Munich or Mecca?

Opening gate to Oktoberfest

Sun set

Sun setting over Oktoberfest

Inside One of the Beer Tents

St. PAuls looking over Oktoberfest

City hall in Munich

Liam and Thibaut grilling for Thibaut's birthday

"The Tent" where we spent our nights in Munich

Me and Matt

The loyola group with a fresh round of brews

One of the beer wenches proudly sporting 12 beers



View of the city from St. Peter's Tower

Inside one of the beer tents

First things first: I’d like to wish a happy belated birthday to Ali and a happy upcoming birthday to Marc! Sorry I couldn’t be home for your birthday, but yeah, you know, I’m here. Oh yeah, your presents are in the mail, they’re fancy and expensive, so they might take a while to get there, but just keep looking in the mail. If they don’t get there I have the receipts here someplace. I guess you’ll just have to trust me that they’re in the mail. ; )

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As we walked out onto the platform, backpacks bulging at the zippers, the crisp Belgian autumn air greeted us. And as the sun set in the distance behind the Golden Horn Emblem that sits atop the Stella Brewery with the faint smell of sweet bread (the smell of beer being brewed) teasing our nostrils, I looked up at the darkening sky and couldn’t help but think about how many other college kids were doing the same thing we were – on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Oh I’m sorry did I say Mecca? I meant Munich – the site of the annual German celebration of Oktoberfest. I don’t know how I mistook the two.

As you can already probably tell from the pictures above, this weekend, me and 18 of my fellow Loyola compatriots, headed out to Munich, Germany to take in the wonder and awe of the last weekend of Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest began as a celebration of the wedding of the Crown Prince, who later became King Ludwig I, with Princess Therese of Sachsen-Hildburghausen, in October of 1810. The locals enjoyed the wedding festivities so much that they decided to have it again the preceding year. Slowly, the festival became an annual event, and grew larger as other holidays were incorporated into what has now become a month-long celebration.

Today, with its liter-sized beer mugs and giant rectangular tents packed to capacity with German bands leading German drinking songs, Oktoberfest is a Mecca for college students around the world. This year, the city of Munich received over 7 million pilgrims over the course of the month – 18 of which were from our Loyola group.

Opting to take the cheaper of the two flights, Matt, Jenn, Nick, and I, headed out to Munich late Friday night. We arrived in Munich by 10:30, and reached “The Tent” – our outdoor camp group hostel, which brought me back to Cub Scout camping in the fifth grade – by 1am. Sure as the sun rises (and when the sun actually was rising), we were up again by 7am, to head over to Oktoberfest.

It was an odd phenomenon watching the sunrise over a city as I headed toward a drinking event. Though I figured with daylight savings and different time zones, some place in the world, it was an appropriate time to be drinking, so why not now in Munich? The sky reddened as we walked from the tram stop toward the fair grounds, and as we approach the sign the read “Willkommen Zum Oktoberfest,” the sun peaked over the tip of the Ferris wheel in the background. The festival was a ghost town, vending stands boarded up, lights off, rides stopped, and no action – except people walking. In the distance, the spire from St. Johns guided in the increasing amount of people approaching the tents. Surprisingly we weren’t the only ones to brave the cool German morning. The rules of Oktoberfest are you get a beer as long as you’re at a table, and if you can’t get one reserved, its first come first serve. By 7:45am we were packed into a crowd of people like sardines in front of the Haufbrau beer tent – I stood (uncomfortably) admiring how many people were as crazy (or dumb) as we were.

Then it happened. Whistles blowing – German shouting – a police officer perched atop a picnic table, flailing his arms in all directions. And the crowd began flowing, picking up momentum and speed – the doors were open. But not the doors we were standing in front of, they had opened up the back doors of the tent in some half-hearted attempt at crowd control, what it really did was create a frenzy. We rushed, and by rush I mean sprinted (Why? Because everyone else was running) toward the door and burst into the cavernous canvas tent that was to be our saloon for the next couple of hours.

Scrambling quick, we found a table big enough for the whole group and sat down taking in the environment around us. “Oktoberfest is like Disneyland, but with beer,” Morgan exclaimed as we watched the chaos of people scrambling for tables unfold. Chants began and ended like a high school football game – everyone taking part in a scream or a table pound as the clock ticked closer toward 9am (drinking time). And then with a roar of the crowd, beer wenches carrying up to 9 or 10, liter-sized glasses poured out of back rooms – posing for pictures to show off their accomplished beer hold skills. Slopping down the 8-Euro beers with a grin, the wenches were off to deliver the next round of bucket-sized beers to their next round of early-morning drinkers.

It’s amazing how friendly people are at a massive drinking event. The only thing I admired more than that was the diversity of the people present. Over the course of the day, I’m pretty sure I had a conversation or two with people from every continent. I met Americans and Canadians almost every place I went. I spoke with a guy from India who had the bottom bunk of our bunk beds at “The Tent.” I got a beer with some Australians in a beer garden. I lamented with several folk from Hong Kong while I was crammed against the door and stuck in line outside the beer tent (see Lessons Learned the Hard Way below). I talked with a local about how he lives his life with the city so crowded through the whole month. A guy from the Congo let me cut in front of him on line to the bathroom. And I shared a laugh with a guy from Brazil when his friend shattered a beer stein. Of course I suppose I may have been friendlier that usual also.

Needless to say, I enjoyed the rest of Saturday. We spent most of the day at the beer tents and beer gardens, and traveled back to “The Tent” – our campgrounds – to get some much needed nap time midway through the day. From there, the group headed back out to dinner and to see some of the city at night. After our nighttime touring had commenced, Matt and I headed back to Oktoberfest to admire the lights of the festival in the moonlight. By nightfall we weren’t able to get back into the already overflowing tents, but we did admire the scene inside from the window – it looked like the wide angle shots of “Beer Fest” the movie. After a little frustration from the festival, we headed back to the campgrounds where we joined in the giant bonfire celebrations that had already begun. Finally, tired and dragging, we collapsed into the bunks at the Tent and got some sleep.

Sunday brought a day of touring for the group. We first visit Dachau and the concentration camp (see next blog). Then we headed back into Munich to walk around the city. While half of the group grabbed dinner, Nick, Toni and I decided to try and see some of the city sites during the daytime. We trekked over to St. Peter’s church, signified by its dual clock bell tower. For 1 Euro, we climbed the tower and beheld the beauty of the city from above. From the top of the tower, we could see all of the major sights of the city from the Frauenkirche (the famous Cathedral symbol of the city) to the Alps in the distance. We also could hear the music and the sights of the Oktoberfest festival from the top of the tower.

After climbing down the tower, a task the narrow worn, winding steps made more difficult, we walked over to the Frauenkirche, then to the Theatinerkirche – a golden painted church built in the 17th century. From there, we caught sight of a Lego carnival that was also in town this weekend. We watched for a couple of minutes as they took down the 10 meter high Lego tower that had been built the day before. The city was beautiful around sundown and the warm weather lightened our spirits.

At this point the group divided again. Those headed back on the early flight headed back to Leuven. However, for the select four of us – the four original pilgrims – our adventure wasn’t over quite yet. We headed back to Oktoberfest, just to enjoy the less crowded scene. We were able to poke our heads in and out of a couple of the beer tents and see the environment that was going on inside. The music and festivities in each tent were specified for each of the different beers that sponsored them. Some had giant platforms in the center with a German band jeering on the crowd. Others had elaborate decorations and streamers hanging from the ceiling. Some had a second level which overshadowed the interior. Either way, the intention of each of the tents was quite clear – to celebrate the final night of the festival.

We enjoyed walking around, but unfortunately, we had to carry our bags around all day and were harassed at every tent entrance to have them inspected. Tired of the incessant need to empty our clothes, Matt, Nick, Jenn and I, headed over to one of the beer gardens near by and enjoyed a more relaxed beer while playing some cards. After perusing the city for a couple of hours we headed over to the airport – our free hostel for the evening. And as we arrived and looked around a little bit, I had an answer to my question in the beginning about how many college students were in the same predicament we were – as almost every bench around us where we set up camp for the night, was also taken by a college kid. After this experience, I’m convinced that every college student strapped for cash should spend one night in an airport. Though it was my first time, it probably won’t be the last. At approximately 9 am Monday morning, we boarded a plane back to Leuven, where we were able to get some necessary rest before our first round of classes. And just like that Oktoberfest joined a long list of memories we have been compiling.

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Lessons Learned the Hard Way:

3. If you happen to be in Munich, during Oktoberfest, in a beer tent, at about 10:45am, with a table and a liter beer in your hand, bobbing your head along to the music and enjoying the overall atmosphere, and you happen to wander through the tent, and into a reserved section that is being cleared out, and you get pushed outside, and in turn get kicked out of the beer tent, that has a no reentry policy, even though your friends, clothes, and bag are inside, the jacked, bald-headed, neck tattooed, guy with the earpiece in, security guard, is not your friend, nor will he allow you back in unless you have two X chromosomes. Lesson Learned.