PROST!!!

Caitlyn and I

5.30am and my alarm is going off. WTF?! It’s my day off (the only one in 3 weeks….) what’s happening?!

Oh that’s right, its Oktoberfest opening day and I have to get up, put on my dirndl (best outfit for girls ever – pushes up and squeezes in at all the right places – the boys love it!!), help my friend rearrange her “girls” to make the most out of her outfit and we are off………..walking to the Therisenweise grounds at 7am in the sprinkling rain.

An hour and a half of lining up in a growing crowd and suddenly the doors to the Hofbrau tent are opened and we are pushed forward in a crushing crowd surge – it’s actually quite scary and I’m glad when we are safely inside in just a couple of minutes.

Then the mad rush to secure tables for our 100+ group of festival goers………….stand on them, defend them at all costs!! Just remember to wear underwear if you have purchased a particularly short dirndl and insist on standing on the table tops ladies……
Then a 3.5 hour wait for the first keg to be tapped and the beer to start flowing…………luckily this is plenty of time to order steins of coke, giant pretzels and pork knuckles to settle last night’s pre festival visit to the actual Hofbrauhaus.

How many?

Lining up to carry the beer

12pm and the beer wenches are lined up and ready to fill the 8-12 x 1 litre steins they will carry to our tables – there is no ordering drinks and no change from your 10 euro note – you just get a table full of beers plonked on your table periodically and the change is their tip………..PROST!!

Singing Ein Prosit with the locals

Every time Ein Prosit is played (quite a lot) you are required to stand, swing around your stein, sing along, then say PROST!! and smash steins with anyone near you
Amazingly the girls toilets line is much shorter here than the line for the boys! Ha!


5pm, several steins and snorts of snuff, half a roast chicken, countless drunken conversations in german and english later and the tent is in full swing. The “pig pen” in the middle has an angel hanging from the ceiling above it that is now covered in underwear – the rule of sitting in the pen is that you must not be wearing underwear! Luckily I manage to stay away from this one

Hofbrau tent - Dax and lederhosen

9pm stumbling back to the hostel and suddenly in the mood for more beer! Why not, its Oktoberfest, I’m in Munich, I only have to guide the bus to Venice tomorrow………………

AMAZING festival, incredible atmosphere and good times had by all – definitely put it on the list!!