Cold and rain-soaked times at Oktoberfest

We arrived in Munich to clear skies and warm sunshine, which lasted all of one day and then it poured and that´s all it´s been doing since! But nonetheless that didn´t stop us enjoying Oktoberfest 2007!

We met up with a mate of Matt´s from work and his two mates who he´s traveling around with. What a group we made - Jay, Hitch, Mika, Matt and I. We had heard lots of stories of waiting in queues for hours to get a seat at any of the 12 beer halls, so we decided to get there early to claim a spot. We arrived, completely soaked and freezing, at 9:00am and there was no one about, apart from the other dedicated Aussies much like ourselves. We got comfy and the beers came promply at 10:00am. Man those steins are massive!

By 2:00pm Jay and Hitch had to drag Mika to a cab (he´d gone a little too hard too early, but it was hilarious anyway!). By this time the Hofbrau-Festhalle was getting very busy. So much so that there was hardly standing room left - apparently that hall held 10,000 people, so you can imagine it. We thought it would be a great idea to go outside, where it was still raining mind you, and go on some of the rides. For those in Brisvegas, imagine the Ekka but on a much larger scale. It was maddness. Although unfortunately one of us had had one too many bratwursts and after one topsy-turvy ride had to go home and pay a visit to Spew City (hence why the name Mattspew is relevant now...mwahahaha!). We lasted until about 7:00pm which I thought was quite alright considering we were straight off the mark at 10:00am.

The next morning we decided to go back a bit later and see what it´s like after dark this time. So after doing boring laundry we headed back around 2:00pm, met up with my friend Emma from soccer and her sister Sally and proceeded to do it all over again, still with the cold and rain! This time Mattspew paced himself on the bratwursts and lasted a bit longer. But after so many stiens we lost the taste for beer (and Mika again..he just walked off never to be seen again!) and decided to go and finish the night on some vodkas.

Anyway needless to say we didn´t get to see a lot of Munich - saw the inside of a lot of McDonalds and Burger Kings - but unfortunatel not much of the city. We´d booked a late train to leave this arvo to go Frankfurt but the rain still hasn´t eased and it´s just not fun being tourists when you´re soaked and freezing!

Bring on Oktoberfest 2008! :)