Round 6 & 7!!!

...this time with work people and then more non-Germans!


Katy's mother works for some company (I didn't ask which) and one day during lunch, Katy announced that it was possible for her mother to get her a table in the Augustiner Tent...but it would be in the balcony. Is that okay and did people want to go? This was met with :D faces and so the table was booked!

The view from the balcony!

Juliane, Birgit and Susi. As believe I actually said to the blonde and blue Birgit, "Wow, you look like a REAL German in a dirndl!"

Getting ready for the beers

My beer!

Augustiner doesn't sell Radler (shandys) so here I am chugging my beer. Then I got a brezn (pretzel) to go with my beer. Then I was told I had to drink my beer through the brezn to be a real Muenchener. I think this last bit was a joke.

Half a chicken! Miam.

But it wasn't enough and I....er...ended up eating Susi's rahmschwammerl as well

The Oktoberfest songbook that also has the words to Ein Prosit :P

As the night went on, someone had the brilliant idea to immortalise the best thing about dirndl - cleavage. Also, we believe in equality.

Prost!

It was a hard Thursday and highly amusing to see who would be the last person to turn up on Friday. As a side note, kudos to the girls who managed to drink THREE LITRES of beer. As much of a drinker as I am, I was not one of them.


And then on the final Saturday, althought I was getting pretty beered out, I went back to the Hofbrau tent with Ruben, Eleonora, Cam, and a bunch of Cam's friends who are Aussies living in London! Hooray for worst of both worlds!

We got there at 8:20am but all we could get into was the Hofbrau tent and we managed to score a box with a bunch of Italians and French people that was unreserved until midday.

My breakfast

The menu was tacked onto the wall of the box *thumbs up*

Beer service begins at 9 IN THE MORNING. Despite this incredibly early time, a number of people, stood on their tables and SKOLLED biers. This guy was a legend in particular - he did something like FOUR by 11am. 

But because the box was reserved, we got up and went to where Cam was sitting in the main area. This woman was selling Lebkuechenherzen. I didn't get one, but I did apparently get a badge made to look like lebkuchen that says *spaetzl*. Kekeke

I ended up leaving somewhat early in the afternoon (3pm) because I really wanted to go to the loo, but it was a real disgrace in and I said I'd rather leave the tent and go to a civilised one. Also, I watched a girl vomit about 15 feet away from our table. I couldn't smell it but watching it was enough. Admittedly, after wandering the grounds and eating sugared almonds for a while, I felt it was time to get back in the tent and was glad they stamped my hand before I left. But when I got back, the let me into the biergarten but not into the tent! Turns out I had the wrong coloured stamp to get back in. Ah well. 

Rollercoastering!

Back in May when Poo and I went to Parc Asterix for mon anniversaire, a lot of people were horrified that I would consider that a suitable method for celebrating goodness, much less that I considered it fun. Not Christine - her reaction was one of glee and her saying, "This is great! I've been looking for someone to do the rides with me at Oktoberfest but no one wants to do it!" It was like fate. 


So on the second Tuesday of die Wiesn, we decided to leave work (relatively) early to get there at 6:30pm and ride as many things as we could before we got sick or they shut - whichever came first.


First up! The Cyber Space!

Seating only 8 people at a time, it would swing us through the air in an arc before doing a full loop in both directions! The seats also rotated so not only would you fly around fowards and backwards but also upside-down! WOOHOO!!!

Next, the Wilde Maus

I believe this is like the Manic Mouse, favourite of people at Moomba. It featured lots of jerky moves with climbs and then sudden stops like a good mini-rollercoaster. With wooden seats, we did a lot of sliding around and smashing into each other on those sharp turns. *thumbs up*

We then left tradition and headed onto the Top Spin.

I have figured out that this is the ride that features in photogalleries of screaming Oktoberfest revellers. Again, it involves being swung around in arcs on a spinning seat platform but the ride can also be suspended so you're held upside down over some water jets (thankfully, I didn't get wet). It can also be spun at varying speeds and there was a guy behind us screaming "Schneller! SCHNELLER!!!!" The ride operator complied. Awesome fun. 

Fourth, we headed onto the Parkour.

Now, we just thought it was a glorified Octopus or Spider ride and were highly amused to note that our soft-padded restraints had chunks missing as though someone had taken bites out of it in fear. Turns out that this was the ride that killed us. It was quite fast and a bit like being in an washing machine in that not only were were spinning around on a central axis, but our seat capsule also span around in both directions. As we stumbled off, Christine and I looked at each other and said *Okay, I'm feeling a bit dizzy now...*

Our next ride was the classic rollercoaster the Alpina Bahn.

Here we had the climbs and dips of a nice normal rollercoaster but after the spinning of the Parkour it was a bit much and I'm afraid to say, this was our last ride.

And so after a frantic less than 90 minutes of rides, we went off to the Ochsenbraterei to get an Ochsensemmel to eat and then a still warm apfeltasche with a bit of a stomachache (Christine) and a blistering headache (me). Still! It was totally worth the experience! 


For future reference, if people just want to ride the rides and not go into the biertents, I recommend going after 6:30 on a weeknight. When the sun sets, you get a nice view of the fairground and lights with the added bonus of almost no queues! Actually, the no queue might have been what killed out - we didn't get much rest time in between running to the next brain -shaker. 

Admitting defeat and being Asian

Many months ago, I bought a wok. Coming from Oz where people cook with gas and we have an ancient black one, I purchased a cast iron one and set about burning the hell out of it. But...it never seemed to season properly because in Germania, people cook with electric stoves that are easy to detach from your apartment and take with you to your next apartment (srsly, that is weird). As a result, the burning in my wok is highly irregular, mainly being on the lower part where it is closest to the element. 

Sorta there...but not really...seriously, that's a fail of a seasoning

Despite the badness of the seasoning, I was able to use it to cook various noodle and stir-fry dishes that I and my (male) flatmates ate up. Anyway, I finally got fed up and scoured ways to repair this sad state of affairs. 


I trotted down to my local Asian shop and tried to explain to the woman in a combination of crappy Viet and German what my problem was and what my possible solutions could be. The shopwoman said I had clearly already figured out what my problem was - the electric stove - and the answer was to either buy a butane gas stove for frying or just throw out any attempt at authenticity and get a new non-stick wok set (with wooden utensils and a deep-frying draining rack. 


What happened next is a demonstration of pure Asianness - I said I had to think about it because the wok was only a few months old. She then said she felt sorry for me and would discount to wok from €16.50 to €15. She then cut negotiations short by asking me what I was doing in Germany. I said fuer die Arbeit. She then asked how old I was. I said dreizig Jahre alt. She then said, "My son is 30!" I paid for the wok and left the shop. 

Wiesn by Night

Of course, the Wiesn isn't all beer and horses and tracht (although it is that a lot) - it's also festival rides which makes for some pretty nice night photography. 

As a side note, I love my Canon Ixus 105. It's a great point and click. 

Final Garden Review

I have finally eaten all the flavours in the Ferrero Garden box and here is the review of the final flavour, pistachio.

Nice green wrapping

Nice Garden look

Nice pistachio-flavoured filling.

As you may be able to tell, my overall feeling about pistachio is that it was nice. Like a pistachio, it had a subtle nutty and salty taste. This is not a bad thing but it didn't knock me out and go *wow!* the way other flavours did.

And so, my assessment of which one was the best? To be honest, we have to straight back to the start and say it was (for me) STRAWBERRY!!!! *applause applause*. 

Lashes with a beard

That is all. 

First (of possibly many) day of Wiesn!

Now, since I live in Munich, I am now eligible to call Oktoberfest how the locals call it - Wiesn from the fact it is held at Theresenwiese (Theresa's Field). And so, a recap of the first time I ever attended the first day of Wiesn!


Amy decided to get up early to camp out and get a spot in a tent but having heard Chrish's advice after having done it himself last year - the first beer is tapped and poured at 12, but people camp for spots from about 8am or BOOK a table at least 2 years in advance, and it took him over an hour to get his first beer last year - Gnou, Rachi, and I decided to stand on Schwanthalerstr. to watch the ceremonial parade. 

The start with the blue and white flag of Bavaria

This band member looks like Santa!

Another brass band

The winner of the Wiesn-madl competition

Here come the horses with the Spaten-Franziskaner/Schottenhamel bier!

Another band

I can't remember what these people were

The beers from the other Muenchener breweries!

Paulaner

Lowenbrau

Hacker-Pschorr

Augustiner

Another guy from Augustiner with his sole barrel

Hehehehe

Some people representing Munich Winemakers

And yet another band

There's only so many carriages of beer and Oompa bands you can watch so around 11:30 we hiked over to the grounds to look for somewhere to get a bier. We picked up Eleonora on the way and enjoyed her Italian *Dio mio!* at how many people there were. 

There was a lot of people

A LOT

OF

PEOPLE

Adding to the congestion by stopping for a pic!

Eventually we got physically into the Hofbrau Festzelt but it was so full there was no way we could sit down.

Coming up to the 'tent'. 

According to wikipedia, it seats over 5000 and was...so full...

Photo op!

Respect

Chrish had actually left us at the Hofbrau Tent to go to the lab (*snort*) but on his way out, he sent a message saying that the Hofbrau Weißbierkarussell biergarten seemed to have space so we headed out there. 

The Weißbierkarussell biergarten is exactly what it sounds like - a biergarten set around an antique carousel which you can stand on while drinking beer!

The bar

With biers!

Horsey gets into the mood by wearing Gnoudesavanes' hat

Trying to show my biermadl pedigree...server guy is suitably unimpressed.

Afterwards, Rachi, Gnou, and I decided to go on the Ferris Wheel and get an overview of the grounds. Eleonora declined to join us because she's afraid of heights. 

The view from below

The view from above

So

many

people!

Even the biergarten in the paying-entry historic section was full!!!

We then got the call from Ruben that he was at the Lowenbrau biergarten with some of his amigos who flew in especially to partake of the festivities.

It was also pretty full...

but he'd staked out a place under the tower. 

The most international photo of the bunch!

Having heard a comment that the Lowenbrau beer was pretty good, I think I snorted and said something along the lines of, "Well, my fave Munich beer is actually Augustiner." Cue all of us getting up and moving to the Augustiner Biergarten!

You can only order a bier while sitting down. Here I tried to negotiate with some people to let me sit down and buy some by being cute. 

Got some!

Chrish rejoined us for another international photo.

Some locals laugh at the antics of tourists

I don't know what's going on here.

And then at some point in the afternoon, we all realised we were wasted and finished the day.

But we weren't as wasted as this guy. 

(Oh yes, all photos are from Rachi because I was too lazy this year to go crazy with my own camera.)