Noch ein Bier bitte!

The Oktoberfest ROCKS!! If you have never been, then it should definitely be on your agenda for 2007. It was one of the best weekends I have ever had.

The locals know the festival as the “Wiesn” and is the biggest public event in the world, with 6 million visitors, drinking more than 5 million litres of beer (I drank approx. 10 of those…) and eating over 200,000 pork sausages.

This event is all about drinking, dancing, meeting people from all over the world and above all having fun! Our weekend began with a 6am wake up to get to Heathrow a little worse for wear after Nadia and I’s work leaving drinks the night before. We spent the 1st day soaking in the German culture, checking out the amazing sites of ‘Muchen’ and then popping into the world largest beer hall – the Hofenbrau to see what all the fuss was about… One beer later we realised we were in for a good weekend.

Day 2 we chose the Lowenbrau beer tent as our home for the day after many recommendations. Our first beer went down quite nicely (and quickly) which was a surprise considering it was only 9.30am! By 11am, we could all confirm that we were already a little tipsy and by midday we were up on the tables happily singing along and dancing away to whatever songs the very talented German band were playing (this ranged from traditional German music, Robbie Williams, Jonny Cash, Eros Ramazotti – you name it, they played it!).

By the end of the night, we had completed 15 hours of drinking, met people from all over the world – had conversations in English, German and Italian (it’s amazing how alcohol turns your into a great linguist!) and were looking forward to a well earned rest. By the time we made it back to our hostel we knew one thing for sure, and that was that we were excited about doing it all over again on Sunday!

Sunday came and went, and was pretty much a repeat of Saturday – more beer, more dancing, more new people to meet – 2 very busy days of constant partying! Come Monday it was time to leave Munich behind, if not for anything else it was for our expanding beer bellies! I went to the Oktoberfest with no expectations and walked away having one of the best times ever! It’s a brilliant place to have a fantastic weekend away with a group of friends – but make sure you leave car keys and inhibitions at home…

Vielen Dank Muchen! Prost!