Oktoberfest!! Need I say more?

There isn't much to say about Munich, Germany during the first days of Oktoberfest, except....unbelievably amazing! The city gets crammed with over 6 times the normal population during the 2 weeks of Oktoberfest. Because of the insanity that is the first weekend, we decided to get there and get into this once in a lifetime chance. And what a chance. We're staying in a Youth hostel appropriately titled the Tent. Sharing a giant tent with 100 other strangers makes for an interesting night. Thank goodness for earplugs, and woolen blankets because this place is loud and cold. The nightime temperature right now is a not so toasty 0-5 degrees celcius. Yes it is cold, but the sheer quantity of beer consumed in the city is making people very unaware of this fact.

We watched two parades, (one over 2.5 hours long) visited the carnival grounds, complete with giant beer tents (basically buildings put up over the last 4 months to house over 8000 drunken people from all over the world). The lineups to get into these places are insane, and once in you are shoulder to shoulder...thankfully since most people would fall over. It is the only time I think we will see people literally passing out on the streets, falling to the ground randomly, and grown men, being held by other grown men so they don't hit the pavement in their lederhosen. That is one of the best things, watching grown people, in traditional Bavarian clothes (Lederhosen and dresses--think beer wench) stumbling around.

There is truly nothing like Oktoberfest. We stumbled upon our personal beer blessing in the Radler, a 1 Liter Beer Stein half full of a light beer and topped off with a Sprite like soda. Amazing!!!!! This, paired with the best pretzels in the world, consumed in a giant beer hall with thousands of your closest friends singing, dancing and banging on the table, makes for an unforgettable time!