Four thirty in the morning came with the luster of well ground marble against cement. It felt good to be leaving and underneath the dull patina something clear and shiny remained. The glimmer for me was seeing my German lawyer friends again. Katrin and Franziska are intelligent, fun, and adventurous.
Thanks to the careful planning of Fiona, the rail trip to London City Airport was flawless. The four pound sterling fare for tube and light rail sure beat the forty pound cab estimate. The convenience of European public transportation is hard to beat.
Arriving in Munich the “transportation day” continued with a train from the airport to the Hauptbahnhof, followed by light rail. A relatively quick, but still weighted ten minute trek and I was home, at least for the next three nights.
Calling Katrin on my computer, we agree to meet at 4:30pm outside the Marienplatz U-Bahn station. I left 45 minutes early, calculating that the commute would take 15 minutes and then there would be a half hour to take pictures. The train platform clock caught my eye, as it read 4:45pm not 3:45pm. Crap, I was already fifteen minutes late. In making the transition from GMT to the mainland I had forgotten to add an hour to my watch. So trying to arrive a half hour early netted a result of finding Katrin a half hour late. She was all smiles and rejections of my apologies.
We met up with Fran and four new faces in a local biergarten. The beautiful thing about most Germans that I meet is that they are completely “laid back” in a community way as opposed to the typically insular self-concerned California track. (Just made many friends with that last statement… but if you reading this, you inherently not the norm.) They welcome strangers with an honest interest and go out of their way to be inclusive. It is almost on a visceral level, “Oh, you are human. Me too. Let’s talk about you.” The interest is so complete, with five on one that it is hard to return the questioning to find out more about them.
So, we are now on a mission to find the Oktoberfest grounds that just so happens to be about three blocks from my hostel. Now this is such a German thing. I took the train the 5 kilometers or so to meet my friends. They simply and happily walk the return without a second thought. Maybe New Yorkers walk as much, with a smile on their faces, as Germans do but I doubt there is another US demographic that could match the effort.
The Oktoberfest fair grounds are massive and that is an understatement. They are filled with carnival type rides, food vendors, and tents the size of indoor stadiums.
(Fran's boyfriend went immediately for the cotton candy... good call.)
Everything is larger than life.
For instance, there are not only the little carnival rides but full-blown roller coasters and log flume rides.
Massive towers elevate screaming customers ten stories into the sky.
Then, there are the bier tents. These are not flimsy poled structures but reinforced steel I-beam construction, housing thousands of people in each.
The inside surface area is bigger than a football field and there are probably ten of the behemoths on the Oktoberfest grounds.
Since it is late in the daily schedule we bounce from tent to tent trying to find a table inside. But each tent is filled with happy revelers. They raise their steins to one another.
Sing, ...
... dance, and eat lots of great food.
Absolutely no inside tables can be found inside, so we are grateful to find one outside after an hour’s waiting. So, it is time for the “fest” to begin.
Everyone saddles up to a liter stein of beer. The empty glass must weigh a kilo on its own, then add the fluid weight. We all take pictures of each other enjoying supersized event.
I was trying to cross my eyes at the size of the stein, but it only looks like I’m angry at it instead. (No Mom, I’m not drunk here, as it was literally my first sip.)
Then there is of course food and lots of it. While waiting for our mains to arrive we nosh of pretzels bigger than your head.
Or in some cases coming out of your head.
Fran's boyfriend tried to share some of his "half chicken" and it was so moist that the only thing delivered was a legbone sans meat. He gave an "Oh well I tried to share so its all mine now" smirk. We all had a good laugh at the attempt.
After dinner we decide to walk the fair grounds a little before heading into the tent. One of Katrin's friend from Berlin manager to shoot a seemingly infinite number of plastic tags with a "BB" gun and won a great big tiger, of which Katrin immediately takes ownership.
It was a group effort with our cheering section adding to the effort and everyone enjoying the spectacle of a group of adults clowning around with a massive, oversized tiger.
Inside, everyone is singing and dancing on the tables and benches. There is so much joy in the tent that it at first feels awkward. Everyone is smiling, singing, hugging strangers and there’s not an angry drunk in the mix.
We “clink” our steins together so many times it is almost a cliché and then it becomes a cliché and we are laughing at our overzealous selves.
Just as things are coming to a crescendo, there is a noise vacuum and suddenly it is over?
What happened? Simple, it is 10:30pm so everything ends. Exactly, neatly, completely, and no one protests the finality.
Tens of thousands of people now flood the spaces between food vendors and carnival rides to make their way home. Again, not a single angry drunk as the crowd streams in the direction of the train station, but instead people are singing and laughing along. If someone stumbles a complete stranger will reach out to pick them up, share a laugh together, and then everyone is off once again.
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