Day 17 - Munich (Oktoberfest)

Woke up at 7am. Walked to Oktoberfest. Drank beer and ate pretzels. Stumbled back to the hostel. Went to bed.



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Pretty much it. We were in the Schottenhamel Spatenbrau tent. WE lined up around 8am adn they opened the doors at 9. The rush into the tent was crazy with everyone trying to get the best tables. We snagged a sweet table right in the middle of everything and right in front of the stage. It was pretty quiet for the first 3 hours with everyone busy trying to get drunk...not very hard. At noon the band started playing and things were nuts from then on out. As soon as the band starting, people were up on their seats. The band was similar to the one in Stuttgart with a bunch of brass instruments. They played a bunch of traditional Bavarian music and then as the day went on busted into a bunch of American music and even played some Canadian (Summer of '69)....haha. Of course there was also all the chanting like in Stuttgart, with some new chants too that all the locals sitting around us taught us happily. Again, it was very German dominated, unike what we'd read about there being about 50% tourists. The reason probably was because Oktoberfest (which is only in Munich and not all over Germany as most people think....myself included before i came here) is always over on teh first Sunday of October, butu this year was extended for one more day because apparently the 3rd is a national holiday celebrating the unification of Germany. So we were lucky to just happen to be here when the 3rd fell on the Monday after Oktoberfest.
The tent we were inwas pretty much the same as Stuttgart (just alot bigger). Our tent had seating and standing room for over 10 thousand people and therew were over 300 thousand apparently between all of the tens and the fair grounds. Insane.
We sat with all kinds of different people during the course of the day and ate chicken and humongous pretzels. We ach had 6L's of the beer which was very strong at 8% alcohol. We made it within 1 hour of the end fo the night but were definately KO'd and had to leave. Out of the people that started the day at the tables aroudn us, we were the last ones to leave.
Great time and I'm glad we did it, but after Saturday in Stuttgart and then Monday in Munich, I've had enough beers for a long time and am glad that its behind us.
To the Alps tomorrow to Innsbruck, Austria to see mountains for the first time in my life. Hopefully do some hiking!