September 29th: Oktoberfest

Hello, again!

So, it has been over a week since my last post. And I am sorry about that. But here we go!

The past week went pretty smoothly overall. I started driving Felix to and from school. I am getting over my fear of driving stick. I don't want to say I have mastered it, but I am not stalling at red lights, so that's good, right? Our car rides are usually silent because we can't really communicate to each other, so he just stares out the window and I focus on not hitting bikers and not missing shifts and whatnot.

Last Sunday, my host mom, Felix, and myself were riding our bikes through Ulm and we went to the old Fisherman's Quarters. The buildings were beautiful and there is a lot of history there. Including a hotel that was sinking for a long time, so it is slanted. Apparently all of the furniture in there was designed for the slope, so the legs are longer on one end to keep them level.

One of the neighbors is a former au pair of the family. His name is Micah and he's a couple of years older than me and he's a pretty nice guy. Micah helps deliver the magazines that the mom publishes. A couple of times this week, he invited me to tag along so we could chat and walk around the city. It was nice getting to talk with him and he pointed out a couple of things in the town. We also discussed some things regarding German culture that I have noticed. For example, in every building, the ground floor is usually labeled EG (basically "ground floor") and the next level is 1. Which may not seem odd, but that means that the first floor isn't "the first floor." Floor 1 would be the US Floor 2. Which Micah and I both found odd. We even talked about some English words and subtle variances that made him frustrated. For example, the word "queue." Which has more letters than it needs. And we discussed the slight differences between "belly," "belay," and "ballet." Which I never thought of, but it's pretty funny.

Friday night, I was hoping to go to a choir concert at the Munster. I went and the tickets were about 22 Euros. Soooo I decided I didn't want to pay that much for a choir that I know nothing about. I biked back home and my host mom was just leaving for a concert of Victor Jara music. So I tagged along. There was a long speech about Victor Jara before the show...in German. The music was pretty good. My host mom's friend was playing in the band.

Then, Oktoberfest. My host dad warned me a week ago that I picked the busiest day of Oktoberfest to go. But if I am going to go once, I figured it should be the biggest day. I jumped on my bike and rode on down to the train station. I bought myself a Bayern ticket (good for unlimited travel on regional trains for one day in Bavaria) for 22 Euros and waited at the station. When the train showed up, it was fairly full. I had to stand, but I had something to lean on, so I wasn't upset. Then as we stopped at more and more stations on the way to Munich, more and more people got on. Eventually, people had to wait for the next train because it was too full. It wasn't too crowded, though. I wasn't shoulder-to-shoulder with people.

After a little over 2 hours, I arrived at the Munich Hbf (Hbf basically means the main train station) and people poured out of the train and into the already crowded station. I did not actually know where Oktoberfest was specifically, but I was told it was about 15 minutes walking from the train station. And instead of asking for directions, I did what any reason tourist would do: follow the Lederhosen. So I did. The streets were pretty crowded and there were people everywhere. But, the crowd took me right to Oktoberfest (after a good walk on Beethoven Street).

Oktoberfest is, basically, a giant carnival. The main focus is, of course, beer and food, but there were tons of carnival rides and things to see and do. There were even a couple of rollercoasters. As I wondered around through the thick crowd, I got run in to be a couple of stumbling drunks. Because, you know, it was 2:30 PM. I grabbed myself a massive pretzel and continued walking.

At Oktoberfest, there are these massive "tents" (they're more like buildings, really) that people can go inside and drink and listen to music and do...Oktoberfest stuff. Despite the size of these tents, there were still masses of people crowded at the entrances waiting to go in. I wanted to go in one just to see it, but I recognized that I did not have the patience to stand in a mass of people for hours just to go inside. So I kept walking. I eventually found another huge tent that had an outside porch-like area. And amazingly, I found a short line and got right in.

It was packed and there was loud music and people drinking the same beer (they usually only serve one kind of beer at a tent) and people having a good time. Within maybe 90 seconds, I was asked by a waitress if I wanted a beer. I paused for a moment, then said yes. It was 7.50 Euros (which is a little steep, but I heard inside the tent they can be as much as 12 Euros), but it was a small price to pay for a beer at Oktoberfest. I walked through the crowd and two middle-aged men held out their beers to me for a toast. We clinked glasses and gave a little cheer and drank. We talked for a little bit and they told me they were from Italy. The conversation was kind of short because I wanted to go on exploring and the language barrier probably could not have handled more, but they were fun guys.

After more wandering, I found myself by a table of drunk Italians dancing on their table. They were clearly having a blast. It was about this time that "YMCA" came on and just about EVERYONE sang the chorus with the arm-ography. After the song ended, I heard someone behind me say to a waitress, "I don't know how you can put up with this." I turned around because I heard some English. There were two people a couple of years older than me buying a beer from a waitress. I said hello and heard them speaking English, so I had to talk to them.

I came to find out that their names are Dave and Bridget. They are from South Africa and both just graduated from law school and are staying in Europe for a little bit. Dave was a little harder to understand because he was a little tipsy and had a stronger accent, but we did fine. I stuck with them and we talked and sang and hung out for a couple of hours. They were quite fun and we had some good laughs. I thought they were a couple at first, but I was wrong. I figured it out when Dave announced he was on the hunt for "this one hot Brazilian chick."

Note: The music at the porch was live music from inside being projected through speakers. The music didn't really make sense together. They played a couple of German songs, YMCA, an instrumental version of Amazing Grace, Proud Mary, and a little AC/DC. It was confusing to say the least.

After a few hours, they left because they had been there since WELL before I got there. We hugged and said goodbye and they vanished into the crowd. I decided I had had enough for the porch and left shortly after. I swung by a stand and bought Bratwurst and went on my way exploring the sights of Oktoberfest. While I was walking and eating, I saw two police cars with their lights and sirens on driving through the crowd (slowly, of course) to a beer tent. And I saw a couple paramedics a few minutes earlier with a woman on a stretcher. Some people just party a little harder than me, I guess. I am also sure I saw a fist fight in a "line" for a beer tent.

After a little more wandering, I decided to call it an evening. I had some German food, drank my beer, met some people, had a good laugh, and thought I did a good job at Oktoberfest. On my way back to the Hbf, I took a few pictures of some pretty buildings and such. I wasn't in a huge rush to get back to the station. I wanted to get there early, though, so that I could hopefully grab a seat inside of having to stand. I got to the platform before the train and waited. And as soon as the train got there, I hopped on and grabbed a seat. The train quickly filled up and within about 10 minutes, we left the station.

After a short time, an announcement came on. I ignored it because it was in German. Then, the same message again came on in English. The announcement said that the train would be splitting at Augsburg Hbf. The front part would be going to Ulm and the back part would be going somewhere else and the final destination was displayed in each car on the screens they have around telling you what station you are approaching. I was, of course, in the very last car. So at the next station, I got out and ran a few cars down. We went on and the screen said a third town they did not mention in the announcement. So at the next station, I ran down some more cars. The door opened and there was a man there who held up his hand and said something in German. I was in a hurry, so I just yelled, "I don't speak German!" and jumped on the train. I later found out he was kidding and was just telling me not to get on because it's loud. This is because there were four drunk, German kids (probably college-aged) who were loudly singing and chanting various songs. It was a lot of fun, though. They were having a blast and most of the people around them didn't seem to mind.

Soon, however, the train became intensely crowded. I was basically forced up against the doors. It soon got very hot and even more cramped (some guy even had his bike on the train). However, when some people got off, I got a little more comfortable. One of the drunk German singers heard me say to someone in English, "I don't speak German," and spoke to me in English. He apparently spent a couple of months in California. We spoke for a little bit before I heard some more English behind me. It ended up being a tall, British college student. He and I spoke for quite a bit about our experiences in Germany and talking about differences between our countries and stuff. He was with one of his classmates who was an exchange student from Russia. The three of us had a nice conversation about culture and this-and-that. At one point, the British kid even turned to his Russian friend and says, "Hey, how is Snowden doing, by the way?" It was a good time. My station was before theirs and I said my farewell to them and the drunk German singers and hopped off the train, grabbed my bike, and went on home.

And now, pictures!!

The Fishermen's Quarter

On an old wall that used to surround the city.

Some modern boats designed to look like old boats. And filled with water, apparently. 

(Taken from the wall)

No idea what this is. But I saw it while riding my bike and liked it.

I rode by a KFC and had to try it. So far, this is the only place I have seen in Germany

that has unlimited refills on fountain drinks. Keeping true to the Kentucky roots.

Note: I got the "Extra Hot Salsa" dipping sauce. The Germans don't seem to know what spicy is.

For my friends that like this kind of stuff, I had a reallllly good smoothie in Ulm.

And as you can see, all of the furniture and whatnot is really bright.

Me on the crowded train to Munich.

Another shot of the train.

My first vision of Oktoberfest.

Huge pretzel. It was pretty good.

A mob trying to get into that beer "tent." This is where I saw a potential fist fight.

My beer on the patio. It wasn't terrible, I have to admit. I even drank the whole thing.

The Italians who clinked my glass.

A shot of the mayhem (with a Fraulein selling pretzels).

Dave and Bridget.

Dave insisted I get a picture of me and the beer so people would believe me.

Although I had a beer in the other picture...

Rollercoaster/Olympic Rings.

It was pretty crowded. You had to walk slowly and occasionally avoid broken glass.

Just some buildings on the way back to the Hbf.

The Munich Hbf while waiting for my train back to Ulm.

That's all for this post! I will try to post a blog twice a week instead of just once. I prefer that method more, honestly. And maybe you do, too? I don't know.

This upcoming Saturday, I will be making the trek to Freiburg! It will be a much more calm day (I hope) and will hopefully produce many pictures of beautiful sights.

Thanks for reading! 

"For a quart of Ale is a meal for a King." - William Shakespeare