and slight feat – as I recall my last participation at the beerfest required rather considerable stamina, in the beer drinking compartment. We decided to start it easily and stick to having a solid, rather than liquid, breakfast on the train (unlike the majority of people, who went for the liquid option). After all, we were, for the most part, a bunch of responsible adults, right? ;) The brave group heading towards Munich was composed of: yours truly, David, Guenther, Jose, Olli, Scott, Felipe and Mira.

Upon arrival at Munich, we bunched the crowds of drunken punters (at 8 AM in the morning – what is the world coming to??), and headed down to the venue, Theresienwiese. And then started the queuing for the tent – we headed for the most famous of tents – the Paulaner one (if memory serves me right, that is were we went for the last Oktoberfest as well...). Scott's mad Danish team mate Jens, and his nearly equally mad fellow danes had thankfully managed to grab a table, so we were able to get in pretty quickly.

The madness then kicked off. Beer after beer, interrupted by the odd pretzel and schnitzel, and plenty of singing (thankfully the songs are quite easy - “ein prosit, ein prosit, Gemütlichkeit!” - that's even easy enough for a tone deaf bloke like me). All in all, I have to say, Oktoberfest is just brilliant. What is incredible is that in spite of all that beer consumed, there is basically no violence at all. The atmosphere is rowdy, sure, but very positive, all in all. And the atmosphere really is something – watching a bunch of drunken folks in Lederhosen dancing and singing on tables might not sound like a particularly memorable experience (at least in the positive sense), but trust me – it really is!

My good mate Magaye was also participating at Oktoberfest with some of his mates, and we did make a brave effort to meet up – but didn't succeed in the end. All that beer got in the way, I suppose ;)

Several hours and quite a few beers later, we stumbled back to the train station, to catch the train back to Ulm. Amazingly, we didn't loose anybody on the way, and everybody was in a rather civilized state. The journey back was rather spirited and entertaining as well (the few sober people on the train might disagree, sure...), I even got to practice my Italian with some exchange students!

At the train station it was time to say our tear-filled good byes. Somehow Oktoberfest seems like a rather appropriate way to end my association with Ulm! Or who knows, maybe I will be back – it's not the first time I've said this was my last time in Ulm (if that makes any sense??).

I was rather pleased that Andi could take me to the airport the next day! Auf wiedersen, Ulm!