A wunderbar weekend at Oktoberfest

Last week some friends and I decided to make VERY last minute plans to go to Oktoberfest in Munich.  We had been wanting to go for years and we had just never been able to make it work out...until now!  So last week we talked about it, decided to rent a big, comfortable car for the weekend and drive there (and by WE driving, I really mean ME driving)!  And we ended up being quite an interesting group...2 Americans, 2 Canadians (1 Quebecoise) and 1 Moroccan.

in the car

We left after work on Friday night and drove all night, stopping only for coffee and a short nap at a rest area in Germany.  Though mappy told us it would only take 7.5 hours to drive from Paris to Munich, it took us about 12 hours. We arrived in Munich early Saturday morning, and since we didn't have a place to stay, we drove around for a while looking for a place to park the car (or portable hotel), and then headed to Oktoberfest!

finally, Oktoberfest!

We arrived at Oktoberfest around 11:00 am and, since it was the last weekend, there were already tons of people there.  We walked around for a bit, then got in line to get into a beer tent.  Once we got in we realised we would never be able to get a seat so we headed back out to enjoy some delicious German food, then got in line for a beer garden.  The line was long, and the security people weren't letting anyone in, so when the scary security lady where we were waiting turned to take off her jacket, we snuck past her along with some other people, and we quickly split up so she couldn't find us since she kicked the other group back out.  We miraculously managed to find a table right away and ordered some liter steins of delicious, golden Oktoberfest beer.  Though we were all exhausted from barely sleeping the night before (I only slept about 1 hour, but drove about 12 hours), the beers woke us up, and we ended up staying at that same beer garden from 1 pm to 10 pm, right before the tents closed.

the first liters

the first liters

yum!*

making friends

our server carrying 12 liter steins!

he taught me how to hold six

enjoying Oktoberfest

We had a lot of fun, drank far too many liters of beer and met tons of fun and interesting people from all over the world (England, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil...I don't even know!)  It was a lot of fun and an experience I will never forget and hope to repeat next year!

the beer garden we spent the day at

hofbrau beer tent...I really wanted to go but the line was waaaay too long

paulaner and lowenbrau beer tents

the Bavaria statue

Oktoberfest

view of Oktoberfest

I was also VERY proud of myself as I drove for the first time ever in Paris (and survived!) and drove for the first time ever in Europe being the principal (and only) driver!  Usually when I drive, I'm with my husband and we just pull over and let me drive for a while on the highway...but this was all me, in Paris, in Munich, and everywhere in between!  And we made it, with no accidents and only a near heart attack on my part when I had to drive in Paris (and by near heart attack I mean freaking out, nearly crying, screaming a lot and, well, we will just say I'm ashamed of the number of curse words that came out of my mouth in a mere 30 mins...I think I broke a record!).

After we left Oktoberfest, we headed back to the car for some sleep (along with a million other people who slept in their cars in the same field as us) and woke up early Sunday morning (miraculously hangover free) to start the looong drive back to Paris, stopping only for food and coffee.  We got back to Paris in the evening and all headed home, exhausted (I think I slept 4 hours the entire weekend and drove 24 hours!) but very happy with our fun and adventurous weekend and our first Oktoberfest experience!

*I am not an alcoholic...I just really love German beer!