The real Oktoberfest...

Day 4

So last I left off, I was considering whether to go via Liechtenstein on my way to Munich. In the end, I opted for a sleep in and stopped off in Zurich for two hours instead. My legs were still so sore from the hike/cycle a few days earlier that even in two hours, I wasn't able to see much of Zurich before I had to walk back to the train station. It was also the first time I had travelled wearing a backpack (also had my carry bag since I just wasn't able to pack light enough).

The train ride from Zurich to Munich, I met two fellow travellers, one who was conincidentally also heading to the Fanatics Oktoberfest campsite. That's one massive advantage of having a backpack, you instantly recognise fellow travellers and come together. It was nice to have someone to talk to, even if it was only for an hour or so, on the long ride there, plus I could actually fall asleep without worrying too much about my stuff being stolen. Five hours later, we were in Munich, and the festive atmosphere was evident as soon as we stepped off the train. The whole station was filled with party-goers dressed up in the traditional lederhosens and dirndls (even some of the station staff were getting into it).

Making my way to the campsite was a nightmare. I thought it would have been a simple journey; it was just one train and then one bus. How wrong I was. Luckily I was with Viv, Heidi and Laura, on exchange in Paris, which made the journey a bit more bearable. Issues with people on the tracks meant that the train we needed to get was cancelled several times, leaving us stranded at random stations when trains turned back without warning (well maybe there was a warning, we just couldn't understand it). By the time we finally got to the bus stop, the flow on from the trains meant that the crowds were huge and with all of us carrying luggage, getting onto a bus was going to be difficult. As soon as a bus pulled up, it was swarmed. Literally swarmed. We let the first one go since we knew there was no way we'd get on it with all the pushing and shoving, satisfied that being at the front of the line would guarantee we got onto the next bus. How wrong again. The next bus driver was a douchebag who stopped in the middle of the line, which meant we missed this one too. By the end of it, we were so fed up that we got a taxi instead, which ended up only being about a 10 euro fare. Best idea ever. Wish we'd done it earlier. In all, it took us three hours to get to the campsite. Definitely not the short and easy trip advertised on the website.

Once checked into my tent (sharing with Lucy) with the necessary blankets and sleeping mats, it was time to explore the campsite and wait for the rest of the UNSW crew to arrive. We were expecting about 17 people, with the arrival of us four bringing the count to eight. Dinner and drinks ensued while we enjoyed the festivities in the campsite and the onsite pub. Ended up calling it an early night after being informed that the next day would start at 5am. Way too early. But hey, it's Oktoberfest.

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Day 5

It begins. Getting up at 5am was painful. After a restless sleep in a tent that was freezing (and to think I was only going to hire one blanket), getting up when it was all dark was not fun. Breakfast in the dark was also an interesting experience. As we changed into our Oktoberfest gear (I didn't end up buying a lederhosen since it was way too expensive), you could just see everyone starting to feel the cold as we took off all our warm jackets and accssories. 

Bundling onto the coach at 6am, we were soon at the Oktoberfest grounds and in line at the Lowenbraü beerhall at 7am. Then began the long wait. In the freezing cold. At least we were all huddled together like penguins in the line. Two hours later, the door cracked open and a mighty cheer erupted through the crowd. Then began the pushing. It was chaos. Having such a big group as well, we tried hard to hang onto each other, but we got separated as people pushed in between us. Eventually I found my to the door (massive bottleneck) with Kate hanging onto me, and we found the rest of the gang right by the entrance. Challenge 1 passed. Challenge 2 was trying to find a table.

As we walked the lanes observing every table, we soon realised that it would be impossible for us to join an already occupied table. No one wants to share their table (well not while they're still sober). This was where it was a major advantage that we had come with the Fanatics. They used their connections to get us two tables for our massive gang after extensive negotiating and on the conditions that we would leave by 3pm and not cause any trouble. Haha "not cause any trouble". I'll get to that later. For now, I was just so excited to actually be at Oktoberfest and have a table to sit at (you can't get served without being at a table). First rounds came, and it was amazing to see our beer wench carry ten 1L steins. Forearms and biceps of steel. You wouldn't want to get into a fight with her. We gave her a very generous 50 euro tip (each stein was 10 euros) in order to keep her happy and faithful to us, and also as a thank you for giving us the table. We would soon come to regret that tip.

In the meantime, we were just enjoying the lively atmosphere within the beerhall. UNSW Oktoberfest has nothing on this. It was so festive and happy, with everyone simply enjoying their massive beers and constantly cheersing with their friends and even passerbys. A song that I will never get out of my head is the Ein Prosit song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD2-aSbcW0s) which was sung almost every few minutes. Whenever it came on, you had to cheers everyone, making sure to make eye contact (otherwise seven years bad luck), and then down some beer. Speaking of which, the beer was so smooth!! No wonder they're able to go through 6 million litres of beer over the Oktoberfest period. To accompany our beers, we also had giant pretzels (normal-sized pretzels for them) which reallly encouraged our drinking given just how bloody salty they were. It's just little things like this that make for a truly cultural experience and made me really appreciate being at the real Oktoberfest.

An hour or so into it (probably 10:30am), the beer wench complained that one of our tables wasn't drinking enough (and hence she wasn't getting any money). Given that the tables had split quite unevenly by gender, this made sense, so a few of the boys switched over, to which the wench responded by bringing more steins (brought me two when I ordered one as well). And I guess from here, that's where I started to decline (so I've been told haha). I was good for a few more hours steadily drinking through my steins, going to random tables and cheersing with the occupants, but apparently around 1 or 2pm, that's when it happened. I ended up chundering all over the table and was kicked out, escorted by Will and Scrivs. I later found out that Angelica and Sam cleaned up my mess for me, for which I'm eternally grateful (you would never have known I had only met them that morning). The beer wench was not happy, but hey, she encouraged the drinking. Even after I left, she was hassling the rest of the group to drink more, demanding tips, and threatening to kick them off the table. Definitely made us regret that initial 50 euro tip.

Meanwhile, in the adventures of Scrivs, Will and myself in the real world, we had wandered outside the grounds and into the streets. I felt so bad that they had to leave the beerhall, but they assured me that they were almost at my stage so it was a probably a good thing they left. Such good guys. We had no idea where we going but I do know that looking back through my camera, we stopped for photos a lot of times. Haha I guess even in my drunken state, I couldn't resist my primal instincts. In the end, we wandered into a park (Scrivs insists it was a school) and laid down to rest. Nek minnit, the three of us fell asleep spooning (after some photos of course). Luckily we weren't too much in the public domain because that would have been so awkward. We woke up about an hour later (this was about 5:30pm) because it had gotten so cold to the point that we were shivering (not Scrivs though since he had the prime position in the middle of Will and I). We got up, went back into the Oktoberfest grounds, got some awesome rib steak sandwiches to satisfy our hunger (awkward drunk interaction where I said "zwei" (German for two) but held up three fingers) and then headed back to the campsite.

Back at the campsite, I moved into Will and Scrivs' tent and we pretty much tried to sleep off the alcohol. No luck. I woke up feeling like hell. It actually felt like the morning after a big night. Never before have I felt like this on the same day as the drinking, but then again, never have I been so smashed off my face so early in the day. Went back to my tent to get a jacket and ended up passing out for a few minutes. So bad. As I came to, I could feel the familiar horrible sensation of my mouth filling with saliva. Got to the bathroom just in time as it all came back up. Classy. But at least after that was done, I felt a lot better and the worst of it was behind me.

At about 9:30pm, the rest of the UNSW crew started getting back into the campsite, all with concerned questions about how I was feeling and what had happened to me after I had left. I assured them I was ok, and we all started exchanging stories about our respective afternoons until midnight when we celebrated Viv's 21st birthday with her downing a shot of questionable vodka/medicine. What a way to celebrate turning 21!! 

All in all, it was an excellent day. It was so great to finally be at the real Oktoberfest and experience all the cultural aspects of this wonderful festival. In spite of my incident, I had such a great time drinking and partying with the UNSW crew, and I loved the little adventure that Scrivs, Will and I had. Definitely makes for a great story haha. So glad I did it.

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Day 6

Had a relatively late start compared with the previous day. Today, rather than heading straight to the beerhalls, we decided to go have a massive change of pace and go see Dacchau concentration camp. This was a very moving experience. Even having seen a concentration camp on my previous trip, the impact is no less. What was probably even more impactful was that there was documentary that they showed which showed footage of the camp, something I had never really been exposed to before. It had always been photos. To see moving images of the people back then made it all the more sad. It was nice to have friends there with me, as it was good to reflect together and then also to help bring the mood up together. We were there for two hours and that was nowhere near enough time to truly appreciate everything in the camp.

As we finished up at the camp, we headed into the city centre to sightsee and get some lunch. The goal in mind: the famous Hofbrauhaus. Even when we got there at 3pm, it was packed. It was a system similar to the beerhalls where you had to find your own table. Luckily they had an upstairs section which in my opinion was so much better. Much more open and decorated, plus there was a live band (bring on the Ein Prosit song again and again). Lucy and I ended up sharing three Bavarian delicacies: pork knuckle, suckling pig with crackling, and a sausage platter. So scrumptious. Also had a really good weissbeer, but after the experience of the previous day, was only able to get through about half. I would definitely recommend this place, but come later in the day when it's not as busy. Not a bad price either compared to what we would pay in Sydney at Lowenbrau or Bavarian. Lucy and I paid 44 euros total for our three main courses and two beers.

After such a satisfying lunch, we needed to walk it off so we continued sightseeing, stopping off for gelato and souvenir shopping before finally getting to the beerhalls at 7pm. Today we went into the Pauliner hall, and joined the Fanatics tables. Gotta admit, even without drinking, it was still a lot of fun. It really is the atmosphere that gets you. We were all up on the benches dancing a lot of the time, but I definitely think alcohol allows you to last the distance haha. After a while, I was just exhausted and had to go out for fresh air and food. The cold air was a welcome change. Ended up exploring the grounds with Lucy, Will and Anthony. It really reminded me of the Easter Show but much much bigger. We rendevouzed with the others at 10pm to leave for our 11pm coach back to the campsite. 

And on our walk back to the station, we met Klaus. Note, we don't actually know who he is, but we adopted him as our friend Klaus. He was so intoxicated that he couldn't even walk straight and was stumbling everwhere. However what made him special is that he never fell over and was able to expertly manouevre around any obstacles he came across. We spent a good ten minutes following him, filming him, and cheering him on as he made a (somewhat drunk) beeline towards the giant exit sign. As he crossed the exit, we gave an almighty cheer, and that was probably when he registered our existence. I would have loved to have stayed and seen him try and tackle the roads and stairs but the coach was waiting. It was such a hilarious end to a great day (and also one that started with such a sombre mood).

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Day 7

Check out. Coach to the city didn't leave til 11am so I had heaps of time pack and get ready. That morning, I made the decision to head back to Switzerland. I was originally meant to head off to Salzburg, Austria but I was just too tired and need at least one night in a warm bed to recover before I continued. As such, my train back to Switzerland was at 2:30pm so I had time to kill.

Ended up having lunch at a place which tried to scam us. Things were overpriced on the bill, we were charged for things that we didn't order, and we were also charged 11 euros for bottled water when we explicitly said tap water. And on top of all that, the waiter had the audacity to ask for a tip. Needless to say we were out of there pronto. In spite of this, the food was actually pretty tasty. Too bad the experience was marred by the dodgy tactics. 

Ended up catching a train with Scrivs and Jade for the first leg of the journey. Drama with Scrivs' ticket with the German train guard adamant that a receipt (which had been certified by another train guard) was not enough proof that Scrivs had purchased a ticket. The tickets weren't delivered in the mail, so all he had was the receipt. In the end, Scrivs ended up buying tickets until Zurich, which hopefully will be reimbursed once it's all sorted out with the train company. Ironically, when he later jumped on an Italian train, the guards there recognised and understood the situation, allowing him to travel without hassle. 

Got back to Emmenbrücke about 8:30pm and was so happy to have a steaming hot shower and lie on a warm soft bed. And have internet. Oh how I had missed Facebook. It was good to be back. Made me also realise that having the Eurail rail pass was worth it for the flexibility. Being able to jump on and off trains at my will without having to line up and buy tickets was something that was very valuable. I was originally worried that I wouldn't make the most of it this time, after finding out that Serbia and Poland weren't included after I bought it, but after today, definitely do not regret buying it.

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Day 8

Had such a restless sleep, woke up several times throughout the night drenched in sweat. Guess after the past few nights, my body just wasn't used to being warm while asleep. Spent the day cycling around Luzern and just eating. Also had a beer. Beer aversion/nausea gone - win!! Seriously not much out of the ordinary happened in the day. 

At night, my cousin Darryl took me on a driving tour of Luzern and then up a mountain to look over the lights of Luzern and Zug. Was nice to catch up with him, this being the first time I had seen him since I arrived in Switzerland (and the last time I saw him was the last time I was in Europe three years ago). As we walked up from the carpark, it was very reminiscent of a horror movie. Pitch black, gravelly roads, dark tunnels, dripping water. Not somewhere you'd want to be alone and without a light. Also I would have freaked the hell out if I had heard footsteps on the gravel haha. Anyways, as we reached the viewing point, it was all worth it. The view was amazing, despite the fog and low clouds. It was interesting to see that there weren't that many lights in the city. Nowhere near the amount of light pollution you'd get in Sydney.

Spent the rest of the day simply just researching the next leg of my trip and deciding where to go and who to meet up with. There's just too much to do and see!! Such first world problems.

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Day 9

I've pretty much spent the past three or four hours since waking up writing this blog post (it's almost at 3500 words) and doing laundry. I haven't even eaten yet. It's definitely a lazy day today. Doesn't help that it's dreary outside as well. I don't forsee anything major happening today. Just gonna pack and get ready to hit the road again tomorrow. The plan is currently to head off to Milan via Lugano, and then from Milan, do a day trip to Lake Como. After that, it's still up in the air. The joys of winging it haha.

HBL signing out from Emmenbrücke, Switzerland. Just for the sake of it, let's also sign out from Munich, Germany since the majority of this post was based there haha.

Up next: Italian adventures...
Previously: Money money money...