Oktoberfest

"Taking your own beer to Oktoberfest is like taking your wife with you to Thailand" - man from Razza bar, Twizel, New Zealand

Prelude:

Germany was a trip I have been waiting to make for nearly a decade now. The country first caught my fancy in summer of 2004, when I joined Robert Bosch and underwent a half day course on the German culture which we were to understand in order to perform efficiently in this German subsidiary in Bangalore. Everything they said back then about the German way of working really impressed me – their blunt straightforward nature, their craze to be punctual, their love of cars.. and over a period of time, I learnt so much more about their culture through the friends I made at Bosch - I learnt the language, started listening to German music, started admiring German football, which eventually helped me make quite a bit of money at the 2014 World Cup as well.

Anyway, I was such a fan of everything German that I decided to dedicate one entire trip just for this country, and it just had to be around their wonderful Oktoberfest. So even during the last 2 trips I made to Europe, I carefully left out Germany, just so that I could give it the full justice of an entirely dedicated trip. And that’s exactly what happened this year, and Germany was everything I expected, and so much more..

Overview:

Before I begin with the day wise recount of the happenings there, just wanted to put down some overall thoughts about the visit:

1) Germany is very unlike the rest of Europe – you don’t see architectural wonders or too much of their history as you travel through. Berlin is probably the only one that offers some bit of history, else the rest of the country is all just modern construction.

2) You could try learning German before going there, but it really wouldn’t help much since the way they speak German there is way too complex to keep up with. It’s not really required too, as many of them speak at least some bit of English. 

3) Know that “Herren” is for male and “Damen” is for female as the sign boards at the loos – its really difficult trying to figure that out when you are drunk, especially since there are no pictures or English words to help you figure it out.

4) The autobahns are just brilliant! Hire a car and reach your top speed on them – it’s an amazing experience. Don’t forget to do some of their themed routes like the Romantische Strasse (Romantic Route) or the Marchenstrasse (Fairy Tale Route) while you’re at it.

5) Avoid flying Lufthansa – absolutely the worst international flight I have flown. We weren’t allowed to check in more than 1 bag per person during our return in spite of being within the weight limit, and in spite of traveling onward with 3 bags on the same flight! They actually said someone made a mistake in India and the limit is only 1 bag. Then they wouldn’t put “fragile” on the bags as its not part of their policy! And to top it all, their entertainment system had the worst touch screen I’ve ever seen, and it wasn’t just my seat, I noticed the issue in the seats next to mine as well. Terrible experience for something German I so much looked forward to

6) Oktoberfest is amazing! Just follow some basic rules:

a. Be on time (and that’s as early as 10am) if you wish to get a table

b. Attend only during weekdays – weekends a table is unlikely even if you land by 8am

c. Get as drunk as you want, but try the smallest thing funny, and the beefed up German bouncers will physically throw you out

d. Experience the fest outside of Munich too – each city celebrates it differently and has something unique to offer

September 25:

This is the day it all began. We started off towards the airport on September 24 night after a lot of trouble, since we were as usual working till the very last moment, and then hurrying through the packing and running out of the house that Geet kept saying this was so not worth it.. I was just hoping it would be once we got out of the dam country for a much needed break. We landed at Munich early in the morning, and the cold weather immediately hit the 2 of us used to the Bombay heat till then. So we had to wrap ourselves before stepping out, and once we did, had a very tough time trying to figure out our way to the B&B. I assumed Munich would be a well coordinated city, and there would be easy access through buses/trains, but only when we stepped out we realized that was not the case. Almost nobody could guide us, everything was written German, and it was only thanks to a Lufthansa shuttle we noticed leaving the place, that we finally at least managed to reach the Hauptbanhof – the main train station at Munich.

Here we enquired at a Tourist Info centre who thankfully helped us with directions to our B&B, and took a tram to head towards it. This became another big challenge, because we landed at the right address – 9, Marianhilfplatz, but it turned out to be a school and not the B&B. The teachers at the school explained to me in the German I understood that it’s the right address, but not what we are looking for. It took some time for us to figure that we had to reach 9, Mariahilfstrasse which is not the same as Mariahilfplatz, and they both are just 2 blocks away from each other! Now that is too confusing for anybody to figure coz platz and strasse is like plaza and street – hardly much difference. We finally chanced upon Mariahilfstrasse totally by luck and finally got settled down.

We landed in Munich at 10am, and Naan and Lael were to reach by 3pm by train from Stuttgart. But by the time Geet and I found the place, it was nearly 3pm! Complete waste of the entire day, and a little too much adventure than we would have wanted. Anyway, once we caught up with the other 2, we hit a restaurant nearby for our first beer and meal in Germany, And this was a real treat! It was a place called Schoberweirt, a tiny German joint in Mariahilfplatz, where they served Lowenbrau beer (one of the many brands here) and we had it with Sausage and sauerkraut, and Roast beef – both locally popular dishes, and we loved everything that was offered. The sausages were easily the best I’ve ever had and the Roast beef was really delicious. After the meal, we got back to the room and decided to sleep for a bit and then wake up and catch up with Tunu and Archana who were supposed to land by 9pm. But the moment we hit the bed, which was around 6pm, we just slept through the entire night and woke up the next day morning only.

September 26:

It was a good idea to wake up early, since we knew we had to hit the tent early to get a table. The plan was for us to grab a table, and Tunu, Archana, Shreyas and Neha join us when they can So we got out of our place by 10am and walked towards the fest grounds. I downloaded an Oktoberfest app and read all about the 14 tents there, but Naan had heard that Paulaner was the best and so we went there straight. We found a table quite easily, but by the time we completed our first drink, the entire place was intensely crowded. So much so, that a group of 3 guys joined our table, and eventually swelled to a large number of guys, who kept pushing us out of our seats. One of the guys even tried giving some money to Neha and asked her to go outside and get a beer. It was a terribly cheap thing to do and all of us got into an argument there. In the meantime, Tunu got completely drunk and couldn’t stand straight and made repeated trips to the loo to throw up. So it was basically all going downhill and we decided to just leave the place. Archana dragged Tunu to their Hotel. Naan and Lael were also too drunk and made their way back. I was having too much fun in spite of everything that happened thanks to the spiked Paulaner beers, so the 4 of us stayed back, and I did one Tora Tora sort of ride with Neha, and since we managed not to throw up, took Shreyas and went on the Giant Wheel as well. After this, I decided to leave the place with Geet as she was not doing any of the rides and getting bored. So we began walking back to our B&B, and once again we sort of lost our way and took a few trams in incorrect directions till we figured the right way back. 

After a lot of difficultly, we made it back to our place and I gobbled up 1 leftover croissant as I realized I hadn’t had anything to eat the whole day, and just passed out.

September 27:

Woke up feeling sheepishly guilty given the way the start to the trip happened. I knew Geet is going to be really mad not only at the way things transpired at the tent, but also given how much we struggled to find our place twice in the same day! Thankfully she didn’t stay mad at me for too long, and we decided to give the tents another shot.  It was a Saturday, and we knew tents are going to be difficult to get on this day. So we asked Shreyas and Neha to make it early on this day and grab a table, and the rest of us joined in a little later. Shreyas kept calling me and saying all the tents are really packed, and this was by 10am itself. Anyway, we reached the venue by about 11am, and thankfully Shreyas and Neha managed to find a table at Hofbrau tent this time, and once again we began drinking. I started off really slow given the amount we drank the previous day, but half a glass down, it was once again the same ride - got crazy high and began having a rollicking time. I noticed some ads put up saying the spareribs are a specialty here, and didn’t want to make the mistake like the previous day and decided to order the dish. It was easily the best spareribs I’ve ever had. We also ordered the Roast Chicken for Geet, and this dish comes as en entire half chicken. So I had to cut it into smaller pieces to make it look edible for Geet to eat. When we finally walked out of the tent, I had a hat on my head that I later got to know that Tunu bought for me as a memorabilia. 

We got back to our B&B and everyone decided to take a short nap. Tunu and I walked back to Schoberwiert and thought of catching up for a bit as we hadn’t found anytime to talk till then. We chatted quite a lot over the same Lowenbrau beer, and finally caught up with the rest of the gang and walked to Marienplatz, which was the place Geet and I got lost in the previous evening, and had noticed some nice restaurants while we were at it.

So we hit a restaurant called Hofer and people ordered a lot of food. There was Chicken Salad, Roast Beef Steak, Roast Meatballs.. thankfully I only ordered a beer as I wasn’t feeling too hungry, and then dug into everybody else’s plates as nobody was finishing any of their food. After the meal, we bade goodbye to Shreyas and Neha who were getting back to Zurich the next day, and the rest of us walked back to the B&B.

Once we got there, Lael asked each of us to narrate a funny story in their life. We took turns with me starting off about Tunu’s moped back in school and how we got chased by a bull once when we were on it. Tunu then narrated a story of how he and Archana got lost in the sea when they tried their hand at sailing with very little knowledge of how to go about it. By this time I was beginning to doze off and could barely keep up with Naan’s and Lael’s stories as I hadn’t slept that afternoon like the others, and had a little too much beer compared to Tunu. So we called it a night and bid adieu to Tunu and Archana who were leaving to Greece the next day.

September 28:

It was the day for the 4 of us also to leave towards Stuttgart, and the plan was to hire a car and drive there, as driving a car on the autobahns was another dream of mine for long. I had insisted on a BMW only given I’m in love with that car, but Naan booked a Ford Mondeo assuring me that he will get an upgrade as he always books on Hertz. But when we reached the Hertz office at Hauptbanhof, the guy there tells that everything is booked out given its Oktoberfest and there are no cars available. We then tried asking some of the other vendors there like Sixt and Europcar, but it was either not available or too expensive given we were booking late. Just when we were on the verge of giving up, the guy comes and tells us that he can manage a BMW 1series and that’s the best he can do. We could have kissed him right there! But stuck to just thanking him politely.

We then got into the car, which was a manual transmition 116i, base model of BMW, but hell it was BMW! And finally started on our way nearly 2 hours after we originally intended to. So we just drove straight to Stuttgart and didn’t take any detours. The autobahns en route also had some construction work going on in places that made the journey a lot slower, and hence when we finally reached Stuttgart, it was well past sundown. So we just checked in, freshened up, and headed towards the Stuttgart Stadtstheatre square for dinner. It was a nice area, and we walked around the different restaurants trying to figure where we are going to sit and eat. We finally settled on Café Brauhous which looked like a complete touristy place, and as expected, wasn’t too great on food. I didn’t order a drink on this night which completely shocked the other 3 who were all drinking, thanks to the copious quantities I’ve been drinking till then and my body shouting for a break. 

We had Roast beef (which was nothing compared to what we had at Munich), Weiner Schnitzel (a German dish I’ve been wanting to experiment for long with) and Pasta for Geet (who didn’t have too many options with German dishes, considering they either had red meat, or sausages in pretty much every dish). Lael seemed to be a very good mood on this day and kept entertaining us with stories. She even treated us with the dinner and that brought us to the end of the trip with Naan and Lael.

September 29:

Lael was leaving early morning at 9:30, and we got into a bit of confusion in the morning with taking the car out of the hotel as we had to pay for the parking and stuff, and in the process, got really late and she just about managed to catch the train that was leaving to Frankfurt. She had many connections before reaching the US and just couldn’t afford to miss this train. We were really glad she managed to make it, and then spent the rest of the day exploring Stuttgart beerfest with Naan. 

We went to the fest area that Stuttgart called Volksfest, and it was like a mini Munich here. We walked by all the tents and finally decided to get into one where there was a band playing. We had Roast Duck here along with the beer, as we just couldn’t understand what the other dishes on the all German menu was, and had little help from the all German waiter as well. But the Duck was a good order, as it once again turned to be the best Duck I’ve ever had! I think I once had Duck with Bala in Phylli that came close to this, but it was seriously good Duck.

We ate and drank listening to the band play German and some English songs, and completely enjoyed the whole day. It was a very different experience from the madhouse that Munich was, and the band was something I wanted to hear in a long time – proper German music playing live.

We then dropped Naan off at the station and decided to order dinner through room service itself rather than stepping out, as we wanted to start the next day early and really make use of the BMW we hired the previous day and didn’t do jack shit with on this day.

September 30:

As per plan, Geet and l checked out of the Hotel by 7am and drove towards Munich. We were to take a longer route from the one we came on, and drive through the Romantische Strasse, which is supposed to be a very scenic route starting from Central Germany and ending with Neuschwanstein in the South. Of course, we couldn’t cover the entire Route as it would have been a very long trip, and had a train leaving from Munich towards Salzburg in the evening that we had to make it back in time for. So we hit the Romantische Strasse at the town called Nordlingen. It was a really pretty town with an old Gothic church in between. We had some breakfast at one of the Bakerai’s, and walked around the place taking tons of photos. Then we drove to Harburg, the next city on the Romantische Strasse, and this one had a pretty bridge with a rivulet underneath that had a bunch of Ducks wading around. From the bridge you could see the city which had some neat looking palaces at one side. Next we hit Donauworth, once again a pretty town with small winding roads, not even enough for cars to come both ways, studded with matchbox shaped houses on both sides. We were next to hit a town called Rain, but this is when the GPS in the car went kaput, and it turned out to be a real struggle finding the next town without it. We were also running out of time, and hence decided to now head direct to Munich. We connected back to the autobahn, and the route we hit this time was not the same one we came on. This one didn’t have any constructions going on, and provided what the autobahns are known for – uncontrolled levels of speed!

I was driving upwards of 120kmph the entire journey and still had to be on the right side of the road only, as cars were incessantly over-taking from the left. The only time I managed to come to the left most lane was when I crossed 160kmph, and managed to touch 180kmph at this stretch which was the best I’ve ever done. So the experience was well worth it.

But once we reached Munich, the right side driving, lack of free flowing autobahns, trams pummeling down the same roads cars drove, and the gear box on the right made it extremely complex to navigate. And with the GPS continuing to give trouble, I got honked so many times in a country that doesn’t honk like the way we do, and managed to find the gas station where I filled gas on my own for the very first time, and then finally reached the Hertz parking about half hour later than schedule. Thankfully we didn’t face any flak for the delay and returned the car easily (albeit painfully), and then chilled out at an Italian restaurant, waiting for our train to Salzburg.

The train was a regular one, and left the platform where an ICE stood next to it. So we called it the “Not so ICE” train, where even seating was free. Couple of hours later, we hit Salzburg, which soon turned out to be the letdown of the entire trip.

We reached the hotel, Pension Elizabeth quite easily as it was just next to the train station. But it turned out to be nothing compared the reviews online, and most importantly, charged a bomb for the facilities offered – which included breakfast with just bread and jam/butter the next day, and a cramped attic converted to a room on the 2nd floor with no lift access to it. Anyway, we decided to make the most of our short time there and head to the much hyped Mullner Brauhous, where apparently Monks brew the beer that Mozart enjoyed here. Well, we walked around a lot, and saw a bunch of old people walking in and out of churches, but no Mullner Brauhous anywhere.

Finally, we decided to ditch it and entered a pretty looking restaurant called Stadwirt where we ordered Chicken Breast Pasta and had it with Steigl Beer. Now this is pretty much the highlight of Salzburg city – the Steigl Beer, a local Austrian favourite here. And the Pasta was once again brilliant, which led us to salvage something of the evening.

October 1:

Checked out in the morning after the most boring breakfast ever, and reached the airport where we were in for some more flying adventure. The lady at the counter to the Germanwings flight that we were flying to Berlin tells us that our checkin luggage will be charged. This is a problem with these low cost airlines, and Geet and I had to shift around our luggage in such a way that we only checked in one bag and carried the other one in as hand luggage. Thankfully we managed to accommodate it that way, and soon on our way to Berlin. 

As soon as we got out of the Berlin Hauptbanhof, which we reached via train from the Berlin Airport, Geet spotted a Wok to Walk restaurant that she’s a big fan of in Europe. Given we didn’t have a good meal the entire day – with just the bread for breakfast, and salad at the Cologne stopover during the flight, we just rushed in for some good Wok. Geet loves the Hot Asian sauce variant here, and that’s exactly what I ordered, and seriously was amazing Wok. We sat and ate it watching the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Church that we could see through restaurant window, and caught a breather before heading to our Hotel.

This was Hotel Park Plaza, and I was just keeping my fingers crossed that it turns out better since I’d only paid as much as Pension Elizabeth for this. And thankfully, it was. This was a Wall Street themed Hotel, with everything inside, from the floor carpets, to the rooms being designed with stock market tickers and dollar bill notes. It was really well designed and the rooms were extremely comfortable. We were just glad the Hotel made up for the calamity the previous day, and put on our party clothes to hit the streets of Berlin.

Now this was Oktoberfest in the most culturally tuned city in Germany. So there were lots to offer at Alexander Platz, where a temporary Oktoberfest scenario was setup, which was just 2 stops away from where we stayed. We checked out all the shops, arcades and beer joints, and finally decided to enter one where there seemed to be a dance party happening. Now this was new for us, coz until now it was only drunken revelry, or singing to a band at best. This was with people dancing in all strange forms, especially since the crowd was completely international, just as we had seen so far, and Geet and I grabbed 2 beers and sat on one table close to the dance floor. 

Soon an elderly man comes up and says “something something Fraulin”. I just nodded thinking he asked something about Geet, and next thing I know, he is dragging her off to a dance! It was hilarious watching them go at some German dance form that involved kicking their feet up. When Geet was there, an elderly lady comes up to me and offers me her beer hat. I was completely beginning to love this place. It only got better when the lady even bought me a glass of beer, something I was really trying to avoid as I didn’t want to get too high on this day. But that was not to be, as it was drinks, and dancing, and in the end turned out to be a pretty wild night through. 

On the way back I found a stall selling Currywurst, another dish I wanted to try out here, and ordered it and ate in the train with people staring at me coz you aren’t supposed to eat inside a train. But both of us were so drunk and hungry that we didn’t care much. 

October 2:

Checked out of our Hotel before hitting the city as we had an overnight bus to Munich later in the day, and then walked about the city seeing all the famous sights in the pretty much the only German city that offers this. So we began with the Berlin wall, where we took a ton of photos around some of the impressive graffiti done on a historically significant piece of construction that was only celebrating its 25th year of being broken down. The 2 sides of the wall really didn’t look very different, but at one time actually separated 2 countries!

We then visited Checkpoint Charlie which is an overrated old American checkpoint in Germany, followed by Brandenburg Tor which was the official entry gate to the town of Berlin where there was a lot of literature on the WW’s, a brief stop at the famous KaDeWe mall, and finally got back to Alexander Platz where we chanced upon a shop called Parkin where Geet found some cheap European things to buy, and totally began knocking herself out there. We barely got enough time to have a quick Waffle, collect our luggage, and hit the Berlin bus stop which was to take us back to where it all started – Munich!

October 3:

The familiar chill of Munich hit us as soon as we got out of the bus in the morning, and as we walked from the Bus Stop to the Hautbanhof, we saw another very familiar sight – guys in Lederhosen’s and girls in Drindl’s, all walking in one direction, which thanks to my GPS I quickly figured was in the direction of Theresienweise – the Oktoberfest venue. The shocking thing was, the time wasn’t even 7am yet. Anyway, it was a Saturday, and that too on the last weekend of Oktoberfest, so we knew it’s going to be quite difficult to get a table like the way we did we when first got to Germany. But decided to stick with the plan for the day, which involved checking in, hitting the BMW museum, then an attempt at the Oktoberfest venue, and finally some shopping to close out the German trip.

We began with exactly that thought, reaching the far off town Freising for our Hotel, which I intentionally booked so that its closer to the airport given our early morning flight the next day. En route I found a store selling Augusteiner Beer, which was something everyone spoke of here since they are beer still prepared in wooden barrels and have a very different taste. I finally found it here, and picked with some croissant for Geet and Meatball Bagel for me (another German specialty). 

We checked in to the Hotel Isar which was a very pretty hotel, and opened my Augusteiner beer only to realize that I wasn’t too much a fan of it, but the good German music on TV kept me company as Geet got ready. We hit the BMW museum straight and it was then that I understood the statement “kid in a toy store”. I was running from one car to another checking it out, giving competition to a bunch of 5 year olds doing exactly the same thing as me. And while I was admiring the interiors of the car, the kids would be trying to figure which parts can come out loose.

After going through all the BMWs, the Mini Coopers and the Rolls Royce on display, we headed towards the fest area. Now this was a terrible idea, as we didn’t have space to even reach the first tent! The place was crowded pretty much all the way from the train station. It was just too much for us to handle, and we walked out and decided to hit the department store in Mariahilfplatz where we initially stayed as the store had some really neat items that we hadn’t found anywhere else so far. We thought of buying things from here for people back home. But when we reached the store, it was closed! Just like everything else in the city. It was as if everybody shut shop to just be at Theresienweisse for the day. 

Now that was 2 strikes against us, and we really needed the day to get better from here. So we walked to Marienplatz, the place we got lost in the first day, and the place we had the fancy dinner the second day. We decided to find the Hofbrau brewery here, which is supposed to be one of the oldest in Germany. After much searching, we finally found it, and as soon as we entered, Geet found a table with a bunch of German kids that had 2 seats free, and she went straight and asked them for it. They were too drunk and too nice to decline, and eventually we realized they were too under-aged as well to be ordering beer, and needed us there to make the orders for them. Anyway, we ordered the super tasty freshly brewed Hofbrau beer from here, and had it with Roast Ox, pretty much the only dish that was remaining for me to have in Germany, and ended the day and the trip in exactly the way we would have wanted to.

After much partying, found our way to the Hotel, figured our way to the airport the next day, and crashed out with a beer called Weisenstephan, which was a beer only available in the Northern part of Munich, where Freising is located which is where we stayed. This really amazed me about the country - there are so many different types of beers, and not only are they unique to a city, but some of them are unique to a certain district within a city as well. And this Weisenstephan beer was really good!

I completely enjoyed the food throughout the trip as well. Although most of it was just versions of the humble Wurst (sausage) – dishes like Bratwurst, Currywurst, Wurstsalat, or meat heavy dishes like Roast Ox/Duck/Beef or the different forms of the Schnitzels that were available. One would think you would return from such a hedonistic trip with your fitness completely screwed up, but the reality was that we both were more fit than when we started! And this was in spite of just beer and fried food throughout the trip. Guess the beer and fried food also is healthy as long as it has the German tag to it.

Well, all in all, it was a lovely trip to Germany – in so many ways exactly how I wanted it to work out. And all thanks to Geet for playing along with my idiotic fantasies and to Naan for making some of them like booking the BMW possible, and all my friends for actually making it there and turning this Oktoberfest trip to be one of the best parties ever!