Munich, Germany (4 Days)

What we did:
- PROST! It’s Oktoberfest 2023 baby. BEERS! Big pretzels! International Debauchery!
- Going to lead off that you are reading the heavily censored and redacted version of events so we’ll just leave that asterisk here and let our parents sweat out what could have actually happened….by the way what’s a red notice?
- Thursday: The gang all coalesces in Munich! We drive in from Garmish and get in around 3:30 - Nick/Ang in from Rome and Tom/Brandon/Joe in from Berlin and Prague. Steph had Brandon bring in decorations to celebrate Nick/Ang’s engagement in Florence! We pop some champagne and beers and all catch up. Great to see the crew again! We grabbed Bavarian dinner at a local hotspot, with our first round of big German beers. As is always the case with the first day of a weekend trip it really escalates from there, why do we always insist on burning all our energy night 1? Made stops at a cool outdoor Biergarten (Viktualienmarkt Biergarten) before finishing in the basement at Killians Irish Pub. In bed by 1:30 so could have been worse! Great first night
- Friday: Had our reservation at Marstall tent from 12-5 so got to sleep in! Some last minute panic for Trent after the Amazon lederhosen he had Tom bring him might have been the kiddy version and couldn’t get past his thighs. After getting fleeced for a cool $120 at the vendor next door to the hotel he was up and running, looking like a true local with his german haircut and traditional lederhosen. Steph looking the part in Jenna’s dirndl! Oktoberfest is a wild place. We enjoyed a relatively calm time at the super cool Marstall tent, enjoying the beers, music, and watching the Germans slowly getting drunk and dancing on the tables. After our res ended at 5 we went to the Hofbrau tent and man did it ramp up there - this place was one of the wildest scenes we’ve ever seen. This time we were the ones dancing on tables and singing with a weird combination of strangers (French, Puerto Rican, Dutch, Indian and Macaedonian). The night finished up when the tents closed around 11 with big hotdogs and doner kebabs and then into bed!
- Saturday: All of the locals insisted we were insane to do back to back days in the tents and when the 7am alarm went off you wouldn’t find any of us disagreeing there. But hey, years of homecomings and Little 5’s trained us for this (Hoosiers are just built different, right Mitch and Sara?) so we quickly dressed in our garb and got ready for Day 2. We really enjoyed our 9am - 2pm reservation in the Armbrustschützen tent. Not as nice as Marstall but a lot more traditional. All of the night tent reservations are always reserved for German locals and you have to just get lucky and get in (like we did the night before). Saturday of closing weekend the grounds were insane! We struggled for an hour or two to get into any tents before slinking our way into a roped off side beer garden balcony. The security guards wouldn’t take bribes or any of the usual tricks to get into the actual tents so we settled for the balcony. Steph and Trent got the BEST rotisserie chicken they’ve ever had in their lives!! Whether it be from all of the beer, or starvation, no one knows but the Germans sure know how to roast a chicken! By 10pm after the marathon weekend the crew was ready to call it and had no more luck getting into any other tents so we headed back! Doner kebabs and bed hit the spot.
- Sunday: Not sure if we slept or were in a coma, but the whole group woke up around 12. Time to soberly see Munich. We wandered around Old Town and the parks all afternoon, with stops for Bavarian lunch and pretzels along the way. We were obsessed with this natural lazy river that ran through the park where all the locals would dive into the river and float the mile or so through the park, as well as some surfing right at the beginning of the river. Such a botch not to join. We tried to go back to Killians pub to watch the Bears as this is the only place in Munich with the games and quickly aborted as it was easily 90 degrees in there and wall to wall with obnoxious American douchebags. Grabbed some dinner in a biergarten, reliving the funnies from the weekend and called it around 9/10pm.
- Absolute blast of a weekend and so good to see the crew! Oktoberfest 2023 you were good to us.

What we ate:
- Augustine Klosterwit night 1 of delicious sausages in mustard and apple streudel
- Food in the tents for lunch both days and street Doner kebabs for late night dinners
- Last day Bavarian biergarten of meets for lunch and burgers at Killians pub biergarten

Fun facts:
- Each tent, despite different branding, actually serves the same “Oktoberfest brew” so that its all equal everywhere
- Each year the massive multi-level structures (“tents”) are actually taken down and rebuilt
- 150,000 kegs of beer get drank every year in the two week fest
- Take Me Home, Country Roads was played every 15ish songs all weekend no matter the tent. So weird
- We lost Tom at least three times. Don’t fret, he always found his way back 😊Read more