I’d left the farm, met new friends in Madrid, reminisced with old friends in Barcelona and now I endured the twenty-two-hour coach trip to Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany. A trip that almost killed me… but it was completely worth it…
Before departing Barcelona, I had time to purchase a pain au chocolate. I didn’t know it at the time, but it would almost kill me.
Now I know you think I’m being dramatic. As I mentioned in my last post, my face was stupendously swollen. My lymph glands were also throbbing and swollen at this point.
I slept in hopes of recovery, and although the swelling went down a little, the pain was still there. I decided to eat some of the pain au chocolate… which turned out to be a terrible idea.
My throat swelled up at an alarming rate and I couldn’t breathe. I had my head back against the seat fighting back the pain and anxiety. Eventually, I managed to relax and I avoided all food for the remaining journey.
I had a two-hour bus change in Lyon, France… I was not prepared for the cold… and I still had a twelve-hour coach trip from Lyon to Munich to endure… I just had one thing on my mind.
Red meat.
I wanted. Needed. A big fat juicy steak. So before I planned my route to my Oktoberfest campsite I headed to a steakhaus.
+++HP (hit-points) (gamer chat)
Polly, who I had met in Portugal, was also in Munich for Oktoberfest and she kindly popped by the restaurant to look after my laptop and GoPro until after the festival, as I didn’t trust leaving them on a campsite all day, whilst I’m getting drunk elsewhere.
I made my way to the campsite. It was fairly far outside of Munich and there wasn’t much lighting, so it was real dark.
I walked alone down a long dark road and finally… I could see the lights of the campsite.
I told myself I wouldn’t drink this night, but I couldn’t turn down the free check-in beer, could I?
I was given my sleeping bag and pillow and taken to the tent. It was surprisingly clean and warm, but no-one was there.
Inevitably I spent the evening in the campsite beer-tent conversing with two French brothers, whom I had checked in with.
After a stein or two, I returned to my tent, which was now full. It was surprisingly comfortable and toastie in my sleeping bag and airbed, and so I thought of the next day’s adventure and drifted off to sleep.
I woke to whispering American voices and mumbled “Morning” to them.
A quick introduction and I was one of the gang. Our tent consisted of five Americans, one South-African, one Australian and myself, the Englishman or politically correct – the Brit.
We had the International English language on lockdown and we instantly bonded. We headed for breakfast – scrambled eggs and tea.
The others had already experienced Oktoberfest the day before, though I still had no idea what it even looked like.
It was raining as we approached the main gates to the Oktoberfest, though that didn’t dampen anyone’s moods. We pushed our way through the crowds and entered the first beer hall. I’m going to describe them as halls, as I genuinely thought we’d be outside freezing to death in a canvas tent.
As I entered the huge hall, shivers ran down my spine in excitement. Energy levels peaked. Any illness was gone. I was finally experiencing Oktoberfest.
Why was I so excited about Oktoberfest??
Yeah… simply because my birthday is in October. It’s the little things. Sorry for the anti-climatic answer!
Anyway, we finally managed to squeeze ourselves onto a table, ordered beers and started getting tipsy.
It’s extremely hard to describe the atmosphere other than soul-lifting. The positive energy filled all corners of the room. The music was fantastic, the steins of beer, the giant pretzels, the drunken singing and most importantly of all… the company I shared my experience with. They really were an awesome group of people to wake up to and spend the day with.
We drank and sang, we hugged, we prost’d (German cheers)… and I showed off my coaster flipping skills.
It was nothing short of joyous.
We eventually left the hall and spent the remainder of the day roaming, eating, drinking and losing one another.
We returned to the campsite bar to drink and sing a little more before retiring.
I had survived Oktoberfest 2019