Stepping off the edge

We needed to stay overnight in Munich for an early flight to Athens so decided to experience Octoberfest.

Our first ‘taste’ of it was on the train from Salzburg to Munich. We were accompanied by young people in dirndls and lederhosen drinking beer before noon! When we arrived in Munich the train station was full of Octoberfest goers, some already under the influence!

Octoberfest is held for 3 weeks every year on a site with ferris wheels and other rides, food stands and midway games in the centre of Munich. Every hall and structure is temporary.

Fun facts: There are 14 large and 20 small beer halls, the largest hall holds 11,000 people. Each year about 6.5 million litres of beer is drank.

The beer garden was packed with people. A live band wasn’t playing ‘oom pa pa’ but rather popular songs like Walking on Sunshine that had the crowd singing along. Servers were dodging people while carrying huge trays with plates of food or as many as 8 one litre beer steins.

I don’t drink beer, not sure what I imbibed (tasted kinda like root beer) but we enjoyed ourselves, smiled…

and headed off site to a quiet restaurant!