Oktoberfest!

Now to the star of the show. As I mentioned, Oktoberfest was the plan that started it all for our Europe trip. We were meeting up with one of my besties to celebrate her 40th.

Did you know entering Oktoberfest is free? At it's core, it's a family friendly fair full of rides, vendors, and typical fair atmosphere...well, times 1000.

The size and rides and even vendors were extravagant. 



Each year, they tear down and then rebuild the beer tents.

This is the part of Oktoberfest we were there for. If you go, make sure to reserve a table early. They sell out quickly and while you can enjoy the beer gardens pretty easily, inside the tents is where it's at. There are some helpful websites out there such as https://www.oktoberfest.de/en/beer-tents/reservations-at-oktoberfest.

For the first Oktoberfest day, we just went in to explore.
We dressed up in our dirndl and lederhosen and walked to the festival (our first interesting sight was seeing four young men peeing off to the side on the way). We checked out some of the beer gardens. 
We met up with our friends.
And it poured!
It was very cold in Munich while we were there. We had to stop and buy warm tights and socks and got thoroughly soaked this day. 

The atmosphere, though, was joyous and fun. Everyone was there to have a good time. There is plenty of souvenir shopping available here too. 

Our second day was our tent day. I had reserved our table at Lowenbrau tent.
We again wore (the same) dirndl and lederhosen (you will feel left out if you don't. Everyone is wearing them all over Munich during Oktoberfest).
I arrived a bit early to pick up our tickets for the chicken dinner and beers. We got to our table and it took a bit, but pretty soon everyone was standing on the benches and singing along with the band.

(Ignore my horrible voice and wrong lyrics on this one- it was the end of the night...)
 
Again, if you go, a tent is a must. And when your time is over, they (nicely) kick you out for the next group. When that time came for us, we just spilled into the beer garden for the night.

Now, Oktoberfest was fun and I'm glad I had the experience, but unless it's really your thing, I don't think it needs to be added to your bucket list. Fun? Yes. A must do? Probably not.  But a great way to celebrate a 40th birthday!

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