Oktoberfest and stuff.

Welcome to Oktoberfest

So Rich comes back to Amsterdam on Tuesday after spending 5 hours in Oktoberfest and maybe after 1 hour of telling me how glorious it is, I plan my entire trip in 2 hours to go to Munich that weekend. and oh... it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. The spontaneity itself just made that trip 100 times more exciting. plus.. i must admit, i enjoy planning things a little more than the normal person so just planning the whole thing got me super happy and excited.

Let's back up a little bit. So Rich gets here on Tuesday to spend one last day with me in Amsterdam before he goes off to Dusseldorf to take his plane to LA. The day in itself was awesome- we smoked a bit, ate some Wok to Walk (best munchie food in amsterdam) and passed out for the entire day. It was relaxing, happy and simple. I couldn't have asked for a better last day to spend with him.

Wednesday night I go to Alto this jazz club in Leidseplein that everyone keeps telling me about. So the owner of this place is a big sax player in Amsterdam and plays every Wednesday night with his band. His daughter tours with Prince as a part of his band so I was like ya, this guy must be pretty good. I went with a couple of friends around 9:30 and we stay straight til 1:30 it was that good. They played four sets with a pianist, bass player, drummer, and 2 saxophonists. I won't lie its pretty sweet. One of the highlights was one of the saxophonists smokes his cigarettes throughout the sets. not a big deal.. BUT while he plays, he attaches his cig to a small crevice in his sax. quite a badass. not to mention his get up- straight out of the 80s.

It's blurry, but the cig is there!

Okay okay, unto Oktoberfest. I meet up with Jessica, Rich's sister aka Rich with long hair in Munich and my friend Eric meets us up in the morning. We stayed at this place called The Tent Munich. It's exactly what it sounds like- a giant tent with 100 beds in it. no false advertising there whatsoever.

The Tent Munich

If all the beds are full, you can bring your own tent and set it up on their campgrounds which is pretty awesome. Probably one of the best experiences. Every night they build a bonfire, they sell beer and bratwurst, and everyone who lives there has a grand old time. I got to meet tons of people from different places. Number one moment at The Tent, I became a pro at the harmonica. There was this guy from Vancouver who brought his guitar and two harmonicas. Of course I had to ask him if I could play it and he was more than willing to lend it to me. Probably the EASIEST instrument to play. We jammed all night around the bonfire. I must admit, I had a bit of an attachment to it.

So first day in Oktoberfest. Saturdays are definitley NOT the best days to go to Oktoberfest. It's packed and its super hard to get into the big tents. But thats not to say that you won't get fcked up. So we spent most of the days in the Beer Gardens. We started in the Hofbrau beer garden at around 11:30 am where we met 100s of Italians. Apparently the second weekend of Oktoberfest is when ALL the Italians go cuz they have a long holiday. They have so many nationalistic songs... we came to the realization that Americans got nothing. So of course we joined the Italians in their songs! One of our new Italian friends slammed his stein against his friends' so hard that it broke and cut himself. The best part was when the security guard came with a huge long whistle sound and pulled out a RED CARD! He didn't even say anything... just pointed at the Red card. I felt like i was in 3rd grade when you had to change colors when you did something bad. One of the funniest moments to start our day.

Jessica, Eric, me, and the Italian that got the Red Card.

After maybe 2 liters at that beer garden, we move on to see if we can get into a tent.. which is impossible so we get to the next beer garden at the Augustijn tent. There we meet some Austrians that kept referring to Jessica and me as "LA Girls" By then I'm pretty drunk but being raised by two brothers, cannot refuse beer at Oktoberfest so I keep going. I'm getting to the end of the liter, finish it, celebrate! then grab the empty liter back and puke straight into it in front of all my new Austrian friends. Key moment that had to happen in Oktoberfest.

At least I made sure it stayed in the stein. Eric takes me to this grassy hill where all the drunkos pass out at aka Heaven. It felt mighty good to take a short nap and then we were off again. We try to get into Hippodrom tent which is supposed to be the best but of course cannot so go back to the Tent to call it a night.

The next day, Sunday, God's day, we head out to Oktoberfest super early. We get there by 9 to make sure we get a spot in a Tent. We're into the Hofbrau tent by about 9:30, settle ourselves in, and start drinking. What's unique about the Hofbrau tent is what is called the Pig Pen. This is the standing room area in the middle of the tent where basically, if you walk in, they will demand you to take your underwear/bras off. Some guys will actually snap your bras off. They will then proceed to toss it unto the flying pig statue hanging from the top of the tent.

Hofbrau tent

Flying Pig

Leiderhosen!

Jessica and I didn't find that too appealing so we didn't go in it. We just sat at a table with some cool Australian and Dutch guys which was extremely enjoyable. We were introduced to Snuf which is tobacco that you snort. That shit really wakes you up.

Snuf face

We also ate radishes whcih they sell randomly everywhere in teh tent. We also ate a giant pork knuckle which was damn good.

Pork Knuckle

Saw an old German woman chug a liter of beer. Saw a skinny guy chug THREE liters of beer. The Tent went NUTS for them.

My Hero.

All in all, a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon and especially end our experience in Oktoberfest- good food, good beer, good entertainment, good company.

He had the same word tattoed as mine!

Goodbye Oktoberfest! til we meet again.

Eric and I leave early around 3 to attempt our train back to Amsterdam at 3:56. We totally miss it by 4 minutes. saddest moment ever... but fortunately we took the night train and passed out on that. Now I'm back in Amsterdam, and happy to say so. Made many memories at Oktoberfest which definitely made my top 5 moments in Europe so far but home is home. =) Plus, I've been quite a cook since I've been here. Mommy would be proud.

Well balanced meals.