Germany Day 5-6

Oktoberfest 2022! Here we come!

In the morning we quickly drove the 102 miles through Austria and up through lower Bavaria to Munich.  We found the hotel Centro Hotel Mondial and eventually some underground public parking before heading out to the city center.  We saw the large Glockenspiel tower that is basically a giant cuckoo clock that plays a couple of times a day, but missed the performances - we were a little too late.  Our friends, who had previously been, saw the show from the higher floor on a neighboring building, so if you go, check the times and maybe try that.

We went to lunch at the famous Hofbrauhaus.  If you've seen my blog on Vegas, this one is the ORIGINAL Hofbrauhaus, and we were not disappointed - everything was better.  Maybe because Oktoberfest was in town, but the band was great, the food was great, and we had such a good time, I left my Texas hoodie on the floor.  :(

Then we decided to take a cab to the Oktoberfest grounds.  We had a tent reservation for the following day, so we just took in the sights.  We went in a few tents, which were starting to get really busy and then walked around the fairgrounds.  The place is like the Texas State Fair but WAY bigger.  They probably have 100 rides and there's no drinking outside of the tents!  Inside the tents it's a different story and the night crowds are up on the tables and benches dancing to the music and having a lot of fun.

We didn't stay too late, but we did see some of the night crowd which was very different from the day crowd (see below).

The next day, we went to breakfast at an American-style diner called Pancacke am Tor.  It's near the Sendlinger Tor (gate).  Huge delicious portions - you won't leave hungry.

After getting back to the hotel and changing into our Lederhosen and Dirndls, we headed to Oktoberfest.  Pam and Llyod went to tour nearby Dachau instead and later met up with us.  I had reservations at the Paulaner Armbrustschützenfelt (Crossbow tent). Reservations for all tents are free, but you have to request them in advance, and you may have to pay up front, but you get vouchers for for and drink in the exact amount you pay.  Traditionally you needed to pay for groups of 10, but this year, coming off Covid, they opened up reservations to smaller parties.  We had an entire table to ourselves and plenty of room for Pam and Lloyd when they arrived.

These "tents" are put up and torn down annually.  But they aren't small tents - they are wooden structures that hold over 5000 people.  We were in a balcony in ours.  

We ate the roasted chicken (most famous dish served) and partook in some wine and beer.

After staying at the tent for a few hours, we went out to find the rides - specifically the toboggan and the Tuefelsrad (Devil's wheel).

The Toboggan is a ride down a slide on a gunny sack, but to get to the top you have to brave a quickly moving automated sidewalk up an angle.  People watch the ride just to see people falling on the moving sidewalk.  Dave and I both made it without falling - I'll have to post a video.

The Teufelsrad is a spinning disc in the middle of stadium-style seating.  The announcer calls out age ranges and genders and people rush to get on the wheel, which then spins faster and faster making people slide off due to centrifugal force, until only one person is left.  I was the only one in our group to try it and I was on the outside of the wheel by the time I got there, so I got spun off right away.  It's fun to just go and watch the kids (and maybe the adults do it).