September 28, 2019, a day that will live in infamy.
First though, I need to preface it with the happenings of the day before, after we got back from Pilsen. First... it was Friday, so I had to do recycling (since Todd, Brian, Mikey and I were going to Munich early Saturday morning and wouldn't be able to do it then.) So of course, I dragged the guys along to help me. You know you've been indoctrinated into German culture when you're doing work at the Wertstoffhof. Here is Brian recycling the dosen (aluminum cans.)
And now that my mom was here, we naturally had to have some beers. And with that, Mikey discovered Grant's Soviet hat.
And then, in a weird ironic twist, he also discovered one of Grant's mega Nerf guns.
But THEN! Then there was a war. It was Brian vs. Grant with a couple of crazy Nerf guns. And Brian, despite not having any sons of his own, was really good at this game. He even took a hostage!
It's a pretty good start. These crazy guys kept saying they had been training for this. I'm not sure they could handle all this German beer. It's stronger than what they have in the States!
My mom is not amused at all. But there was sausage and Kartoffelsalat. I'm not gonna go any further than this, because we later watched BeerFest and drank out of Das Boot. These moments aren't fit for a family blog like this.
We had to get up pretty early, much to everyone's chagrin. All I know at this point is that the train is coming and I took a really blurry pic. I think it was a sign of things to come.
We had to stop at the hotel first to drop off our bags, but then we took the U Bahn back to the Oktoberfest grounds. These guys aren't excited at all.
After switching trains in Nuremberg and getting on the fast ICE train to Munich and going to the hotel and taking the U Bahn back to the fest grounds, we finally arrived for the main event. Oktoberfest: this way.
When we arrived, we went into the Ochsenbrateri tent - which was already full, but Brian and Mikey asked a waiter if there was any space and they MADE SPACE FOR US! So we were able to sit down at a table and of course, immediately order a Maß!
Prost! Let the fun begin!
This is when we were all sober and hadn't made friends with our tablemates yet.
The tent we were in was the Ochsenbrateri - which is known for (you guessed it...) ox tail! And of course, that is what Todd got. Brian and I got a half a chicken and Mikey... well, Mikey decided he wasn't going to eat right now and would "order something later." Rookie mistake!
This ain't our first rodeo. We know it's a marathon and not a sprint.
I titled this one, "Raise your hand if you've had five Maß" - only I never had anywhere near that. But this guy did. I had to move across the table because some of our butts were too big for the picnic tables in this tent. In the end, it was musical chairs here - but this way, everyone had a real seat for their butt!
This was a series of pictures that Todd took of me and Brian with surprised, sad, excited and happy faces.
We met some guys from Hungary at our table and one of them took a bunch of pictures of us. (Also: Best Oktoberfest waiter EVER right behind me and Todd!)
This guy at our table from Hungary took honestly, like 30 pictures of all of us, but this was my particular favorite of Brian.
We also liked this guys luxurious locks. You never know what you will see at Oktoberfest!
This entire picture is the very best. Mikey is pondering what is going on behind him as this kid is really close to passing out at the table.
Extreme close up! Night night, termite.
Mikey didn't eat any lunch, something we definitely advised against. Instead he waited a bit, and then he had a giant pretzel that was bigger than his head!
There's always lots of great music playing in the tents. It's a mix of oompa music and pop music. And at some point, I noticed Brian and Todd were dancing together.
The very best part of our day was meeting this Hungarian guy at our table who looked like Rob Gronkowski (formerly) of the Patriots! We kept calling him Hungarian Gronk!
There was a lot of prosting going on with the Hungarian Gronk.
By about 2:30 pm, things were getting a little wild with the Hungarians.
At this point, one of the Hungarians started to tie my shoelaces together.
Legit the best and most patient waiter at all of Oktoberfest!
And now a selfie with my new Hungarian friends.
Well, you'll be glad to know it wasn't one of us. Or the Hungarians.
Finally some of the Hungarians left our table and these nice American au pairs who are living in Germany joined us.
And then... Bri got the hiccups. And he had the hiccups for what seemed like an hour. I really felt for him cause they seemed to last FOREVER.
Brian decided to drink more beer in order to get rid of his hiccups. At this point, I think he's trying to make a plan for what we are going to do next.
But first... the rest of this beer.
And then Mikey started to fall asleep at the table. And that's when we got kicked out of the tent at Oktoberfest.
Of course after we got kicked out, we had to take a picture (into the sun) out in front of our big tent! I'm not sure Mikey ever opened his eyes after this!
First though, I need to preface it with the happenings of the day before, after we got back from Pilsen. First... it was Friday, so I had to do recycling (since Todd, Brian, Mikey and I were going to Munich early Saturday morning and wouldn't be able to do it then.) So of course, I dragged the guys along to help me. You know you've been indoctrinated into German culture when you're doing work at the Wertstoffhof. Here is Brian recycling the dosen (aluminum cans.)
And now that my mom was here, we naturally had to have some beers. And with that, Mikey discovered Grant's Soviet hat.
And then, in a weird ironic twist, he also discovered one of Grant's mega Nerf guns.
But THEN! Then there was a war. It was Brian vs. Grant with a couple of crazy Nerf guns. And Brian, despite not having any sons of his own, was really good at this game. He even took a hostage!
It's a pretty good start. These crazy guys kept saying they had been training for this. I'm not sure they could handle all this German beer. It's stronger than what they have in the States!
My mom is not amused at all. But there was sausage and Kartoffelsalat. I'm not gonna go any further than this, because we later watched BeerFest and drank out of Das Boot. These moments aren't fit for a family blog like this.
We had to get up pretty early, much to everyone's chagrin. All I know at this point is that the train is coming and I took a really blurry pic. I think it was a sign of things to come.
We had to stop at the hotel first to drop off our bags, but then we took the U Bahn back to the Oktoberfest grounds. These guys aren't excited at all.
After switching trains in Nuremberg and getting on the fast ICE train to Munich and going to the hotel and taking the U Bahn back to the fest grounds, we finally arrived for the main event. Oktoberfest: this way.
When we arrived, we went into the Ochsenbrateri tent - which was already full, but Brian and Mikey asked a waiter if there was any space and they MADE SPACE FOR US! So we were able to sit down at a table and of course, immediately order a Maß!
Prost! Let the fun begin!
This is when we were all sober and hadn't made friends with our tablemates yet.
The tent we were in was the Ochsenbrateri - which is known for (you guessed it...) ox tail! And of course, that is what Todd got. Brian and I got a half a chicken and Mikey... well, Mikey decided he wasn't going to eat right now and would "order something later." Rookie mistake!
This ain't our first rodeo. We know it's a marathon and not a sprint.
I titled this one, "Raise your hand if you've had five Maß" - only I never had anywhere near that. But this guy did. I had to move across the table because some of our butts were too big for the picnic tables in this tent. In the end, it was musical chairs here - but this way, everyone had a real seat for their butt!
This was a series of pictures that Todd took of me and Brian with surprised, sad, excited and happy faces.
Row 1 of Table 2 at the Ochsenbraterei was the best row and the best table at all of Oktoberfest.
We arrived at the Ochsenbraterei at around 11:30 (and as I mentioned, it was already mostly full.) This is what the app looked like around 12:30!
We met some guys from Hungary at our table and one of them took a bunch of pictures of us. (Also: Best Oktoberfest waiter EVER right behind me and Todd!)
This guy at our table from Hungary took honestly, like 30 pictures of all of us, but this was my particular favorite of Brian.
We also liked this guys luxurious locks. You never know what you will see at Oktoberfest!
This entire picture is the very best. Mikey is pondering what is going on behind him as this kid is really close to passing out at the table.
Extreme close up! Night night, termite.
Mikey didn't eat any lunch, something we definitely advised against. Instead he waited a bit, and then he had a giant pretzel that was bigger than his head!
There's always lots of great music playing in the tents. It's a mix of oompa music and pop music. And at some point, I noticed Brian and Todd were dancing together.
The very best part of our day was meeting this Hungarian guy at our table who looked like Rob Gronkowski (formerly) of the Patriots! We kept calling him Hungarian Gronk!
There was a lot of prosting going on with the Hungarian Gronk.
By about 2:30 pm, things were getting a little wild with the Hungarians.
At this point, one of the Hungarians started to tie my shoelaces together.
Legit the best and most patient waiter at all of Oktoberfest!
And now a selfie with my new Hungarian friends.
Well, you'll be glad to know it wasn't one of us. Or the Hungarians.
Finally some of the Hungarians left our table and these nice American au pairs who are living in Germany joined us.
And then... Bri got the hiccups. And he had the hiccups for what seemed like an hour. I really felt for him cause they seemed to last FOREVER.
Brian decided to drink more beer in order to get rid of his hiccups. At this point, I think he's trying to make a plan for what we are going to do next.
But first... the rest of this beer.
And then Mikey started to fall asleep at the table. And that's when we got kicked out of the tent at Oktoberfest.
Of course after we got kicked out, we had to take a picture (into the sun) out in front of our big tent! I'm not sure Mikey ever opened his eyes after this!
People passed out on the grassy hill at Oktoberfest. SO FUNNY. So glad none of this happened to any of us!
Does anyone know who this poor guy is??? Geez people, get it together!
This literally was happening EVERYWHERE. Wake up, dude! At around 4:30, we decided to send Mikey back to the hotel in an Uber. We really didn't know if he was going to make it, but he did just fine. Then as soon as I walked Mikey to his Uber like... 2 miles away... Bri decided he wanted to go home too, so we sent him over to the cab stand and Todd and I stayed and partied some more! Ok ... maybe we didn't party. But we did get to ride coasters and have some dinner!
And we got to enjoy the beautiful sunset!
I swear I didn't filter these. The sky was literally this color!
After riding a couple of coasters, Todd and I found yet another Hofbräuhaus mini tent. Of course, it ONLY served Weißbier, which Todd doesn't like at all. But he hung in there while I enjoyed it (it's one of my favorites!)
And it was decorated so pretty with fake grass and flowers! Don't forget the hops!
The funniest part of the evening was that as we were heading back to the hotel on the U Bahn, Mikey was texting me and telling me he was ready to rally! HECK YES. So Todd and I met him at the hotel bar, where they were still (oh so sweetly and generously) serving. You know me and how underwhelmed I am by beer. Thus, I naturally made the switch over to my favorite drink, bourbon!
We really had a blast at our adult Oktoberfest! In fact, Mikey and Bri tackled TWO MORE DAYS at the worlds biggest beer festival. Gotta pat them on the back for that, as I was pretty much done for after one day (although I'm very proud of myself for knowing when to say when!)
What do you say guys... next stop, a bourbon tour of north central Kentucky in 2021? That should give us enough time to recover...
Until next time, Oktoberfest!
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