European Travelogue #4: Munich, Germany

Munich (map), home of the Oktoberfest, is located in Bavaria in the south of Germany. The Oktoberfest is held from the last week in September to the end of October.

Getting There

Munich is well served by the German rail network, as well as major autobahn and an international airport. We drove from Stuttgart for a few hours (and 12 cans of beer) and parked in the centre of Munich under the city theatre. We immediately set about finding a beer hall and quenching our thirst.

We found a place called Lowenbrau Festhalle at Einsteinstrasse 42. Hoisting the skull and crossbones pirate flag and drinking a mass (full measure of beer) each and the Bastards R Us tour was well on its way to living up to it’s name. The actual Oktoberfest fair is located away from the city centre and

we got there by taxi for about DM12 from the city.

Eating Out

There are plenty of restaurants offering traditional German fare of wurst and sauerkraut, but we opted to eat at the Oktoberfest grounds at one of the fast food stalls, which offer hotdogs, hamburgers and other greasy food that beer drinkers love.

Oktoberfest

The actual fair grounds where the drinking happens are made up of 9 huge beer halls, each owned by a separate beer company. We visited a few during the afternoon, but most of the seating was occupied, so we just found a table that was reserved, sat down and ordered a few beers.

Now the beer glasses they serve beer in here hold 1 litre of beer and are called a mass. We drank several in each beer hall we visited. Lowenbrau was my favourite, although the other brands have slipped from my memory due to the volume of amber ingested at that point. I actually ended up that drunk, that I smoked a cigar that I bought from one of the girls walking the beer halls – I gave up the tobacco 6 years ago!

Anyway, we had a great time making merry, leering at the pretty girls, and enjoying the atmosphere of the place. We also bought the obligatory t-shirt each (at around DM20) on the way out to the taxi rank. This Oktoberfest fair

absolutely goes off! A great place to hang out and party at this time of year.

Museums

I got too drunk to go to any museums, and besides, I didn’t fly half way around the world to Munich to look at historical architecture!

Summary

I totally enjoyed my ‘day trip’ to Munich. The Oktoberfest was just one great big party and we ran into people from all over the world. During September / October, you can’t afford to miss this celebration!!

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