The Oktoberfest [Volksfest] Entry

Let me just start by saying that this weekend was ridiculous, and that all 10 of us that went on this journey to Germany are absolute troopers. In the course of 48 hours we took 13 metro rides (4 Italian, 9 German... one of which was accidental), 2 plane rides, 4 bus rides, and 4 train rides in order to get us from our apartments, to Rome's airport, to Baden Baden, to Karlsruhe, to Stuttgart, to Bad Cannstatt and back. Things could have gone very badly in the midst of all that traveling. While we encountered seemingly severe obstacles (a missed train that may or may not have had to do with a last minute beer run, a missing shoe, a metro taken in the wrong direction after a very long day at a German festival, hotel reservations getting canceled because we got there five hours late), we got past them brilliantly. The question kept getting thrown around as to whether we beat Oktoberfest or it beat us... and while the game seemed close a few times and we didn't go without our losses, I'd say in the end we are the definite victors.

The true Oktoberfest is in Munich. After careful consideration, we decided to take my parents' recommendation of the Volksfest in Stuttgart, where they had ventured during their stay there when I was a wee babe, as Stuttgart was considerably closer to the airport we were flying into. However, between the German rail strikes and inconveniently timed beer runs we probably could have made it to Munich in about the same amount of time, and while we had hoped to get a little bit of festival in on Friday night, we arrived too late and too tired to make it happen. Not only that, we were informed that our reservations had been canceled (no one knew we had to check in at six, and even if the trains had run perfectly we never would have made it on time anyway). They were able to match our three rooms for Friday night, but there was only one room available Saturday. We could check for cancellations. Everything else was probably booked too. We were already putting too many people in the rooms, and were at this point not above shoving all 10 of us into the lone room if necessary. But we'd save that for the morning.

Some of us were exhausted from the travel, others decided that as long as we had done all the traveling, we might as well experience the area. We set out and met a soccer player and his coach who said that the area we were in was almost entirely industry, and really the only thing to do was go to the "Penthouse disco" that we saw glowing about a block down. Jeff, Dan, Megan, and myself decided to go for it, and enjoyed the experience. The name was misleading (everyone was fully clothed), the cover was cheap (8 euro), and aside from a brief skiff with a German questioning my appreciation of Third Eye Blind, everyone there lived up to the impression all the other Germans we met made-- they were all really nice.

In the morning we received good information from the people at the desk: the festival didn't start til 11, the metro would literally drop us off right at the gates, and there were two more rooms available. We were off to a decent start, to say the least. Things only got better when we got our first liter of beer from Lothar the beer guy... at 11 am. Enjoyed some German grub, and headed off to check out the other tents. The festival was massive. There were rides everywhere, at least 6 huge beer tents, music, games, crazy hats, little children, and Germans on benches to dance with and "Prost!" to Virginia and give you their scarves (no really... I wound up with an awesome Stuttgart soccer scarf that a German guy gave me).

After we had had enough of the tent festivities, we decided to take on the rides. There was the boat that swung back and forth, the drop zone, the merry-go-round, the bumper cars... and then there was that crazy one that flung you around. The guy next to me told me not to wear my flip flops. I laughed at him for only wearing socks, and showed how I was obviously not scared of any ride stealing my shoes, because, well, look how tightly I can clasp my toes! Well... sock guy was very wise. I held my grip until the very end, when suddenly my left shoe went careening over Bad Cannstatt to land on a beer tent, or maybe someone's head... maybe even someone's beer. In any case, it was never to be seen again, and it was only probably about 2 pm. I didn't have another pair. Neither did anyone else.

The rest of the day is a sunny, fantastic blur of merry-making, German beer chants, and smuggling liter mugs under my dress for souvenirs. That is, until we finally made it back into one of the main tents (the crowd by this time had become quite fierce) and I made my way to the bathroom. Hannah and Erin had been with me on the way there, but I couldn't find them afterwards. In fact, I couldn't find anyone, and spent the better part of the next 1/2 hour walking around a giant tent with no phone, no money, no ID... oh yeah, and no left shoe. That kind of put a damper on things, and when I finally heard, "Angela!" and turned around to Erin's bright pink shirt I was more than relieved. The night was kind of winding down at that point, and after hanging out for a little while longer, Erin, Meghan, Dan, and I decided to head back. Aside from taking the metro in the wrong direction for awhile, we made it back without incident, I made a beeline for my bed, and slept very soundly.

Given the hassle it had been to arrive, we wanted to allow ourselves PLENTY of time for the return trip. We still decided that we had enough time to return to the festival for about 1/2 hour and pick up some last minute souvenirs... but decided to sit that round out as far as beer went. Then we started the long journey back home, which went without incident, really, except I was a little preoccupied about my footwear situation. The bottom line was that I needed shoes, because I seriously doubted I'd be able to fly without them. We had 1/2 hour in the Karlsruhe train station, and I was on a mission.

The Karlsruhe station is fairly big, and had a number of shops on its ground level. Unfortunately they were almost all food related, so I went to an Asian stand in the middle that had scarves and jewelry in the hopes that he'd have SOMETHING. Well, he did. Though he initially told me there was nowhere to find shoes in the station, when I explained my plight he: a) couldn't stop laughing at me (I mean, I was in the middle of a train station wearing an Oktoberfest hat and one shoe) b) got kind of shifty eyed and said, "Moment." c) led me to this large basket of scarves where he rummaged around til he got to the bottom and from it he withdrew... a pair of bright pink, satin, beaded slip on shoes that were three sizes too big. I looked at him in utter desperation, gulped, and asked, "How much?" He responded, "6 euro." I sighed, handed him the money, and slid them on. Dan later commented, "I think he meant six euro, and *stretches arms* this much pride."

With my feet appropriately covered, we were ready to embark once more, and aside from Erin having to check her bag because she was obviously trying to take down the plane by bringing her hair gel on board, it went quite smoothly. We all had some scrapes and bruises, but all ten of us managed to make it home in one piece. Well, Meghan may have left a chunk of her big toe behind when she fell on the way out Saturday night, but other than that, yeah, all in one piece. A few of us even made it to Italian this morning, myself included. And in fact, now I have to get ready for Mythology, so, ciao until my next European adventure.