Oktoberfest 2011

September 24-25

Brian and I attended Oktoberfest in 2009 and 2010, so we went back and forth on whether or not we wanted to go one last time in 2011. But when we found out that Jeremy and Katie would be there, that made the decision to go an easy one.

We woke up at 4am on Saturday morning to miss the traffic on the drive to Munich, so we arrived around 9am. Our room at the hotel wouldn't be ready for a few hours, so we changed into our dirndl and lederhosen in the hotel bathroom and then went for a walk downtown.

On our stroll, we passed the bridge that led to the Oktoberfest fairgrounds, and this is what we saw:

We stood and watched for several minutes, and the flow of people did not let up! And 99% of the people walking across the bridge were dressed in dirndls and lederhosen. I love Oktoberfest!

While we were walking around Munich, Katie and Jeremy called to let us know they were already in a tent and had a table. And the tent was filling up quickly! So Brian and I made our way to the Hippodrom tent. When we arrived, Katie and Jeremy's table was full, but Brian and I kind of squeezed onto the end of the benches and got ourselves a beer!

We had a blast hanging out with Katie, Jeremy, and Jeremy's dad. We also got to know the guys at our table, who worked at a small brewery in Belgium.

Bri and Jeremy

One funny story from our table - Katie and I were chatting, havin a good ol' time. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a guy was stumbling toward our table, and I looked up in time to see him "Prost!" (or "Cheers!") with the guys at our table and slosh a ton of beer right into my eyes! I love beer, but it does not feel so good when in contact with your eye balls. After the burning sensation went away, we had a lot of laughs about it. But learn from my experience - if you're sitting amongst a large group of drunk individuals, do NOT look up when people are slamming their glasses together :)

Katie and Me

Around 2pm, Oktoberfest tents are cleared out to make room for the evening crowd, so we had to leave the Hippodrom. But we weren't done having fun, so we walked to the Hofbrauhaus!

It was a gorgeous day, so we found a table in the courtyard and ordered some more beer and food.

After HB, it was about 8pm and our early morning was starting to catch up with us. So we thought we'd go back to the hotel for a quick nap and then we'd go out again!

On the street outside HB

It was a lofty goal - and as you can probably guess, we ended up not going out that night :)

The next morning, we woke up around 9 to have breakfast at our hotel and to do some sightseeing in Munich before driving back to Frankfurt. The hotel breakfast was so delicious!

Marienplatz

Our favorite Munich beer garden

After lunch, we got in the car with the intention of driving back to Frankfurt. But we didn't make it very far because we saw BMW World and decided to make a detour. I'm so glad we did! The displays and museums were really impressive. And it was family day, so admission was free!

Inside the main showroom where current BMWs are displayed

On the walk to the museum and super classy with the grand piano in the background :)

Cruella DeVille's car?

Unique way of displaying cars

Another cool display of all of the past BMW car emblems hanging in the air

Brian's favorite display

James Bond's car

One of the earliest motorcycles made by BMW

After BMW World, we drove back to Frankfurt, and we were definitely satisfied with our last Oktoberfest experience!