Oktoberfest Day Four: Neuschwanstein Castle

Day four is about the day tour. As suggested previously, Oktoberfest is best experienced by staggering the staggering with some pure tourist touring. Today we hit Neuschwanstein Castle, about two hours outside of Munich. This is one of the best castles to visit in Europe, even though its completely fake. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant Castle but it was built in the 19th (1886 methinks) century by ‘Mad’ King Ludwig in the style of the Gothic castles of the 12th century. It is called the ‘Fairy tale’ castle and the blueprint for pretty much every other castle in modern story telling (Disney, Shrek ect). Kind Ludwig II was a bit of a Wagner fan and this castle was built in his honor. Almost all the tapestries-like paintings cover Wagner’s operas and much of the internal appointments are set to those stories. In fact the castle itself was not designed by an architect, but instead by set designer from Munich who specialized in operas. It’s more of a palace or retreat than a strategic, defensive position. The whole structure is built out of regular brick with sandstone facia (could never take a catapult straight on ;). As long as you ignore these silly points and take the charm at face value you’ll find that the castle is really quite breath taking… and I mean this figuratively and literally (you have to walk for a bout 2k up a steep grade to get to it).

Side note: I loved the Americans on the tour “why don’t they have an elevator” and “if this was in the US they’d bloody well drive us to the top”. Thank the wee-nymphs-that-reside-in-the-lake-beside-the-castle that it’s not in the US (or Canada) because I’d never be able to pick up Pil or a Helles at the halfway point or in the gift shop at the top. Side-side note: apparently the swearing off of beer in my previous posts was somewhat premature.

For those of you who might to want to visit Neuschwanstein Castle: It’s a bit of a pain to get to (actually, it was a bloody dog-and-pony show to get there by train, bus, donkey ect) but when you finally get to the top of the mountain it sits on and see the amazing detailing and appointments inside, you’ll be quite amazed. Be patient with the Americans who’ll wheeze and fart their way to the top (no, seriously, the old dude and front of me crapped his pants the whole way up the closed-in, spiral staircase with me right behind him having to eat his wind). And forgive the Canadians who can’t get enough of German beer, even when slogging up a hill.

~ chris

Oktoberfest Day Three: Nightcap

As planned Forrest and I headed back to the Festival Grounds at about 7pm. This is after I worked on the blog and Forrest had a snooze (bugger). As the sun was going down, we noticed that there was just as many people on the `Wiesen` as there was earlier today. In other words it was bloody busy.

I haven`t mentioned this in the past posts but its important make future comers to Oktoberfest aware of the family orientation of the whole show. Surrounding the beer gardens is a massive playland with rides, games and everything you`d expect at a country fair. In all the beer tents you`ll see kids, babies, moms, dads and grandparents having a grand old time. Even late into the evening you`ll see families out and about and everybody gets dressed up in the traditional Bavarian garb. And since its still a beer garden you`ll still see people getting seriously smash-faced :)

Bottom line is if you`re coming to Oktoberfest, bring your family and be prepared to have a really great time. Seeing all the families around me just make me miss mine even more.

~ chris

Oktoberfest Day Three: Into the Beast Again

There is a point where the sheer volume of beer you consume has a cumulative affect. On day three we were still feeling the the `smarty-head`affect of Day One and yet, we were still game! After much morning lounging and tucking in to a nice breakfast we were off to the “Weisen” for the festival. It was cold, extremely foggy and still crowed at 9am.

We arrived at about 9:30am and cued up for the Hippodrom (read the most popular beer tent at the festival). We had to be number 200 in that line but at 10am the doors opened and we secured a brilliant seat inside. Note that you really need to arrive early in order to get a seat. There is much jockeying after the tent fills up.



By 10:10 we had our first beer in hand and were off to the races. It should be noted that both Forrest and I were approaching this like work: aka, pushing beer downrange at 10am is both a task and not without its difficulties (good God I swore off this stuff yesterday!). But the Bavarian folk around us were game and so we had to represent. By 10:30am we had our first ‘Hendel’ or roast chicken and we well and truly on our way. Those little chickens are bloody brilliant!

Tip One for Oktoberfest: Eat, eat and eat. The only way you can survive a 5 litre day is to eat constantly.
I might mentioned this quite a bit but I can`t emphasize it enough. You need to consume a great deal of food to offset the sheer volume of beer.

We stuck around for another litre at the Hippodrom and by now things were really picking up. We had the band going full on and by 12:00 noon there were people dancing on the benches.

Tip Two: if you want to secure a seat inside a beer tent, be there by opening (10am). Yeah, the Hippodrom filled up in about 15 minutes and there were at least a couple hundred people left looking for a seat.



Unlike our Day One, we had decided to pace ourselves on Day Three. Sure, some of you might call this in to question (or at least our manly drinking ability) and then ask what happened to going all guns? Well to be honest we really wanted to enjoy Day Three without feeling like we had to prove that we could drink our weight in beer. Our calculation was one litre of beer every 1.5 hrs. Modest and yet still somewhat of a challenge over a 5 litre day.

Tip Three: Pace yourself. No really, its not a fricking race!

For beer three we moved out into the sunshine at the Hacker tent. We found some room beside a family from outside of Munich. Again, we had food with our beer (see Tip One) and as with all food at Oktoberfest its genuine, delicious and simple fare.

After beer three we decided to take a break. The nice thing about having a hotel so near the festival (6 blocks away), we were able to go back at 3pm for some rest. Our plan is to go back to the festival tonight for another litre of beer and some dinner... Good lord what are we thinking!


Forrest Joy and Chris Hennebery enjoying a beer outside in the sun at Oktoberfest 2008

Oktoberfest Day Two: Recovering after Day One

Well what can I say? Five and half litres of beer and the next day is a bit of a write-off. Woke up with that lurching feeling in my gut and head full of broken china. To top it all off I think a cat snuck into our room last night and took a crap in my mouth...

But none of this was to be unexpected. We had planned to do some day tripping as a means to break up the monotony that is Oktoberfest (IE, binge drinking). Today we didn’t get out act together quite early enough to grab an excursion out to the Alps so instead we headed down to the old town to hook up with a city-tour. The great thing about these tours is that you get the coles-notes version of the city, complete with a history lesson and points of interest. You’ve all seen these before: the double-decker bus with no roof and tons of retired people chattering on in a different language and snapping pictures. That was us today and it fit the bill, especially the part where you didn’t need to walk, talk or interact whatsoever. I achieved a vegetative state by the first half hour and except for the occasional bout of the willies, I faired pretty good. Learned all sorts of interesting tidbits about Munich and Bavarian culture (“did you know that 80% of Munich was levelled in WW II and Hitler’s girlfriend stayed in that hotel across the street…”).

We closed off the day with a so-so dinner in the oldest café in Munich (1440). Need to be in bed early tonight because tomorrow its Day Three and we’re planning to get a brilliant seat at the Hippodrom (one of the best beer tents at Oktoberfest) tomorrow at 10 am. If this is my last post its probably because I went to the Hippodrom at 10 am.

~chris

Oktoberfest Day One: Into the Beast...

Well I’ve said it before but these are bloody big beer. Each mug is a litre or about the equivalent of 3 bottles of beer. We got to the fair grounds or ‘weisen’ at about 1pm after taking a walk through the old city of Munich. Note to future comers to Oktoberfest that you need to be in the beer tents by 11am if you want a seat and the easiest way to get a seat is to ask a server to find you one. If there are only a couple of you (as it was with Forrest and myself) its possible to find something but in the most popular pavilions, its almost impossible.

Beer one went down range pretty easily and we were off to the races. We decided to have a beer and move on to the next tent. For the most part we stayed outside where there were more seats but somewhat exposed to the elements. One of the first things you notice is that the majority of the patrons are Germans, local Bavarians actually. The ‘fest’ is really a family affair and its common to see babies and grand parents at the same table. We also noticed that the drinking age is somewhat less restrictive. Kids can legally drink beer at 16 and hard alcohol at 18. You’d think that this would lead to some out of control kids but every table we saw, the kids were polite, well behaved and certainly enjoying themselves. The only people we saw drinking to excess (besides ourselves) were American 20-somethings.

We managed to drink 5.5 litres of beer on day one, stumble (and I mean stumble) back to the hotel for some much needed sleep and recovery. And Forrest, thanks for bringing the Tums!

See the full image gallery here on my Flikr page.

~chris

Oktoberfest: First Beer in Munich

We got in to Munich at about 7PM and proceeded directly to the nearest pub for a beer. Please note (based on the picture) that the beers served here are bigger than my head (which is saying a lot…). And the food! There is something to be said about the lack of grace and conventions on plating food rustically and eating it with your bare hands. We decided to limit ourselves to only two liters (mugs) of beer so we start off the next morning with capital constitution :)

Oktoberfest: Just got in...

Getting familiar in Munich with our hotel mates. Here we are at the Hotel Carat. These guys are from UK and Ireland. Alan and David as it were...

Oktoberfest: At the airport and still working out

Yes, you heard me. WORKING OUT. You see in order to survive Oktoberfest you need to keep the enzymes active in your tummy and that means constantly consuming beeriester. Beer. Forrest and I got to the airport (thanks D), walked into the Maple Leaf lounge and started our vacation. Now.

I'm also a little stoked that I got upgraded to first class for the trip to London. I haven't told Forrest yet but they also upgraded him :)

~chris

Oktoberfest: Preparation

So I’m off to Oktoberfest in Munich tonight and I’m traveling light... really light. I’m talking a couple shirts, some shorts, one pair of cargos and some other essentials. Normally when I travel for business I only take what I need to stay comfortable but for 5 days in Munich, I plan to take only what I absolutely need. Hell, If I had to I could leave all my bags and go with a wallet, passport and Tylenol (it is a beer festival after all).


Note that since my neighbor Forrest is coming with and I have a tendency to snore like a bear after a few pints (or liters in this case) I’ve brought along some ear plugs. I wont tell him I have these till after the first night out on the town :).

~ chris