Welcome to Oktoberfest, where the beer flows like wine and the women flock like the salmon of Capistrano. (Who can name that movie quote?) Well in Munich, the beer actually flows like a 500 ft gushing waterfall that flows into a treacherous, winding, never ending river. And the German women have extra, ahem, muscles to help them carry 8 plus steins of beer at once. Either way, we soon discovered it was well worth traveling across the world to witness Oktoberfest at first hand.
The Wiesn, what the Germans call Oktoberfest, was an experience of a lifetime that we will never forget. Even the jet lag and running on very few hours of sleep couldn’t stop us from being entertained, energized, and excited to be there. Though we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, we left with opened eyes, full hearts, and full bellies.
Sean and I would both agree that we’ve never been in a place with thousands of people in which everyone was so happy and friendly towards each other- no matter their skin color, language, ethnicity, etc. There was absolutely no discrimination, making this experience so memorable. We quickly made new friends from all over the world.
Coming to Oktoberfest, we thought there’d be a few beer “tents” and some music. Turns out, there are at least 20 “tents” but more like extravagantly decorated buildings, each with their own themes, beer, live music, and types of crowds. Some tents are known to be more chaotic and wild, while some are more low key with tamer crowds (not sure that’s possible though). Outside of the tents was like a state fair, but on steroids- food vendors with all of the Bavarian treats and specialities, carnival booths and games, and amusement park sized rides. We did not expect this, so we felt like little kids on Christmas morning.
I researched our tent beforehand and I thought it was going to be one of the more chill tents. Later in the night, 90% of the people in that tent were dancing on their table benches after a couple of steins. Every time someone stood up on their bench, the surrounding people would be cheering them on and Prosting. Honestly, it was so surreal and we were happy to have found tickets to experience this!
Some of my personal favorite things from Oktoberfest were the people, the music, and the tasty food! We walked through a couple of the other tents and each band was different and we were surprised to hear so many recognizable American songs that everyone seemed to know all the words to. All of the bands were amazing, from playing good music to rallying up the crowd. It seemed like there were at least a dozen people in each band, all uniquely talented from the singers to the trumpet players. They played American songs, German songs and then frequently played the Prost song, giving everyone more reasons to cheers and drink some more.
The day after landing in Munich and experiencing the Weisn, we headed to the Bavarian Alps to visit Neuschwanstein castle and Hohenschwangau castle. We didn’t get stuck in the beer current of the river because we had plans to visit these castles the next day. Proud of us for sticking to our plan!
After a 2 hour scenic and smooth train ride, we arrived to Füssen, a cute little mountain town nestled in the Bavarian Alps. From there, we took a bus to the castles.
We toured both castles and may I say every trip has some flaws, I accidentally booked our tours with German tour guides, so we don’t know any more info about the castles than before we started. I guess we will google some facts later! Nonetheless, it still was a great experience to view the interiors as well as walk around the surrounding grounds. I’d say the King of Bavaria had good taste in where he decided to put his castle.
It’s been a busy but exhilarating couple of days in Germany, and I’m so grateful to finally check this off of my bucket list. It’s been a long few years with lots of Covid and little travel, so I’m happy to putting my passport back to use! Next stop, Croatia!
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