Oktoberfest #2, September 2012

We decided to give Oktoberfest another go this year, although with some modifications to our travel plans.  We drove to Salzburg Friday and spent the night there.  Saturday, I donned my dirndl (and Eric his lederhosen shirt) and we took the train to Munich.  Beautful train ride!  From the Munich train station, we walked to Oktoberfest grounds.  It was cloudy but full of people.

We were joined by our friend from Nuremberg and looked for a place to get some beer!  It's a challenging feat if you don't have a tent reservation.  We were able to make our way into the beer garden at one place.  A helpful server found us a spot with a group of people from Austria/Germany (and one Italian and one American).  They were very friendly, we enjoyed their company.

Two or three hours after getting there, it started to rain.  At the same time, more of our friends from Bratislava showed up.  Unfortunately, sitting outside in the beer garden with the rain was really not an option.  However, getting inside the beer hall was seemingly impossible.  We waited outside the door of one place for an hour in the rain (luckily we had umbrellas and ponchos) but with no luck.

I left to find a restroom and as I walked along the side of the beer hall, some people went inside through a side door.  I quickly ran over and grabbed the door just before it shut closed (it was locked from the outside) and slipped inside.  Hooray!  It was bright and loud and warm inside, what a relief from the rain!  Unfortunately, I was inside and Eric and our four friends were still outside.  I tried to let them in through the same side door but there were people vigilantly watching the door and I was lectured for trying to let people in.  What I ended up doing was just walking by the door and nonchalantly popping it open as I kept walking.  I did this twice until everyone was able to get inside (I got yelled at the second and last time but who cares).  It was great fun inside (of course).  I befriended an older gentleman who got me a beer and danced a couple songs with me.  The atmosphere inside is so friendly (except those people at the door), everyone was drinking beer, standing on the benches, singing and dancing.  We caught the last train back to Salzburg.  We made some friends with a pair of French girls travelling back to Innsbruck.  Eric left his hat on the train but when he went back to go get it, it started moving!  Luckily he was able to jump off in time, otherwise he would have been bound for Munich (again).