Pinnacle of Human Experience (a.k.a. Oktoberfest)

Despite a few setbacks, Oktoberfest was probably one of the most fun weekends of my life. For those who don’t know, Oktoberfest is a traditional German festival that originates in the state of Bavaria (which is called Bayern in German). It dates back to 1810, lasts for 16 days, and ends on the first Sunday of October. According to wikipedia.org, its purpose is to celebrate beer. I guess that’s something you could expect in a country where beer is consistently cheaper than coffee, juice, and even sometimes water. There are small Oktoberfests scattered throughout many German cities, but the original and biggest is in Munich (München in German). It is the world’s largest fair with over 6 million attendees.

So of course we had to go. We left Marburg at around 6pm, planned to sleep as much as we could on the way there, and arrive at around 6 in the morning to go to the festival. (All photos mine unless stated otherwise)

We went in a group of eleven.

First train, from Marburg to Frankfurt.

Some of us got seats.

Some of us didn't.

We got some dinner in the Frankfurt train station.

(photo by Lindsey Lemmel)

Since it was technically Friday night, and we wouldn’t arrive at Oktoberfest until Saturday, we decided to party on the train (it’s actually legal to drink on the trains here). This is the first finished bottle of liquor of the night.

Train number two: music, chips, and beer.

It was a long train ride.

Lina, what are you doing? You aren't carry-on luggage. You don’t even fit.

By the third train we were getting a little tired.

During the next layover, Channing was teaching us how to dance like a black girl (we failed, in case you were wondering).

It wasn't long before all of us were starting to get weary.

(photo by Lindsey Lemmel)

Finally at around 6 in the morning we arrived at the train station in Munich.

We were pretty excited to finally be there.

Here’s a picture of the streets of Munich, bright and early!

We followed the crowd to the Oktoberfest fairgrounds.

Finally we arrived at the 2012 Oktoberfest in Munich!

We decided to split up because it would be too hard to navigate with eleven people.

The festival was huge, and many people were wearing traditional garb.

(photo by Lindsey Lemmel)

There were around a dozen beer tents, which were more like permanent structures than tents.

They also had several rides. Is it just me, or do rides and thousands of excessively drunk people not go together?

We chose the Löwen Bräu tent and got in line by 8am.

The tent opened at 9 and we managed to get in to the inner line by 9:30 since we had gotten there so early. Here I am with Julia standing in the archway.

(photo by Lindsey Lemmel)

Waiting in line!

(photo by Lindsey Lemmel)

Here’s about how long the inner line was, meaning the line inside  the tent walls.

Finally we made it into the tent around 10 and went up on the upper balcony. They told us that the seats were reserved at 11 though, so we would have to move to a different table when the party got there.

(photo by Lindsey Lemmel)

Our first Maße of the day! A Maß is approximately one Liter of beer and has approximately 10-12% alcohol by volume, so one Maß is between 5 and 6 standard American beers.

Lindsey was a bit overwhelmed by the size of the beer and pretzels :)

Brooks may have been overly enthusiastic.

So. Much. Beer.

On the outside of the tent there was a giant mechanical lion holding a beer (Löwen Bräu translates to “Lion Brew”) and every once in a while it would lift the beer to its mouth, lift its tail, and say in an incredibly deep, German voice, “LÖWEN BRÄU!”

A group of Germans joined us and that resulted in quite a bit of beer at the table.

(photo by Lindsey Lemmel)

Eventually the group who had reserved the table arrived so we moved downstairs.

It was pretty crowded in some areas.

There was a big stage in the center with a traditional band.

We found another table and had a great time (until 1pm, which I discuss here).

(photo by Lindsey Lemmel)

That morning was one of the best of my life. Throughout my time there, I remember feeling an overwhelming sense of happiness and camaraderie, at a degree I had never felt before (even before I had any alcohol). There we were, thousands of people, coming together to drink beer, eat food, sing and play, meet new people from all over the world, and have a simple, wonderful time. I really believe that is what the human experience is all about, and Oktoberfest has got to be the pinnacle. Never before have I wanted to return somewhere so badly. If you ever have the opportunity to go to Oktoberfest in Munich, don’t even think about passing it up.