by Jacinta Garry

Created on: August 15, 2008   Last Updated: November 24, 2008

I am back from one of the most AMAZING weeks ever! Oktoberfest, Germany! Here's what went down:

Day 1 - Arrived about 10 am after a 22 hour bus journey from London, we unpacked and made our way into Munich to the famous Hofbrau Haus for our first taste of real German beer. There was about 12 of us at our table drinking the afternoon away watching fellow Aussies being violently removed from the premises after smashing steins and pouring beer all over each other. We went back to camp about 5 and drank with the thousands of other people staying at Thalkirchen Camping grounds.

Day 2 - Bit of late start this morning as we were a little hung over after drinking too much the night before. We caught a shuttle into Oktoberfest for the official tapping of the keg on opening day of the festival. We watched a bit of the parade and saw the Mayor march into the Hofbrau tent for the tapping of the keg before us and hundreds of others stampeded the doors, desperate to get a seat for our first taste of the festivities. Unfortunately things didn't go to plan and 6 or 7 seven security guards held arms and charged the crowd backwards before shutting the doors, not allowing anyone else to enter this hall. Sarah and I weren't too worried as there are several other beer halls on the grounds so we went in search of a spare table while we heard the uproar throughout the grounds as the first beers were being poured at midday. Much to our dismay we finally got into a tent but were unable to get a seat and no seat = no beer. Sarah and I wondered through the grounds, looking at all the rides and checking out all the stalls before heading back to camp, devastated that we were unable to get a beer on day 1 of Oktoberfest. We had an early night as we weren't really in the mood for partying after our let down of a day.

Day 3 - Up early and on the bus to check out Dachau Concentration Camp. Bit of a downer for a week of celebrating, but so glad we made the effort to go, it was so emotional walking through the old gas chambers and crematorium and witnessing what all those poor souls had to go through. Standing in one of the rooms where the dead were piled on top of each other, waiting to be cremated was so surreal ... we walked around and checked out the resident halls, the dining rooms, the museum and pretty much everything else on the grounds. Very depressing but has a weird way of bringing you back down to planet Earth. After we had seen it all we got back on the bus and straight back to Oktoberfest

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