After 9h in the car from Lyon, I finally arrived in Munich for Oktoberfest. I did not know anyone in this city because my German friends were not coming to Munich until next week. I could not contact my sg friends because there was no network on my phone, I forgot to activate international roaming on my French number I suppose. So I wondered around aimlessly at Marienplatz and then walked to the Oktoberfest fairground. Being alone and without any accommodation in this big city of Bavaria was kinda scary. Moreover, I was so used to traveling and speaking the local language, but now everything sounds so foreign to me.
It was like a huge amusement park plus many tentages for drinking beer. However, most of the tentages were full, they fill up as early as afternoon and they would close the entrance for the day unless you had a reservation. If you came during weekdays, the chances of getting in would be higher.
Anyway, I finally found one beer garden which I could enter. It was drizzling, so I went in to seek shelter plus get a beer. The deposit for the glass of beer was 3€, so you had to return the glass to get back your money. I saw many broken glass on the ground, probably due to carelessness or over-excitement of the people. In this beer garden, I met 3 French guys who had been drinking for quite some time. They kept pouring beer into my glass as well. We spoke in French and it felt like home. They were impressed that I was traveling alone and when I said I did not have lodging for the night, they kindly offered me their hotel room to crash for the night (‘comme tu veux’). One of the three guys was talking to a lady when he accidentally spilled the glass of beer on her handbag, she was angry and walked away after that.
The 4 of us got some dinner from the roadside food stall. 4€ for a mini sausage bun which is way overpriced. I guess when it comes to events like Oktoberfest which attract many international tourists, everything will be expensive. We finally managed to enter a tent, but they insisted that everyone must order food and drinks. So we got a salad (6€) and the 1L of beer which everyone is talking about. Actually it is not exactly 1L because of the foam and the mug is very heavy, but you see all the German girls carrying them like a feather. The German waitress was quite rude to us, my friend was waiting for his 20 cents change which she just pocketed without asking and when he asked her, she gave him the change grudgingly. At our table, we also met a group of Slovakian students who were having dinner and heading back to their country by train at night. One of the students told me that Belgian beer is still the best and recommended me a list of Belgian beer to try haha.
After dinner, I walked back with the French guys to their hotel and stayed there for the night. The streets were filled with people partying and drinking. I liked the traditional Bavarian outfit where ladies will dress in colorful skirts and men wear the leather shorts with suspenders. What an adventure in München!
