Diary of the of 2006 Oktoberfest

As told by Matthew Morris, October 04, 2006 (Edited)

I left my house at 7:30am on Thursday morning so that I could go pick up Rob and we both could ride to Atlanta.  We arrived in Atlanta at Sal’s flat around 11:00am EST and from there we took a cab to the Airport.  We finally got through security and met up with Joe Bucher at Passports [a bar in the International terminal] and drank 2 or 3 pints, had a burger and waited on Duke.

After Duke showed up we got on the plane and left Atlanta around 4:30pm EST.  9 hours later we arrived in Munich, made it through customs, got on the train and headed downtown to our hotels.

Since we couldn’t check in until noon, we met up with Mark and Derrick at the Hotel Royal, which was only about 4 blocks from our hotel.  We all took naps for about an hour, then at 12:30pm [German time] Rob, Joe, and I checked into our hotel [the Easy Palace].  Joe and I had trouble with our room in that we couldn’t share a “single” room which was what I had us reserved for.  We decided that the best option was to split a double room [129 EUROS per night] for the first two nights, then switch to single rooms the next two nights.  Overall, I had had 150 EUROS put on my card for a deposit, Joe put the remainder of the cost on his card [408 EUROS].  I ended up paying him back about $140 on our return.  I still owe him around $29.  After checking in, we went downstairs and had our first ½ litre, which was included in the cost of the room.  It was good to get our vacation started.

Once Derrick, Mark, Duke, Sal, Rob, Joe, and I were all together again, we got on the subway which took us directly to the Wiesn [festival].  We climbed 96 steps up from the train and we had finally arrived at our desired destination.  It was huge, like a state fair, just 10 times bigger.  They had carnival rides, games, and probably 400,000 people walking around the Wiesn.  It was enormous in size and a big surprise. 

We followed Mark Stevens to our table at the Hofbräu tent, which we had reserved four months prior to arriving.  We each had pre-paid for roughly 10 or 11 liters and 5 half chickens for the first two days, which was a good idea, because it gave us extra cash that we could spend on other things once we got there. 

The Hofbräu tent was huge, and it was full of excitement and happy times.  There were many different people from different countries there, but mostly the people were either Germany or Italian.  We started drinking at about 2:30pm and drank and drank and drank until about 9pm.  By that time the rest of our party had arrived [Jennifer and Megan] and I had had about 7 liters [roughly equivalent to 19 beers] the first night.  Afterwards, Rob and I went back by ourselves to the trains and caught a ride back into town.  I decided I go to a strip club and Rob decided he was going home.  110 EUROS later I finally went back to the room, where Joe was sound asleep. [Joe had left the tents early 7pm? Because he couldn’t handle all the alcohol the first night].

Day two started slowly, as Joe was out the door at 7am, being that he actually got some sleep.  I dragged myself out of bed, showered, shaved, and after a litre of water was ready to go.  Joe and I walked around for a little while, then at 11:30am headed to the tents to meet up with everyone else.  Little did we know we’d need a bracelet to get in, and although we were there at noon, Joe and I had to wait outside till roughly 3:30pm until we finally were able to enter.  They didn’t let people in once it gets full [10,500 people].  We were able to drink outside though, and I did buy my Hofbräu t-shirt.  We finally got in by joining an Italian group and acting like we were part of the party.  It was almost like being born though, a really tight fit through the door and security guard and then BURST onto the scene of the tents.  When we finally got in, we used the bathroom and met up with everyone else.  Singing drinking ensued and roughly an hour after we got there, Mark, Duke, Sal and I decided we’d want to go ride some rides.

I've always loved Roller Coasters, but these were Carni rides.  They really flip you around, upside down, throw you against the seat and spin you back.  When you’ve had 2 or 3 liters, [about 8 beers] you really don’t want to do something like that.  We all rode about 4 or 5 rides and I was feeling sick to the stomach.  I decided once we got back to the tent [this time without any problem because I had a bracelet] that I’d go home and get some rest. 

I made it back to my hotel without a hitch and took a 3 hour nap.  At about 10:30 I left my hotel and started walking around Munich.  I ended up finding Duke [who had left the tents early too] and we walked around the train station then down to Marienplatz.  It is where the Glockenspiel is and where the main shopping plex is.  We tried calling home, but I wasn’t able to get in touch with Amanda.  After this we walked back to Jason’s hotel to see if we could spot the rest of our group.  At a bar next to the hotel we found the rest of them. 

Around 1:30 in the morning Rob and I got a Diner Kebab, which is a lamb sandwich, and pretty tasty.  Other than pretzels, it was the first thing I’d really eaten since being there.  After another hour or so, the rest of the group went inside and I decided it was time to call it a night as well.  Walking back to the hotel I heard my name being called, and I couldn’t believe there was someone I knew in Munich.

Turns out it was just Joe, as he was playing the guitar with some locals in front of the Deutschland Bank.  After listening to him play for a while, I wanted to try calling home one more time.  I still couldn’t get in touch with Amanda, but I was able to reach her brother Jake.  I told him that I was alright and for him to pass on my love for the rest of the family.  He congratulated me for our upcoming child.

After the call, I collected Joe and we went back to the hotel.  The next morning, Joe and I needed to change rooms.  I woke up around 8:00, because Duke and Rob wanted to go shopping.  I ended up collecting all of my things and putting them in the storage room, while Joe slept. 

Rob, Duke, and I walked towards Marienplatz again.  This time, most things were beginning to open and we stopped at McDonalds to eat.  Their coffee was outstanding, but Duke and Rob hated their OJ.   They said it tasted like water, with an orange that was squeezed in it.  Lol. 

We walked down to the Isar River and crossed it so we could go to the Deutschland Museum.  It was pretty impressive.  It had levels where Subs/U-Boats were on the bottom floor, boats on the second floor, planes, blimps on the third, and then shuttles and such on the top.  Along with that they had a physics, chemistry, mathematics, and all sorts of different German inventions, such as a model of the first ever diesel engine.  Afterwards we began to get hungry.

We ended up going to the Hofbräu House [not the tent] and I bought a litre [souvenir].  We were going to eat here, but by the time we got there [1130am] it was packed. Literally, there were 1000 tables, and all of them were full. We ended up going to Ayingers, which is a microbrewery there, and had lunch outside.  I had a pork knuckle which was really good.

We ended up going to Hard Rock, so I could buy a pilsner glass [souvenir].  After drinking liters all week it was weird because usually a pilsner glass looks large.  This looked like a small glass to me at this point.

We walked back to the hotels to drop off our stuff, and then around 230pm we decided to go meet up with everyone else at the tents.  We arrived at Schottenhammel tent at roughly 3pm.  But since we were supposed to get there at noon, Mark had to give half of our seats away.  That wasn’t a problem though, because it was 95 degrees inside the tent, and we were able to get a table for 6 outside.

Sal joined Duke, Rob, and I outside and we started drinking heavily.  Spaten is the beer of choice at Schottenhammel.  By 7pm, Jennifer, Mark, and Megan were also outside as it started to rain.  Normally, a sane person would want to get out of the rain, but we were so drunk and happy, we didn’t care.  We laughed, sang, talked, drank until about 8pm, then we decided to go in the tent for the last 2 hours of the night.  Inside was fun, although it was still hot.

You can’t imagine how fun it is when you have 6,000 people standing on the benches with a band playing sing along songs, and everyone, I mean EVERYONE is singing and having a great time.  At one point, Jason decided he’d lose his balance and went headlong into the table.  Of course, his fall was cushioned by his butt on the table next to us…that and a German dude, who’s shirt said “Skandal”.  I think the German dude grabbed Duke’s ass later on…but I can’t be certain.  By the end of the night, my voice was gone, I was hammered [7 liters], yet I wasn’t exhausted yet.  I ended up taking a Spaten litre [the mug] home with me.  Since we weren’t going home, Mark put it in his back pack. 

Mark, Joe, Derrick, Duke, Sal, Megan, Rob, Jennifer and I decided we’d walk back to our hotel.  Only it was roughly 2 or three miles, so we stopped halfway at a bar called Saymanski's to “rest”.  Little did we know they’d be playing 80s dance music [Billy Jean, AC/DC, etc] and we ended up staying 4 hours here, dancing and continuing to drink.  It was quite a day.  This had been one of the best days of my life, and it was capped off by the fact that I was able to finally reach Amanda by phone and hear Madison’s voice.  Ended up getting back to the hotel around 3pm. 

On Monday morning, around 8am, I woke up, got out of bed, and walked down to Marienplatz by myself.  I wanted to buy a hat.  I was able to find a black “cowboy” hat that looked pretty good on me.  It was the second largest size they had in the whole store [size 63].  Most Germans/Euros where a size 58 or 59…I have a huge head.

After being able to find the hat I wanted, I walked back to the hotel and took a shower.  After getting ready to get up and go, I met everyone else downstairs in front of our hotel.  We walked, once again down to Marienplatz.  We went to eat lunch at a place called Ratskeller, which was right next to the Glockenspiel.  It was underground and very cool.  Of the seven of us, 5 of us had Weiner Schnitzel, which is a veal cutlet, and very very good.

After eating we went back to the Hofbräu house, souvenir shop, and Ayingers, so that some of us could get some souvenirs for everyone.  I ended up buying Madison a shirt.  We had a ½ litre of Ayingers’ Oktoberfest beer [very good] and afterwards, decided we’d better head back to the hotel to get ready for the night.

Around 4pm we took the train back to the Wiesn and got our reservations/bracelets taken care of for the Hippodrom.  Since we had an hour to kill we rode a ride [you’d think I’d have learned by now]. But it wasn’t bad, since we’d only had the one ½ litre at lunch.

At 5pm the seven of us went to our table inside Hippodrom.  Hippodrom is a much more “family oriented tent” in that most of the people are less rowdy, and dinner is served.  It is a much smaller tent [probably 4,500 people].  We were given a starter salad and our first litre [which was Spaten again].  Around 5pm I decided to try to go over to the Hofbräu tent to sell the rest of my prepaid tickets since I was unable to use them all.  I sold 2 beer tickets, a 7,50 EURO voucher, and all my chicken tickets for roughly 20 Euros, which isn’t bad.  I ended up using the money to buy Amanda an Oktoberfest T-shirt, then I headed back to the Hippodrom.  After an hour or so they brought the main course.  All kinds of meat, from meatballs, to pork knuckles, sausage, pretzels, potatoes, and the best red cabbage I’ve ever had in my life.  It was fantastic.  By 8 pm people finally started getting into the “party” and started climbing on top of the benches.  The band that played that night was better than any “band party” I’ve ever seen.  They played and played, and actually sounded excellent.  They played sweet home Alabama, New York, New York, Country Road, and about a dozen other sing a long songs that I knew.  They also played about 10 songs I didn’t know, but after 5 liters I felt like I did.  J

The rest of our group, Jennifer, Julia, Megan, Alex, and Alex’s girlfriend showed up around 9, and we continued to laugh and sing to our hearts content.  Around 11pm we were forced out of the tent, and we wanted to continue drinking and partying since this was our last night.  The trains were completely packed so we decided to walk. 

At first we were going to walk all the way to Marienplatz to go out, but it ended up being too far, so we went back to Saymanski's again.  It was a little more crowed then last time, and we were a little more tired.  So, we only stayed about 1 hour, and by 1am, most of us went home.  I said my goodbyes to Derrick, Mark, Megan, and Jennifer, and walked with Rob, Joe, and Duke to get some pizza then home to the hotel.

At 7am, Sal, Rob, Joe, Duke, and I checked out of our respective hotels, got on the subway, and headed to the airport.  Our flight left at 10am, and we rode 10 hours back to Atlanta, arriving at 230pm.  After customs, security, collecting our bags, getting a cab to Sals, and driving home, I finally arrived back at my house at 6pm CST.

It was one of the greatest times you can have with 6 of your best friends, and I would recommend it to anyone.  I would love to go again, but I can’t imagine it ever being more fun.  I will never forget the times we had laughing, singing, and drinking.  And I will always remember how fun it was at Oktoberfest 2006.