oktoberfest 2007

i was fortunate enough to have seen the wiesn before oktoberfest hit munich. i unfortunately did not take pictures but you can probably imagine what it looks like. there are two main streets: one for the rides and one for the beer tents. there are several breweries (hacker-pschorr, augustiner, paulaner, lowenbrau, spaten and hofbrau) and each brewery has i think at least two halls serving their beer (see left: inside hacker-pschorr with tobi and eike). so upon checking in wikipedia, i've discovered that there is also a wine hall but... that's ... well just sorta ridiculous.

the most amazing conversations can happen when you're standing on a bench in a beer hall, holding a mass and crammed next to a sweaty dude in lederhosen (and it's okay because you're sweating too). to give you a rough idea of how big a mass is (and how crammed you are), i thought i'd insert this picture... i mean yes, a mass is 1L of beer (and roughly 500 calories) but i think my efforts cannot be fully appreciated without seeing it in comparison to me. so here you go:

ok so i think eike and i made it a total of about 5 times. i never managed to get a dirndl (sad) and except the night of the above foto, eike worked the lederhosen like nobody's business and i have to say... they're kinda sexy.

the only thing i have to mention (because pictures won't do) is the band. every hall has a live band playing less than 10 songs repeatedly it seems and though you think it would absolutely get on your nerves, for some reason it doesn't. special mention: that guy on the right holding his trumpet funny eventually took his shirt off whilst dancing... he is aaaagile. anyway, the songs range from hall to hall but pretty much a standard is like a big ol "cheers" every 15 minutes... except it's a song. i guess it feels pretty unbelievable when you're screaming "summer of 69" on the top of your lungs and like at least 200 people are air-guitarring with you - now THAT is something i should have gotten a picture of. ah well.

ok i lie, there are more things worth mentioning: the rides. they are awesome and ridiculously expensive. however, there is a famous ride called the toppogan which is an absolute must. i only made attempts as a spectator because i was pissing myself laughing before i could even get to the line. basically, it's two rides in one. the point is to get to the top so you can just spiral down a big slide (no biggie). however, to get to the top, one must step onto an insanely speedy conveyor belt of sorts. this usually ends up with people flat on their asses... and hilarity ensues. notice what happens when drunk and cocky: (yes that is his bare ass).

i was also mildly excited at the sight of these bad boys (both boys and horns):
there was also yodeling and noone seemed to think that was odd or out of place, which was also kinda awesome.

so yea, it is a lot of fun but crazy exhausting.
more pictures: