Tales from an Oktoberfest camp site
JOE BARTONThe 181st Oktoberfest will be open to the public from September 20 through October 5 and traditionally draws millions of visitors from across the globe in the world’s largest beer fest.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
People dressed in traditional clothes take part in the Oktoberfest parade in Munich.
The 181st Oktoberfest will be open to the public from September 20 through October 5 and traditionally draws millions of visitors from across the globe in the world’s largest beer fest.
The most popular Bavarian dish, roasted chicken (‘Bavarian Hendl’) , ready for guests at Oktoberfest.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people visited Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, on its first weekend despite bad weather. The guests to the festival in Bavaria’s capital Munich drank a million mugs of beer on Saturday and Sunday and chewed their way through tens of thousands of sausages, organisers say.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
About a million people head to Oktoberfest, the world’s largest festival, for its first weekend in Munich.
There comes a point in life where you learn to accept certain things.
When I was 12, I had to come to terms with the fact I wasn’t going to captain Australia in Test cricket – but I was probably six years behind my parents on this one.
This year, it became clear that I’m too old to camp – or at the very least, to camp at an event such as Oktoberfest.
The crushing realisation was no less painful than that which ended my childhood dreams – in fact, in a physical sense it caused a great deal more hurt.
It doesn’t help that to get to Germany’s third most populated city, but undeniably its beer capital, we had embarked on a 16-hour bus journey from London.
That in itself nearly broke the spirits of my group – some of whom were frantically checking the cheapest flights back to London and assessing whether that was a feasible return option or simply the coward’s way out.
We decided the latter was the fairer description and chose to tough it out.
It’s an option we soon lived to regret – camping isn’t quite as cheery as my childhood remembers it.
First thing I’d forgotten: the ground is hard. And cold.
Early October is apparently when the mercury starts to plummet towards zero.
By morning I no longer feel 29. I’ve bypassed my 30s, 40s and 50s and suddenly everything aches.
Not helping matters are the “sounds of the campsite” which on night one involved a two-hour argument between two Spanish speakers, which I was later told involved them almost exclusively agreeing with each other.
I’m just not sure why they were so loud about it.
But you know what? Everything else manages to make up for it.
As an Oktoberfest first-timer, I had been given advice and warnings from friends and family who had done it before and lived to tell the tale.
There was the good: “It’s the best weekend of the year.”
The bad: “Dropped my phone in the toilet on the first day, rendering it unusable. Possibly forever.”
And the ugly: “Woke up in the lounge room of a random house to be awoken by a terrified family who wanted to know who the snoring man in lederhosen was.”
You’ve already heard about the bad from my experience. But you can honestly feast upon the good.
It is exceptional.
It is glorious one-litre beers delivered to you within an instant of finding your seat, by a fraulein with the comparative lifting ability of a soldier ant. How they march around all day while carrying eight giant steins I will never know.
It is pork knuckle the size of your head that takes an hour to eat – and half of that is getting through the mind-bendingly good crackling.
It is your mate revealing moments before kick-off that she’s a celiac, meaning she can’t have any wheat products – which includes just about everything on offer at the world’s most famous beer festival, most notably the beer itself.
It is the look on your fraulein’s face when told of the wheat intolerance – and the look on your mate’s face when a one-litre stein of wine is plonked in front of her instead, as some sort of peace offering.
It is dancing on the tables while singing Ein Prosit to toast your new best friends, while dreading the next rendition of DJ Otzi’s Hey Baby which will soon take over as the song of choice.
It is the somewhat haunting realisation after your sixth stein, YOU are in fact the one eager to lead the hall into the next verse of Hey Baby.
It’s the people you meet. The good-natured banter with the locals. The oompah band. The good times.
It’s a heck of an experience and one I would suggest everyone should have a taste of at some point. Just don’t go camping while you’re there.
THE SEVEN DOS AND DON’TS OF OKTOBERFEST:
1. Do dress up. The locals love it, you’ll enjoy the day a whole lot more and if you want to wear jeans and a T-shirt, you might as well just go to your local.
2. Don’t go too hard too early. Yes, getting to the halls early is the key to snagging a table … but try to pace yourself because if you have your sixth stein by midday then you’re probably going to be snoozing by the time the sun goes down.
3. Do eat. You’ll be in plenty of trouble if you don’t. And more to the point the local cuisine is incredible.
4. Don’t lose your voice beforehand. Singing, shouting, talking … not to mention ordering your next stein.
5. Do make friends with those on your table. This can make or break your day – the fun is in who you hang out with.
6. Don’t lose your mind. We were told of one punter who, while purchasing a bottle of wine, accidentally gave a 2500 euro ($A3750) tip – mistaking the “tip” page for his pin number. A very expensive error.
7. Do go. You won’t regret it.
– AAP
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