sunday afternoon i met up with a friend from northeastern who is studying in Madrid and a friend of hers from Munich . I met them at the chinese tower in the english garden, europe’s largest public park. similar to central park. I had a half hendl mit pommes frites and a raddler (half of a roasted chicken and fries and a 1/2 beer 1/2 sprite drink) . after that we meet up with my other northeastern buddies at an irish pub. after a couple drinks we ended the night early. we headed to a our sleeping accomodation, which was a small camping tent. basically a huge soccer field was used to pitch a hundred or so tents (each housing up to 4), the camp site was called wiesn camp. at 10 bucks a head, it was a great deal . i wasnt prepared for the slightly colder weather in Munich so i spent most of the night rolling around on the uncomfortable floor trying to keep warm. the next morning we were up early (7:30ish) so we could get to oktoberfest early. we noticed we were the only ones awake at the campsite but didnt think twice about it. at oktoberfest we were one of the first people there. we realized we were a bit toooo early. in anycase once the tents opened we went inside. we chose the schottenhammel tent (reccomended by maxim, about.com, and every native i spoke to). the tents holds about 6000. we were the first 6 patrons of the day. at 1pm or so i got lunch, the exact thing i ate the night before (it was really good-again). cleared the plate. i returned to our table. our seats were arguably the best in the house. front center and right next to the band. my group had planned to leave that ight back to reutlingen, but i decided to stay an extra day as i was invited to stay in munich my friends friends place. my reutlingen buddies left around 4pm for the train station. just before they left a group of 5 men joined the table. they were british. a professor from oxford, a state councellor, a guy who teaches in cuba, a recent grad, and another goverment employee. what my reutlingen buddies and i didnt realize before was that the real oktoberfest partying doesnt occur till about 8pm or so. people just get there much earlier to save a seat, just like the one we had. the majority of people in the tent had been drinking from noon till about 8pm from liter sized mugs. needless to say everyone was ready to party. it started with one table just next to us. the starting dancing on the table, then another table and another table then my table, then next thing i new all 6 thousand people in the tent was dancing and singing on there tables. it was the party of a lifetime. nuff said.
the next day i went to the deutsches museum in munich with my friend. we were told it was a 20 min walk…turned out to be a 1.5 hr walk, and it started pouring rain. it was a science and technology museum. the highlight was seeing all the old fighter planes, helicopteres, and ancient sailboats. we had lunch at the famous hofbrauhaus. i had the fish dish. i got back on the train and thats where i am now, writing all my memories from this fantastically eventfull weekend. souvenirs: 1LT mug, sweater.