Oktoberfest: A Brief Resume

It's worth recapping Oktoberfest and posting some pictures from the weekend, as it was an awesome experience; not to mention tons of fun. After weeks of not much luck Amy finally found a pretty good deal on travel expenses if we took the train to Strasbourg on a Friday and then hopped onto the Eurolines bus extra super early in the morning on Saturday. We spent a few dark hours in Strasbourg Friday night that included one of the best kebab sandwiches I've had yet before heading east towards the land of Beer. Amy was kind enough to extend the hospitality of her mother's cousin, Elizabeth and her German husband Johannes, to Mary Beth and I for the weekend and they met us at the bus stop in Munich armed with pretzels. A quick jaunt up the Autobahn, and we headed into Dachau for the afternoon where we were treated to a delicious and very traditional Bavarian lunch at a cute little restaurant in town. We chowed down on fresh pretzels, warm from the oven and Weißwurst, the traditional white veal sausage. It is technically only eaten before noon but Johannes talked the waitress into serving us anyways, white porcelain pot included. The tradition comes from a time before refrigeration when this soft fresh sausage would spoil by lunchtime making it only a morning treat. It is carefully cut out from its skin and eaten with sweet mustard. And what would be a German meal without beer? We sampled, well guzzled Weißbier, a white wheat beer also of Bavarian tradition that ranks very high on my all times list of favorite beers! After lunch we wandered up to the old city hall, through gorgeous manicured gardens and took in nice views of the surrounding area. Johannes was our own personal tour guide explaining the cultural relevance of not only food, but also the devastation WWII had on the area. We walked past closed breweries and later drove past the remains of the first concentration camp of the Hitler Regime. We hinted at wanting to visit, but Elizabeth said it took her three years to get up the courage to go and she's not ready to go back. Honestly looking at the gates was eerie enough, though someday I think it will be an important experience to have.
From there we headed into town to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening exploring downtown Munich. We checked out the old market which is still packed full of tiny meat, cheese, veggie and seafood shops. We stopped for coffee and later checked out some Tracht, or traditional garb for Oktoberfest. The dirndls (dresses) were fun, but expensive, so unfortunately we had to pass.

Sunday morning we had a very German brunch courtesy of our hosts complete with sausage and pretzels. From there we headed into to Oktoberfest itself. Oktoberfest is really just a big carnival, but one where they consume over a million litters of beer in just two weeks with its own sewage system and police force! There are carnival rides, fair food, souvenirs including lebkuchenherz, heart shaped gingerbread cookies to be give to your sweetheart and worn around the neck, and of course, the Beer Halls. There are many of them; by only supplied by the six major breweries in Bavaria, all other beer is forbidden. (We visited a Paulaner tent.) These HUGE tents are elaborately decorated and filled to bursting with tables of very drunk singing revelers, German bands, litters of beer, and piles of food zipped about by frantic waitresses. The waitresses were actually really fun to watch, decked out in their dirndls and hiking boots carrying up to six liters of beer at a time, and I thought one was heavy! Outside we sampled: bratwurst, roast chicken, cheese bread, more pretzels, pickled trout and a lebkuchenherz.

Then it was quick to the bus headed back to Strasbourg. We changed out return tickets in the morning to return later in the day to give us time to explore the sleepy Alsatian capital early on a crisp Monday morning amidst the gold and red of Fall that has already touched the North of France. It was simply beautiful and by far my favorite French village we've visited. I would very much like to return here to visit the internationally famous month long Christmas festival held here every December.

* Some of the photos on this post were used courtesty of Mary Beth Boeglin.