Well, that was fun.

We added a quick, 4 day stopover in Munich to check out Oktoberfest – one more thing to check off the bucket list.

 

It’s only fair that I point out that Munich is about so much more than Oktoberbest, dirndls, lederhosen and slow roasted pork knuckles, however, our sole reason for visiting this time around was to specifically check out all of the above.  Sadly, we didn’t have much time to explore anything else.

We arrived in Munich under cover of night, which made it impossible for us to see any of the beautiful countryside on the train ride into the city and beyond to our apartment in Wolfrathausen a small idyllic town along the river.  The ride into Munich centre is approximately 40 minutes and to get to our apartment was another 40 minutes.  At first, I have to admit that I wasn’t too thrilled with being so far outside the city, but grew to quite enjoy the travel into and out of the city centre, especially in the mornings when the morning fog burned off and we were treated to a view of the alps in the distance.

 

Our apartment, was once again rented through airbnb.com and it did not disappoint.  Our hosts were gracious and unbelievably kind, they even left us a pie on our doorstep one night!  We arrived quite late on our first evening and there was only one restaurant open, which happened to be directly across the street from our apartment.  The surreal part was that the restaurant was Greek and to be honest, the food was surprisingly delicious and authentic.  We found a couple of evenings later, as we enjoyed beer and shots with some locals, that the restaurant owners were originally from Greece – which explains why the food was so damned good.

 

We had timed our arrival to coincide with the opening weekend of Oktoberfest and I have to admit that the timing was probably less than ideal for several reasons, not the least of which being that the crowds are ridiculous!  We arrived on the Thursday night and Oktoberfest kicked off that Saturday and that meant spending the bulk of our day on Friday shopping for dirndls and lederhosen.  We had researched Oktoberfest and its traditions and we were not about to show up there looking like the tourists we were.  The overwhelming consensus was that wearing funny hats or Oktoberfest themed Halloween costumes would be considered highly disrespectful, as Oktoberfest is not simply an excuse for people to drink beer, it is a festival deeply rooted in tradition and we wanted to make absolutely that we were honouring that tradition.  The first Oktoberfest was held on October 12, 1810 when the citizen of Munich were invited to attend the festivities centred around the wedding of King Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.   The festivities were held in the fields outside the city gates, the fields were later renamed Theresienweise, after the princess.  I’m including this link to provide a much more detailed history of Oktoberfest.

 

Before setting off on this monumental shopping excursion, one would be wise to grab some lunch and possibly a stein or two of beer, and we made damn sure to do both.  We happened upon Augustiner Brew House, one of Munich famous beer halls and quickly ordered up a few steins of beer, some pork knuckle and a delicious goulash with tender chunks of beef and carrots, it was quite possibly the tastiest I’ve ever had and having enjoyed some pretty ridiculous tasting goulashes in Hungary, that’s saying a lot.

 

 

After about 3 hours of shopping we each managed to find appropriate outfits for the festivities.  Our dirndls easily cost us about $150-$200 each, so definitely not cheap, granted, we rocked those dirndls and lederhosen!

After shopping for dirndls for what seemed like forever, we sought refuge from the hoard of other Oktoberfest shoppers in a nearby brew house where we enjoyed a delicious pint of the local brew at yet another landmark brew…this time we hit up the Hofbrauhaus.  The place was packed, given that Oktoberfest kicked off the following day, so we shared a table with a ‘lovely’ couple, who were not thrilled to have to share their table, but whateves.  We enjoyed our beers and decided to walk around Munich centre for a bit.

To be completely honest, it was a bit of a challenge enjoying the city during the few hours of time we did have, as it was teeming with people.  The crowds were a bit overwhelming as every venue was crowded and the streets were overflowing with people (both locals and tourists) who were caught up in the lead up to Oktoberfest frenzy.  We walked around for a bit then decided to head back to our apartment to get a good night’s rest.

 

We’d been advised by locals that we should make sure to arrive quite early to the Wiesn the next morning if we had any hope of securing a table within any of the tents.  On their recommendation, we arrived to the fields at about 9am and immediately set out trying to find a tent.  We had also been told that THE TENT to be in was the Hacker tent.  Upon arrival at the tent, it became quite apparent that there was no way in hell that we would secure a seat inside.  Every single table was already fully booked, I mean, seriously, it was opening weekend after all.  Lucky for us they had plenty of seats available on their outdoor beer garden, so that’s where we settled.  I should note that we arrived at 9am but Oktoberfest did not officially kick off until the ceremonial tapping of the first keg by the mayor of Munich at noon that day.  Until then, the only thing they were serving in the tents and gardens was a carbonated apple drink and pretzels.  The beer would not be served until after the tapping of the first keg.  As we sat there waiting, giddy with anticipation, we ordered some of the apple drink and some pretzels.  It didn’t take too long until even the outdoor gardens began to fill up and we were joined at our table by a group of young engineering students from Munich.  One of them was severely hungover, and there was some debate as to whether or not he would last until noon.

After a few hours of sipping apple juice and gnoshing on pretzels, the first keg was tapped with much pomp and circumstance.  Immediately following the keg tapping, cannons were fired to announce the official opening of Oktoberfest, the oompah bands started playing as they marched their way into their respective tents and the beermaids filed out of the tents, arms loaded with steins of beer.  It was on.

 

 

We had been told, again by some friends we made in the days leading up to Oktoberfest, that we should limit our beer consumption to 3 steins each, or else run the risk of getting messy drunk and after witnessing some of hot messes we’d seen earlier that day (clearly some revelers had made the unfortunate decision to pre-drink before arriving at Weisn) we took that advice to heart.

Now, for the life of me, I don’t understand why someone would pre-drink before a drinking festival?!  It makes zero sense.  There is no admission fee for Oktoberfest, and the steins were relatively cheap at 10 euros for a full litre of beer.  We saw one poor girl who couldn’t have been more than 20 drunk off her tits and barely able to walk and this was at 9:30am!  She was barely able to stand up and her boyfriend had to walk her out of the garden and hopefully home.

 

Another reason for limiting our beer consumption to 3 steins over the course of the day was to also curb our need to use the toilets, because the line ups for the loo were beyond ridiculous.  Now was not the time to wait until you absolutely had to go before leaving your table.  The wait time in the bathroom line was between 25-35 minutes, and heaven help you if you really had to go.  At one point, an Australian in the women’s line was barking out orders like a drill sargent, “Get in! Snap it off!  Get out!”

Our first day at Oktoberfest was a lot of fun and restricting ourselves to only three steins each helped us to avoid a dreaded beer hangover.  We were up late the following morning, but not so late as to not be able to enjoy what was left of the day.  We made our way into Munich via train – a 3 day pass for up to 5 adults is approximately 55 euros, which is a great deal – and sought out Haxnbauer on the advice of friends, for their world famous open fire, spit roasted pork knuckle.

 

The smell of an open fire and roast pork hits you immediately upon stepping foot into Haxnbauer.  The line up wasn’t extremely long and we waited for about 10 minutes, salivating as the servers paraded by us with plates piled high with these beautifully cooked delights.  We were seated next to the open kitchen where we watched these pork knuckle magicians work their magic.  Everything in this small, busy kitchen was perfectly orchestrated.  We were witnessing a food ballet!  We ordered their famous dish along with traditional side dishes of potato pancakes and cabbage salad then waited with giddy anticipation for our food to be served.   Mere words fail to aptly describe just how perfect this dish was.

 

The pork knuckle crackling was perfection and the meat tender and fall off the bone delicious.  Absolute perfection!  A word of caution, if you eat here, bring your appetite, we ordered the half knuckle and it was impossible to finish, I can’t even fathom try to eat a full one…no matter how delicious.

 

Following lunch we visited the Residenzmuseum, a former palace, which was opened to the public in 1920 (we needed to walk around after that meal).  Once home to Bavarian rulers, the museum’s apartments and collections give visitors a taste as to how Baravia’s rulers once lived.  The admission to the museum includes a visit to the Treasury, where you can also see an amazing display of crown jewels and ornate objets d’arts added to the rulers’ collections over the centuries.  Bonus: if you don’t have time to view both in one day, save your entry ticket as you can use it to gain admission to the Treasury for up to a year after the date you purchased your ticket to the Residenzmuseum.

 

 

On our final full day in Munich, we returned, once again to the Oktoberfest grounds and this time, we were luck enough to score a table inside one of the tents.  We were told it would be much easier, given that it was now a Monday and the opening weekend hoopla had pretty much subsided.  We ended up sitting next to a table of Brits and Aussies and quickly made their acquaintance.  Before long we were clinking steins, laughing and sharing stories.  After our maximum  steins, our British friends joined us for a dinner of schnitzel THE SIZE OF YOUR HEAD and more beer – of course at Steinheil 16.   After a very delicious and very filling meal, we bid our new friends adieu and headed home.

 

The next morning, we took a final walk around Wolfrathausen and explored the paths alongside the river before boarding the train for our final trip into town and then onto the airport for our flight to Reikjavik – our next stop!