Many of you will remember our Oktoberfest shenanigans last year (Greg's version and my version). This year it was much more calm - we went together with my second cousin who was visiting from Israel on the U-bahn. We didn't get lost, but did get pushed around a bit by the drunks walking around on the Oktoberfest grounds. I hear it's quite fun to have a table reserved and to see all the insides of the tents during the weekdays when it's quieter, but this year that didn't pan out for us.
It was a special year for Oktoberfest, too - 200 years in existence! There's definitely advantages and disadvantages to the festival - on one side, you get hoards of tourists mostly interested in just drinking to oblivion and not caring about what they do to the city; on the other hand, beautiful dirndls abound and the lederhosen the guys wear always makes me chuckle. The locals tend to be happier and more social during this time - I wish there was more of that year round in fact!
I even got to go salsa dancing with the dirndl- and lederhosen-attired crowd last week. It was just like a country ball with contradictory music.
In any case, I'm sure the city of Munich makes a pretty penny from the tourists that come here, part of which I know will go into restoring the city back to its state of cleanliness before the tourists arrived.
Showing posts with label Oktoberfest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oktoberfest. Show all posts
October 6, 2010
October 15, 2009
Ayelet's Side of the Story
Sequel to Greg's version below. Sorry there are no photos to go along with it. Someone else had the camera that day!
First off, let me say that I obviously did not die, get seriously hurt on my bike, or get attacked by men in lederhosen and women in dirndls. You would have heard about it much sooner.
I took off on my bike, leaving Greg walking in my dust, and headed in the direction of Oktoberfest or Wiesn as it's known to the locals. I made excellent time... helps to have a ton of people to follow, all wearing the conspicuous Bavarian classic outfits. I saw what I thought was the U-bahn sign and followed it away from the festival grounds. And I waited patiently at what I thought was the only exit of the Theresienwiese U-bahn stop for like 45 minutes. Greg and his bright yellow t-shirt never showed up. Finally, I decided that either Greg couldn't figure out the underground and was hopelessly lost OR there was another exit.
I walked along until I saw the other exit! Well, that made more sense. Sadly, by this time, Greg was heading to find the exit I had waited at previously. Long story short, I didn't see him come out of the other exit either and gave up because I figured by that time, he either had returned home or headed over to his work party.
I still enjoyed some time at Oktoberfest because I rode all the way there and it was a beautiful sunny day. Let me just tell you something about Oktoberfest... it is like any other festival, but with SO MANY PEOPLE! And everyone gets into it from the elderly locals to the young hip things to foreigners to expats. EVERYONE.
Most were in the lederhosen or dirndls (or some were in what could only ironically be called dirndls because they hardly covered anything at all and if people in medieval times wore those, they probably would have frozen some very important limbs off). It was fun to see, but there also were down-sides to the festivals. The transit system was packed for 2 weeks straight; the amazing bike lanes here were littered with broken glass; many people drank too much and became disgusting; and the city became generally dirtier because of all the reveling. It's not always been this way as I've heard from some people, but that was my perspective on it at least.
First off, let me say that I obviously did not die, get seriously hurt on my bike, or get attacked by men in lederhosen and women in dirndls. You would have heard about it much sooner.
I took off on my bike, leaving Greg walking in my dust, and headed in the direction of Oktoberfest or Wiesn as it's known to the locals. I made excellent time... helps to have a ton of people to follow, all wearing the conspicuous Bavarian classic outfits. I saw what I thought was the U-bahn sign and followed it away from the festival grounds. And I waited patiently at what I thought was the only exit of the Theresienwiese U-bahn stop for like 45 minutes. Greg and his bright yellow t-shirt never showed up. Finally, I decided that either Greg couldn't figure out the underground and was hopelessly lost OR there was another exit.
I walked along until I saw the other exit! Well, that made more sense. Sadly, by this time, Greg was heading to find the exit I had waited at previously. Long story short, I didn't see him come out of the other exit either and gave up because I figured by that time, he either had returned home or headed over to his work party.
I still enjoyed some time at Oktoberfest because I rode all the way there and it was a beautiful sunny day. Let me just tell you something about Oktoberfest... it is like any other festival, but with SO MANY PEOPLE! And everyone gets into it from the elderly locals to the young hip things to foreigners to expats. EVERYONE.
Most were in the lederhosen or dirndls (or some were in what could only ironically be called dirndls because they hardly covered anything at all and if people in medieval times wore those, they probably would have frozen some very important limbs off). It was fun to see, but there also were down-sides to the festivals. The transit system was packed for 2 weeks straight; the amazing bike lanes here were littered with broken glass; many people drank too much and became disgusting; and the city became generally dirtier because of all the reveling. It's not always been this way as I've heard from some people, but that was my perspective on it at least.
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