Oktoberfest, in September

Out of all my previously visited countries I have to say that Germany is up there in the top three… so far.

Munich | Oktoberfest

Taylor and I were thrilled with our visit to Munich. Not only were we lucky enough to be there for the famous Oktoberfest, but we had lovely hosts as well. We booked our stay through AirBnB and ended up with an adorable couple who treated us so kindly.

Oktoberfest was unreal. I brought my camera but could barely focus on taking pictures (thank you Taylor for many of the shots in this post). I was deeply worried about Taylor’s camera… She has dropped her phone and digital camera, each separately, in a beer or wine cup on numerous occasions. This time the beers were actually big enough that dropping her Canon Rebel into one was possible. It didn’t happen though, thank goodness.

I’m not sure exactly how many people were at the festival on that given day, but it was ridiculous. I’m talking shoulder to shoulder, drunk people in costumes, young kids, old men, loud and screaming people, etc. We actually made it into one of the beer tents but were unable to get a table. That didn’t matter much to me; I was enjoying a super-sized pretzel with my super-sized beer watching all of the drunk people stand on tables and sing classic bar songs like Sweet Caroline. Awesome.

When we finally were able to get seats in a bier garten Taylor ordered a half a chicken. Literally. I didn’t eat it; I just kept munching on my pretzel. We enjoyed small talk with a few people at the table until a group of drunk, married, old Italian men sat down. Little did they know I could kind-of understand them. For the hell of it I tried to carry on a conversation with one, until he started speaking English and made me look like a fool. Sigh.

Anyway, Oktoberfest, you are my friend. I hate your 30 minute bathroom lines and the stench of drunk people, but I love you. I will return someday.

Besides spending one full day at Oktoberfest we were also able to visit Dachau, a concentration camp memorial site. Some of the things we saw there were disturbing, and when the church bells sounded at 3 pm in memory of the murdered Jews I was overwhelmed by goosebumps and tears. This was just a fraction of what I ended up feeling during our explorations of the Holocaust sites in Berlin though. 

Best part of Munich: A pretzel I had at the Munich train station… Sliced in half with creamy butter in the middle and just the right amount of salt. Oh, I dream about it.

I love German pretzels.