Another Wies'n Weekend

For most Americans Oktoberfest is a once in a lifetime event.  It is why I put it on the family bucket list early on when we knew we were moving to Europe.  And it is why we attended last year thinking it might be our last chance.  Little did we know that right after attending we would find out that we were being moved.  To Munich.  

And the moment we announced we were moving, sometime in January, I also started emailing in my requests for reservations to the tents for the 2016 Wies'n.  Because I knew that we would surely be going back and in all probability we would be bringing guests.  Most likely guests who had never been and would like to have the full experience.  Sadly, even though I emailed early, I was turned down at each and every tent.  I wasn't surprised because the tickets go to long time business customers first, then to longtime personal customers, then to those that email - and sometimes they don't even get that far down the list.  I wasn't surprised, but I was disappointed.  And then, at the last moment, B came through with 7 tickets for this past Saturday night at the corporate table!  

The F family arrived Friday afternoon.  I picked the girls up from school and headed straight for the square.  The first thing we did was hug our friends tightly and then headed off to find E and her daughter J the perfect Dirndl's.  A couple of stores later and they were both ready for the next day; and E was ready for a quick fun through our local TK Maxx.  At this point we had worked up quite a thirst so we headed over to the China Moon for a drink with the H family...

B and T, E and J, and me overlooking Munich.

The next morning we headed over to E and J's hotel.  While the boys headed off for lunch E, J and my girls and I headed to the Wies'n grounds to show them what the fuss was all about.  We ducked into the tents, browsed the local treats, bought a souvenir or tow and, most importantly, rode a few rides...

 We couldn't stay as long as the girls would have liked (who wouldn't want to ride the rides all day?) but we had to get some nap time in as we knew we had a long night ahead of us.

A nap, a shower and suddenly we looked like this...

I must say that it is fun getting all dressed up to go drink beer.  It's just a bit different than the way I did it in college!

We hit the U-bahn and immediately were confronted by what our night could be like if we weren't careful (and what it is for so many)...

Two stops later he was escorted off of the train by the police.  They take the safety of the passengers (drunk or no) very seriously.

Once we had all met up outside of our tent we quickly took a few pictures of our gorgeous group...

and were greeted inside at our private, upstairs table with this...

The beers began flowing freely and so did the conversation, the laughs and the fun.

7 beers.  1 hand.

Let's break that down - each Maß (the regulation sized beer) is exactly 1 litre or 33.8 fl oz.  With each full beer stein weighing in at 2.2 kg (about 5 lbs) that means our waiter has just over 15.4 kg (or 35 lbs) in one hand.  ONE hand.  And they usually carry two hands full.  On a normal night the stats say that the waiters and waitresses carry over one ton of beer to their patrons (and then they have to carry the empties back again).  Quite the workout!  And then our very own E tried it...and succeeded albeit with empties.  But who could find a full beer at O

The night was full of fun and singing and dancing.  We talked, we laughed and we caught up.  What we didn't do was take a ton of pictures but we do have a few grainy ones to share along with the memories we made...Truly a great night with great friends.

The view from the top deck where we were seated.  There were about 3000 people downstairs - all standing on their benches.

The band in their carousel.

Trachten- und Schützenzug

Yesterday, I posted that we went to the Parade that is held on the opening Sunday of Oktoberfest each year.  I wrote a bit about what it is and why they hold it but I only posted a quick i-phone snapshot or two.  That was simply because there were so many great costumes, bands, flags, and horses to photograph that I may have taken a few too many (is that even possible?)  That's ok though because now the parade gets its own picture post!  And deservedly so.  It was incredible to watch as  almost 9000 participants walked past, braving the rain and the new security checks, to represent their German State in traditional dress and with traditional music.  If you ever make it over to Munich for the Weis'n, make sure you also make it for the parade.  You won't be disappointed.