I stayed at the Royal National Hotel in London. I'd heard bad things about Contiki's base hotel but honestly I have stayed in far worse places for much more money. I arrived at the hotel about 2 and a half hours after my flight landed, then met the driver from my European tour for a drink. Anyone who has been on a Contiki tour knows how close you all get and how sad it is to farewell everyone at the end, so I was pretty happy to catch up with Christian and reminisce!
The next morning I was up early for an appointment to get my nails done. On the way I stopped at Primark and bought some cute things, I love that shop far too much. Then I headed to Topshop's flagship store at Oxford Circus. A few months ago I came across some pictures on the internet of Oktoberfest nail art and decided I wanted to get my nails done! Wah Nails London has a base on the bottom floor of Topshop Oxford Circus. An hour and a half later this was the result...
After my nail appointment I shopped around a little more then returned to the Contiki Basement for the start of my tour.
The tour began with an 18 hour overnight coach trip to Munich. It was not that bad for me but I am well adapted to sleeping on planes! We arrived at the Munich campsite about 8:30 am the following morning and headed to Oktoberfest straight away.
I won't give you an exact account of everything I got up to at the Wiesn. I will however provide you with some interesting and insightful information about the fest and some tips.
Oktoberfest began in 1810 when King Ludwig married Princess Therese. The citizens of Munich were invited along to celebrate and good times were had all around. The following year on their anniversary the King and Princess threw another party, and so the tradition was started. Oktoberfest is the largest festival in the world, even so around 72% of visitors to the festival are from Bavaria. Visitors consume around 7 million litres of beer every year at the festival.
As I only had 3 days at the festival I didn't manage to visit every tent. This weekend was Italian weekend so seats filled up quick. Once you get a table it's a good idea to sit tight as most places are at maximum capacity by 4 pm, even earlier on the weekends. On the Saturday we were lining up at 7am to get tables, and we weren't the only ones.
Oktoberfest began in 1810 when King Ludwig married Princess Therese. The citizens of Munich were invited along to celebrate and good times were had all around. The following year on their anniversary the King and Princess threw another party, and so the tradition was started. Oktoberfest is the largest festival in the world, even so around 72% of visitors to the festival are from Bavaria. Visitors consume around 7 million litres of beer every year at the festival.
As I only had 3 days at the festival I didn't manage to visit every tent. This weekend was Italian weekend so seats filled up quick. Once you get a table it's a good idea to sit tight as most places are at maximum capacity by 4 pm, even earlier on the weekends. On the Saturday we were lining up at 7am to get tables, and we weren't the only ones.
The two tents I spent the most time in were Hofbrauhaus and Lowenbrau. Lowenbrau was crazy because we had "Contiki-fest", where the Contiki groups take over as many tables as possible! Hofbrauhaus was a circus. On the Sunday we arrived at 10 am and already people were skulling their beers on the table! If you are going to step up to the challenge of skulling a beer, don't fuck it up. If you do, expect food to be thrown at you, booing and possibly being kicked out. If you're in the Hofbrauhaus 'pig pen' hold on to your underwear or risk it being removed and thrown over the Aloisius figure hanging from the roof.
Oktoberfest has other attractions besides the beer. There is a plethora of German food including wurst (sausage), sauerkraut, hendl (roast chicken), eisbein (pork knuckle) and of course pretzels! The Oom-pah bands playing in the halls play traditional German drinking songs as well as some well known drinking songs from other cultures. Be sure to learn the words to 'Ein Prosit', you will be singing it a lot! There are also lots and lots of rides. Roller coasters, bumper cars, scary houses, carnival games and the like. Wouldn't recommend the crazy rides after a few steins though.
Finally, costumes. The traditional dirndls and lederhosen are an important part of the festival, almost everyone dresses up. The cheap slutty costume dirndls are a no no, you will look completely out of place. Traditional dirndls can cost hundreds of euros, but there are some places you'll find authentic ones for under €100. I got mine from C&A Munich back in June for €49. C&A department stores can be found across Switzerland and Germany and most stock at least a few racks of lederhosen and dirndls. Even the one here in Geneva sells them! Lederhosen are pricier, usually starting at €150. Could pay to look out for them on sale.
I could talk all day about how awesome Oktoberfest is but, in short, if you ever have the opportunity to go then go! You will not regret it.
Ireland for a week starting Friday, the wandering continues...
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