200th Anniversary! 

Exactly 200 years ago, a couple royal nobodies celebrated their wedding with a party and a few beers, and today the tradition is still carried out in the extravaganza known as Oktoberfest! 0o0o Oktoberfest! How we have been counting down the days until you arrived!

Paulaner on parade!

Lucky for Chris’s blackberry, we found a special campsite just minutes before arriving to Munich! It was a massive lot just barely filled with campervans that was sure to fill up over the 2 weeks, with hot water showers and bathrooms WITH toilet paper…but best of all connected by the metro! And so we immediately found the closest grocery store and loaded up on German beers (we bought food too i promise!)

Day 1 of the festival we woke up but were moving slow. By the time we arrived in the city, it was already noon and the tents were PACKED!!! But man was it a sight! Each tent was massive and decorated with different colored ribbons, bands playing, roasted chickens and massive pretzels being served, and the beer was flowing.

Unfortunately though….no seats for us. We thought “no worries” we’ll just grab a beer and wander the streets. Wrong. You cannot buy beers outside the tent,and you can’t buy beer in the tent unless you have a seat. So there we were..at Oktoberfest without a beer in hand! We were lucky though to catch the parade, and of course check out all the lederhosen outfits (i was super jealous not to have one!) So in the spirit of drinking, we went back to the RV to enjoy each others company and play some cards while guzzling down our own beer

Brews at the campsite!

That night Court (My cousin!) arrived! Somehow we found each other in the crazy huge train station, and went to bed early, prepared to wake up super early for a proper day of beer-drinking in the tents!

Sunrise at the campsite!

Day 2
It is kind of funny when looking back at our second day at Oktoberfest. When you’re on vacation you hardly ever set your alarm for 6:45a.m. for the purpose of drinking beer. Maybe to catch a flight or something but not even as a tailgating Georgia fan did I ever wake up before sunrise to ensure a proper drunk.

As I crawled out of bed to turn off the terrible noise that was our alarm clock, I had a moment. At first, just a thought but then expressed out loud, how maybe we didn’t reeeeally need to be there so early. I’m sure everyone considered the possibility of grabbing a few more hours of shut eye, but HEY, we were at Oktoberfest for one reason, Drink Beer!

Waiting in line – 7am!

We all grabbed a roadie and headed for tent city. The crowds were gathering and growing quickly; fearful we would be shut out of a seat again we picked a place close by. Augustiner Brau! It suited as a location, and locals say its the best! Win Win.

Lucky for us we were there with plenty of time to spare, actually a lot of time: 5th or 6th group in line, certainly a relief followed by a tired frustration. But like I said HEY, we’re at Oktoberfest, so we cracked our brews that we had brought along.

Drinking that early in the a.m. is 100% mental and some of us struggled a little with the first few sips, but by the time they opened the doors to let us in we were nearly through with the first of the day.

Steins!

Our favorite pretzel girl!

We shopped around for a table and settled in strategically close to the tap. Within seconds of sitting down, pretzels were on us and of course we were on pretzels, what could be better with beer!? Umm, Chicken! Chris, Joe and Courtney all ordered the most fantastic looking and tasting rotisserie chicken that ever was to go along with our massive glass steins of Augustiner brau. A fantastic combination I must say. To celebrate this joyous occasion we coordinated with the folks around us (mostly Aussies) a multi-table cheers. One, Two Three and we all stood up and let out a beer cry and watched our enthusiasm spread to the other people in the tent. In no time the entire tent was standing and joining in on the fun. A highlight of the day no doubt.

Who even knows what we talked about for the 6 hours we were inside. We had played our own version of musical chairs with the tables around us and most of us were sitting in different spots. The band was pumping our cheerful, traditional drinking music, stopping every few minutes to hoist one up to the crowd, always followed by a sing-a-long “Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit.

Feelin good now :)

Surprise surprise, we got separated but all ended back at the RV, some in better shape than others! Trying to keep it alive we set up outside for a while for more beers and games. But, it had been a long day and most of us needed a break, so around 8pm we called it a day. Wrapping up a 12 hour session thus concluding our Oktoberfest experience and one hell of a good time. PROSIT!!

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