Oktoberfest Fun

The first thing I have to talk about is the Oktoberfest and how much fun it is! You folks really ought to consider timing a visit here next September as it is absolutely worth it! I swore up and down that I wasn’t going to enjoy it, that I thought it would be sophomoric and inane. It is both of those things, and a blast to boot. It helped that Jen and I got into the spirit of things and bought dirndls in the second hand vintage shop. It is de rigueur to wear traditional Bavarian dress and when I saw how extremely attractive and sexy it looked on both the women and the men (Lederhosen, Giddyup!), I knew I had to get me some. The big problem was finding it for an affordable price. New these outfits can cost 1,000 euros…lots of dosh. So, the second hand route was definitely the way to go. 20 euros later I had a really cool dress to which I added sexy country socks paired with a nice pair of boots I had which matched perfectly, a pretty edelweiss necklace, and a borrowed handbag from Jen which worked perfectly. I think our friends were absolutely stunned when they saw us. Our friend Gary’s jaw just dropped…it was really funny!

Last Monday, we took a tour of the fest given by a really neat German woman who reminded me and Jen of our Italian teacher in Jersey, Christina Di Sanzo, in that she was passionate and energetic about her subject matter in a most infectious way. This woman had actually done her doctoral thesis here at Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich on the psychology of the Oktoberfest, or the Weis’n, as it is referred to with much affection by the locals. We walked the grounds for two hours as she told us about its history, and about its similarities to other ethnic celebrations, such as Bacchanalian orgies/Dionsyian festivals, in ancient times as well as modern revels such as harvest festivals, Greek festivals, in which folks drink a lot of alcohol, dance, sing, flirt and in general, lose their inhibitions. We really enjoyed the tour and I must say I have to admire Brigitte, who seemed to be an Oktoberfest celebrity in her own right, for having the moxy to write her dissertation on this event! Afterwards we went around to several of the tents with some of the other folks who had also taken the tour. It was fun and Jen and I ended up hanging out for hours with some 19 year old English kid who ended up taking a nap in a bush outside of his apartment after all the imbibing! The fest was mind numbingly fun but I am really glad I let my guard down and enjoyed it so much.