Oktoberfest in Munich

Posted by Mike Collins on Sep 2, 2010 in Destinations, Featured | 2 comments

photo by Arkitect

It is almost that time of year when lovely young ladies must be admired for their ability to carry their own weight in beer steins. There is something about Oktoberfest that always brings a smile to my face. Perhaps it is the flowing sudsy goodness that cools the throat and warms the blood. Perhaps it is the…no it’s the beer.

One thing for sure is that while Oktoberfest can be enjoyed anywhere in the world, Munich Germany is undeniably a place where even the most seasoned traveler will do a double-take and find the unexpected happening before their eyes.

Englischer Garten (English Garden) is one of Europe’s largest urban parks. Stretching from the city center to the northern city limits, this sprawling green oasis is more than just a park.

The Chinese Pagoda Tower is a landmark for the beer garden that seats an amazing 7000 people. Ladies in traditional dress defy the laws of physics with outstretched arms of overflowing beer steins that must match their own weight. Plates of sausages covered with sauerkraut steaming an aroma of pickling spices fill the air. The oom pah pah music that would melt car speakers any other time of year is an enjoyable background music for the party of the year.

If one can drag themselves away from the deliciousness, English Garden has a few other sights that seem all the more odd after a few liters of Weiss Brau, even more so when it is unexpected.

My first trip to Munich was an impromptu event with no planning and virtually no idea what the local sights entailed. After asking directions to the closest beer garden there was little else I was interested in seeing at the moment. Two hours later, sated from beer and brats, my traveling companion and I decided to walk off the effects.

Overall the park was well above average for its beauty but after all it was still a park and I had a good buzz going. I was not in the mood to dwell on the mundane. Walking along one of the miles of pathways a woman pushing a stroller matched our pace 20 feet in front of us. To her left a man wearing a leather baseball cap and silver sunglasses stood statuesque gazing skyward. She offered him only the briefest of glances. My friend and I, on the other hand, practically bolted for the tree line.

As I said, the man wore a cap and glasses; an odd looking hat and glasses. The rest of his attire consisted solely of approximately 10 pounds of steel piercings. In retrospect it may have been the barbell hanging from his appendage that made him look so intimidating at first glance.

Ok..so in my defense, I was partaking in a good amount of brew and I am an American, but I laughed out loud. I laughed hard. The man looked at the pair of us as if we were rude and a couple of freaks. Hey, look buddy, where I come from that is not self expression. You’re a perv. So keep your dirty looks.

Laughing like a couple of high school kids we made our way back in the direction of the beer garden. Not before noticing another guy carrying a surfboard and wearing a wetsuit. Again with the double take.

“We ARE in Germany right?” I asked my friend.

“Hell, I think so.” He said.

“Munich is landlocked right?”

“Follow him?”

“Follow him.”

Now as a man who has never lived far enough away from the ocean to not be able to hear the waves, I was dying to see where this was going to lead.

Grab a beer and enjoy the video below to see what we saw. Then book your flight to Munich for an Oktoberfest to remember.