Day 9: Oktoberfest (Round 1)

"The Minnow"

(Peugot 107)

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this German port
Aboard this tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure. 

Two passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.

The traffic started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The minnow would be lost, the minnow would be lost...

So, this was our car. We drove "The Minnow" ALL AROUND GERMANY (and Austria). It is a manual, so Connie drove the whole way. Can I just say... VERY entertaining to see an American girl driving stick shift through the Alps and traffic. Connie could literally stretch her hands from one side to the other and touch both windows. There was no cruise control, German radio sucks (I mean, the stereotype about Germans loving David Hasslehoff is true, so I'm sure you can imagine what that means for the REST of their music), and I'm pretty sure the fastest we went the whole trip was about 55 mph...on the AUTOBAHN. Talk about disappointing. I think next time we'll just opt for the upgrade so that we can actually make it up the hills. Seriously, I think if I walked I would have moved faster on an incline.

Here is Connie and I in our traditional Dirndls... MOST of everyone was in Dirndls and in Lederhosen. Pretty funny that Germans consider this gear to be "party wear"... In America, traditional costumes are nothing more than a funny joke, what one would wear AFTER the party (and consequential intoxication) NOT before. We got many compliments though, and we were confused for locals many times. I guess that's a good thing... we did not get targeted by Gypsy pick-pockets (...mom...). 

 

This is the Hippodrom Tent. This is just a portion of the amount of people in a tent, and there are 21 tents at Oktoberfest. The people that were here were actually behaving themselves much better than the tent we ended up in. The Paulaner Tent was PACKED with people, and EVERYONE was standing on the tables, dancing. Quite a feat when you keep in mind that this party starts at about 8:00 and ends at about 12:00, and the drinks (only beer) are HUGE...

 

Case in point...HUGE beers. This is a small. This is right after we had our beers delivered. We are standing on the tables right now, and the band is playing a song that incites dancing and interesting hand movements... 

(Full beers)

 

This is about 12.3 minutes after we had our first beer delivered... note the sly/proud smiles on both of our faces... We are quite pleased with ourselves at this point. 

(Not so full beers)

 

And here are some of the Americans we ran into. They were also partying on our bench. EVERY AMERICAN WE MET WAS FROM WISCONSIN!! Who knew that Wisconsin was such a fun state? Not this guy... Not at all. Note, also... lederhosen. 

The party ended, Connie and I stumbled home (seperately because we got taken away from each other by the huge crowds) and still ended up at the hotel at the same time... about 20 minutes later....

I will update pictures of the rest of the trip tomorrow... Sillyness ensues.