Prost to Oktoberfest!

Munich, Germany (the World's Beer Capital)

It is quite an impossible task to get into any tent, especially the Hofbrauhaus tent, at 8pm on a Saturday night during Oktoberfest. Chiara and I had been sneakily plotting how to get inside this tent for at least an hour. We tried various doors and searched for all possible places for entry, but at last, we stood patiently waiting by the front door, hoping to beg our way in. A constant flow of other wannabes lined up for minutes at a time aside us, but no one was ever let in. And then, an Egyptian-German man in line asked Chiara if we wanted to go inside with him. She declined, and moments later, he was proudly dancing on the other side of the door window, smiling at us! We laughed and gave him puppy faces until the nice man decided pointed to another door. We met him at the back kitchen door, where the man spoke three words to the bouncer, and we were in!!! As you can imagine, a big celebration followed...


Thanks to him, Chiara and I spent Saturday night "prost"-ing and "cheers"-ing in the Hofbrauhaus, the legendary party tent of Oktoberfest 2006. We were ecstatic to be surrounded by four gymnasiums full of people happily singing and toasting and dancing. Feeling the high level of energy in that room was well worth the wait. It was fun to see everyone fantastically dressed in lederhosen and dirndls (I had to fight the urge not to go out and bus one too). And, snaps to the beer ladies who easily carried ten full beers at once. WOW. Chiara and I were so thrilled to stand on the table benches, bop to the Barvarian band music, and gulp down tasty German brew from our enormous liter-sized mugs! I thought I'd have to call up college drinking skills, as if it were a Barvarian themed frat party, but after two of those big suckers, I was BreznFetznrausch! Prost!