Mike and I have a German class on Thursdays, so while our friends left for Munich right after work on Thursday we stayed for class. Actually, my class was canceled so I went to Starbuck's and knitted.
Oktoberfest is a 16 day festival. It started in 1810 as a celebration for the marriage of King Ludwig I and Princess Therese Saxe-Hildburghausen. (I wrote about King Ludwig's son's castle that we visited here.) There are 14 big tents, these tents hold from 1,000 to 4,000 people each. And then there are 20 small tents, that hold from 60 up to 450 each. You need to make a reservation for the big tents, if you don't have a reservation you have to wait in line until a spot is available. And there are 3 reservation times: early afternoon, mid afternoon and evening. We got a reservation for Friday early afternoon (we waited too long to make the reservation and this was the only time slot available).
Our tent was Marstall. It was newcomer for 2014. Inside it can hold 3,200 and an additional 1,000 outside. The tents are built from scratch each year. They stated building the tents in July. They were very well made, painted, had beautiful wall decorations, and best of all the bathrooms were great. Entry into the tents is free, but you have to spend at least 45 euros...that 45 can go towards lunch and beer. It was early so the atmosphere was very tame, I'd like to go to the evening reservation to see what it's like. The best thing was we got super quick service and there was never a line for the bathroom. And it was nice to be able to talk and hear our friends without having to scream.
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| The carousel is where the band played. |
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| Even the glasses were beautiful |
In addition to the beer tents there are also rides. On Saturday we rode the rides. It was fun but I forgotten how expensive rides are. 8 euros to ride a rollercoaster. Ahh.
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| This is one of the small tents (thought this one wasn't even a tent), it had a carousel that spoon around. |
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| After Oktoberfest everyone went with me to Oberpollinger to shop for fabric/yarn. |
All in all we had a good time. It was not nearly as wild as I had imagined (totally because we had a day reservation). Munich doesn't let you dance on the benches like Bern did. They had security everywhere, keeping people in line. I'm sure at night it's different. Like I said I hope to go back and do a night reservation one day, I want to see the tents packed, and hear everyone singing the German songs, swaying and toasting. But I'm not sure how many more chances I'll get to go back. I'm going to have to start having kids soon, so I may not get the chance.
Lately, I've been feeling like I need a prebaby bucket list. What do I want to do and where do I want to go before I have kids? Four years ago I bought a sports car, because I knew I would only have a chance to own one then or when I'm 50. Sports cars and carseats/kids don't go. I'm glad I bought it...I loved that car. Extended vacations, long baths, sleeping in, late nights, long runs (for a few months pre and post baby), my prebaby body and having extra fun money are all things I need to enjoy while I can. Also, living abroad means we have no free babysitters, no hand me down baby items, no baby showers, and no family/friends for our kids to play with. (Yes, I'll make new friends, but it's not the same as friends you've known for years). We will be taking on parenthood alone. I know it'll all work out, tons of people have moved away and had babies alone. And I know it'll be worth it. I had to give up being spontaneous and sleeping past 8am for Tucker, and it was totally worth it. Who needs to have late nights at Oktoberfest when I can have my own mini me to dress up in baby lederhosen.
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