Oktoberfest 2011

Oktoberfest was by far the perfect way to round out my trip through Europe. Mat, Ole and myself spent an entire week there being traditional Germans; which was easy for Ole, who is a German himself. It was great to have Ole with us to help translate and help us find the Pork Knuckle’s on the menus, order beers and teach us enough German to help us get along really well in Munich. A little bit about Oktoberfest, it is a three-week period which is a celebration of the people of Bavaria for the marriage of the Prince around 200 years ago. Once it was just a small fair and has now transformed into one of the biggest parties in the world. Ole was lucky enough to stay with a friend of his in Munich, Mat and I managed to find a camping ground around 10 minutes from the festival grounds. Turns out that the day before we arrived, it had bucketed down rain and a lot of the sites had flooded, but with our arrival came the sun and blue skies. By the end of the week that we had been in Munich, we had sampled a beer from every tent. Paulaner and Augustiner were stand out favourites of mine, but once you are onto your third 1 liter stein, they begin to taste very similar.

The law regarding brewing beer in Munich requires the recipe to contain only four ingredients, Barley, Hops, Water and what every the ‘secret’ ingredient that the master brewer decides to add to his beer. The incredible thing about the beers is that regardless on the amount that you have in a night, you do not get a hang over. You might wake up suffering some fatigue from lack of sleep, or hypothermia from spending a night in a tent, but certainly no headaches. I would hate to speculate as to how many beers I would have had over the week, but I would most certainly be pushing just over the 50 mark, but I had heard rumours of a few people who have managed over 100 during a festival. Munich itself is an absolutely gorgeous city, the buildings are amazing, the people are some of the most pleasant I have ever come across and the food and the beers are top notch. I met a lovely girl at the campsite named Jenna, and with her and two of her friends I spent a load of time when ever I lost track of Mat, after a night of gallivanting. One whole week there, may have been a little bit much, we blew all of our budgets, but at almost ten Euros for a pint, it’s a very easy thing to do, looking back though, I wouldn’t have done it any other way. Partly relieved about being back in London, but I will be back to Oktoberfest again someday.