Time to detox and defrost

This weekend, we ventured to Munich, Germany. 

It’s the end of September.  

In Munich.  

Surely, this can only mean one thing...

OKTOBERFEST.

 In other words, the beautiful city of Munich was completely inundated with Oktoberfest celebrations and lederhosen-wearing-Bavarians.  I cannot even attempt to describe Oktoberfest in words.  Instead, how about this very accurate, mathematical equation?

[(Typical County Fair x 1 million coolness points) + A little German Culture + 6 million people] all submersed in beer

Essentially, my crew of Holy Cross amici and I spent the weekend eating/drinking our way through Germany.

CALORIES CONSUMED:

WURTSEL

Who knew I even liked sausages?  I learned that if it looks like a hot dog and is eaten in a bun with mustard, it can be pawned off as a hot dog.   

PRETZELS

Saturday morning’s breakfast of champions.  It’s probably important to mention that these jumbo-sized pretzels are the size of newborn children.  Nonetheless, I devoured it.

CHOCOLATE-COVERED FRUIT

If it's fruit, it's nutritious. That's final.

GINGERBREAD HEARTS

Each one is inscribed with a different, little German saying. People wear them around for the entire day as necklaces.  Sadly, the gingerbread “Ich liebe dich” heart that Audrey and I shared was so soft and sweet-smelling that it was very short-lived as jewelry.

Ich liebe dich, Audrey!

WIESEN BIER

In order to be served, a person must be seated at a table.  These tables fill “beer tents” which are in reality enormous buildings that hold tens of thousands of people.  Despite the extreme capacity of these buildings, groups must arrive at ungodly hours--hours in which normal people should not ever be thinking about drinking beer--in order to gain access. 

The crazy view from the upper-level of our beer tent
But... you gotta do what you gotta do!  So we woke up at 6:30 and made our way through the German drizzle and muddy fairgrounds to Hofbrau tent where we were lucky enough to not only get in, but to also snag a table on the upper-level with a random group of Italians. 

Breakfast time. Raunchy, I know.

Drinking starts promptly at 9 am when dirndl-adorned beer maids carry ridiculous numbers of mugs at a time to appease the rowdy crowds.  Ten euro a pop and four times more alcoholic than American beer. Yikes.

CALORIES BURNED:

* Non-stop laughter with HC friends, old and new.

Random, ridiculous poses throughout Munich? Check.

* A climb to the top of Munich’s Marienplatz city hall.  Um.. ok.. this may have involved an elevator.

Munich appearing so perfectly European from above

 * A vertical teacup-esque fair ride with Miss Kate Connelly on which I punctured a lung screaming so loudly.  So what if we were the only wimps shrieking the entire time.

Horrifying/fantastic

* A walk in the rain because apparently the Munich subway system can choose to strike whenever it pleases.

* Two nights spent shivering in tents.  Uh-huh, tents. Yes, it was raining torrentially.  No, we did not have sleeping bags.

Our fabulous, camp-site

Thanks for the fur hat, Adair

The proud inhabitants of TENT 722

Needless to say, I had a fabulous weekend with all of my friends in gorgeous Germany.  I was very happy to return home to my Florentine apartment for a shower and a bed with a blanket and I gained approximately 20 pounds in one weekend, but overall, the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest was quite a success.