TnAL exclusive: Sarah Palin at Oktoberfest

Look who I ran into at the Wiesn!

The home stretch

This Oktoberfest business is seriously exhausting! I've spent 6 of the past 11 days at the Wies'n, and I'm planning to go at least one more time. I'm going to need a vacation once this is all over.

The other night we had dinner at the Käfer tent, one of the smaller tents at the Wies'n. Käfer is a well-known gourmet shop and restaurant in Munich, and the fare at their Oktoberfest tent is similarly pricey and delicious. Despite the fancy-schmanciness of the tent, the evening still involved plenty of giant steins of beer and dancing on the benches to ridiculous live music.

Apparently my bedirndled friends and I were looking particularly adorable all sitting in a row, because strangers kept coming by and taking our pictures. It was kind of like being extremely minor celebrities.

What else? My least favorite day was last Saturday, the most crowded day of "Italian weekend". Normally I would have never attempted to go on the busiest day of Oktoberfest, but we had friends in town just for the weekend and gosh darn it I was determined to get them into a tent. We woke up ridiculously early and were standing in line waiting outside the Löwenbräu* tent at 8:30 AM. The doors finally opened at 8:45 (after the lion let out a big roar), and we scrambled to find a spot for our group. We were downing our first liter of beer before 9:30. Breakfast of champions. The atmosphere couldn't have been more different than that at the Käfer tent. The crowds were insane. I headed home rather early, but not before our fancy Maβ-holding contest.


It's not like I've been drinking non-stop this whole time... I've also gone on a couple rides here and there. There are three roller coasters and a dozen or so other rides interspersed between the stands selling sausages and gingerbread hearts on strings. Who decided that big, stomach-churning rides would go well with giant steins of beer?



Overall I'm enjoying Oktoberfest more than I expected to. I mean, not the puke in random doorways all over the city, or the roving bands of drunken tourists, but the rest of it has proven to be pretty darn fun. Who would have thought?

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* I know what you're thinking, but here in Germany Löwenbräu is not the same cheap crappy beer that it is in the US. I have no idea why that is.

Oktoberfest advice: avoid these common injuries!

As fun as Oktoberfest is, there are still some dangers lurking, particularly where beer steins are involved. This friend (who will remain somewhat anonymous) demonstrates a couple common Oktoberfest injuries for us. See this vertical welt on her forehead?


Here she reenacts how she got it:

My advice: don't do this.

Injury number two: blisters from repeatedly lifting a Maβ beer stein.

My advice: um, bring weightlifting gloves?



Anyone else sustaining any Oktoberfest injuries?

Oktoberfest waitresses demonstrating their mad skillz

The waitresses at the Wies'n must start training months in advance for all this beer-carrying.


Looks like seven liters... not bad.






Eight! Even better.

One waiter, too:


Pretty impressive, no?

Breathalyzer, Oktoberfest style

This Fräulein was administering breathalyzer tests to the guys at the table behind us in the Hippodrom, but not for the usual reasons. They weren't interested in finding out whether they were fit to drive (the Premier of Bavaria has already educated them about that). Instead, they were receiving certificates proudly boasting the blood alcohol level they had achieved.

In other Oktoberfest news, there's a dirndl-gate! And it has nothing to do with a boob popping out. As if that weren't enough, lederhosen have their own scandal going on. Who knew old-timey clothing could be so controversial?

Two days down, 14 more to go

Greetings from Oktoberfest 2008! We are still alive and well. The city is awash with drunken tourists and locals alike, most of them wearing some kind of tracht, or at least funny hats (note to self: take more photos of funny hats). Many precious memories are in the making here, I tell you, and we are only one weekend in to this 16-day festival. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind Headbang8 about our mutual agreement to not post embarrassing photos of each other.


The Hippodrom - supposedly the young, hip, flirty tent with a high number of celebrity sightings. We did see some guys being followed around by video cameras and a boom mic, but alas none of us were able to recognize them.


The Weinzelt (wine tent - no maβes here!)


The Ochsenbraterei (ox roaster). This was our third tent of the day yesterday. I hardly have any pictures from inside. Probably better that way.


If you want an animal roasted on a spit, Oktoberfest is the place for you!


The pregnant chick stole our beers!


One popular festival song here in Germany is about playing cowboys and Indians (which I for one take offense to - how dare the Germans appropriate our cultural heritage! WE come from the land of cowboys and Indians, that's OUR childhood game, dammit!). Anyway, the song comes with a choreography kind of like the Macarena, except with lassos. Really, I am not making this up.


Our neighbors from the next table over get a little fresh with our kilt-wearing Scot.


I was all set to declare the Weinzelt the most sophisticated tent, and then the band came out wearing giant condom suits. Why yes, those are enormous hairy balls that jiggle when they move their legs. Thanks for asking.

More to come!

Oktoberfest: O'zapft is!

You'll be pleased to know that the beer was paraded in and arrived safely at the Wies'n. The first keg was successfully tapped by the mayor at the stroke of noon.



Here we go!

Ready for Oktoberfest

Here it is, the new dirndl in all its glory. I love it, even though wearing it seems to reduce me to nothing but silly poses and twirling. Who knew girlie clothes could be so much fun?

Turning Bavarian

I am happy to announce that I am now the proud owner of my very own dirndl. I love it more than I ever thought I could love traditional clothing, Bavarian or otherwise. It fits surprisingly well, and I adore the colors. (Even before I bought it I was told that I have a very good Dirndl-Figur... I'll give you one guess as to what that really means.)

A dirndl is a traditional Bavarian dress, worn with an apron, and is basically the female counterpart to lederhosen. Dirndls and lederhosen aren't exactly everyday wear here in Bavaria anymore, unless you happen to be waiting tables at the Hofbräuhaus. But they're still quite popular, especially at beer festivals and other occasions. Like this thing they call the Oktoberfest... perhaps you've heard of it?

Dirndls come in all colors and fabrics, and can range in price from around 100 euros to several thousand, depending on your dedication to the cause. On the low end, stores such as C&A sell cheap versions of dirndl, or I hear there are some great deals to be found on Ebay. I wanted something a bit nicer, but didn't want to invest too much, so we headed out to the Loden Frey outlet near the Olympia Einkaufzentrum to do a little Tracht shopping. I ended up spending less than I expected to, so I'm doubly happy with the outcome.

Now, if only I could find a reason to wear my dirndl before Oktoberfest...

Big pfun at the Pfarrfest

Last week we went to a Pfarrfest at a small parish church in Munich. A multi-generational crowd was gathered for food, drink, socializing and music. The preist worked the crowd, greeting everyone and making them feel welcome (upon learning I was from the US, he even broke out with a couple words of English). Dessert consisted of various baked goods prepared by the parishioners. This annual party had all the feel of a church celebration in a small American town, with two significant differences:

1) Lots of oompah music, and

2) Nuns drinking beer by the liter.

I'm really, really sorry for not snagging a photo of #2.

Expats and bloggers invade Regensburg

Saturday we headed to Regensburg to spend the day at the expat meet-up organized by Christina. Regensburg is a cheap (on a Bayernpass) and easy 1.5-hour train ride from Munich, so it makes for a good day trip.

After wandering around on our own for a while, we joined the group for a guided tour of the city in the afternoon. It's been a while since I've taken a guided tour of any city, and it was quite fun, even though the overarching theme (Regensburg might not look like much today, but in the past we were super important! really! Oh, and we're very, very Italian, too!) was a little depressing.



Then it was off to a lovely biergarten for drinks in the shade before our herd of expats headed to dinner at a local Italian restaurant. It was fabulous to meet Cliff and Sarah of Regensblog, Tammy and Matthias of Coffee from a Cardboard Cup, and Tim and Heather from the Sprocket Spot, and several other non-blogging expats, too (it only seems like all of us blog...).



Us big city folk (ie., the four in attendance from Munich) left dinner on the early side hoping to catch a certain train, failed, and ended up watching most of the second half of the Russia-Netherlands game in a sports bar near the station. We were the only ones there over the age of 18, but at least we recognized the 80s music that was playing too loud for our delicate old ears.

Bayern atmet durch my ass

After suffering through the ridiculously smoky bars and restaurants of Zurich for two years, we were delighted to learn that Bavaria was planning to go smoke-free a few days before our arrival in January. Hooray for going out without coming home smelling like an ashtray!

Our initial excitement is wearing thin, though, given the number of locales which have decided to become 'smoking clubs.' A loophole in the Bavarian law allows smoking in establishments that aren't open to the public, such as members-only clubs. It seems quite easy for a place to transform itself into a private club, though - apparently all that is required is a 'membership list' which includes all of the guests present in the establishment. Enter a bar or restaurant which allows smoking, and you will be asked to provide your personal details in exchange for the privilege of staying and being smoked at. From what I've seen, nobody's taking these 'membership lists' very seriously - in fact, I don't think I've ever witnessed anyone provide their real name. A lot of restaurants are choosing to be smoke-free until about 8 or 9 PM, and then turning into a smoking club for the after-dinner crowd.

What's so bad about simply sending smokers outside, especially now that the weather is nice? One reason is the noise. Whereas in Italy (which has a very successful no-smoking law) a group of folks smoking and chatting on a street corner at midnight is no big deal, the Germans (and Swiss, for that matter) take their right to after-hours silence very seriously. Establishments are very wary of noisy customers outside that might garner complaints to the police from the neighbors.

The other night we wandered into a bar that had a 'Bayern atmet durch' ('Bavaria breathes free') poster on the door, only to find that it too had become a private smoking club, and a really stinky one at that. After we ordered our drinks, we were presented with a sheet of notebook paper to sign in order to 'join the club.' Despite the humble decor, the bar was obviously quite hip - the membership list contained everyone from Paris Hilton to Barack Obama.

Save the date: expat fun in Regensburg this summer

I've been trying to come up with a good title for Christina, organizer of many a get-together for the Bavarian expat blogger crowd. Social coordinator? Den mother? Cruise director?

Anyway, she's at it again, this time with a whole weekend full of Regensburg-style fun. There'll be food, a city tour, baseball(!?!), and if you're lucky, some beer, too. So if you'll be in this area, mark your calendars for June 21-22 and join in on all the expat revelry.

Munich: where the beer is strong and the men wear Lederhosen

You didn't really think the city of Munich was going to make us wait until autumn for a beer festival, did you?

The Starkbierfest, or Strong Beer Festival, take place every year for a few weeks during Lent. Drinking beer doesn't count as breaking a fast, you see, so rumor has it that the monks invented this weighty beer as a form of nourishment to consume when they were fasting for Lent. The 'strong' in the beer's name is supposed to refer more to its gravity than its alcohol content, but at around 8% it's not the weakest beer out there, either.

Various local breweries open their banquet halls for the Starkbierfest, but the only one we've been to so far is the one at the Paulaner brewery. Some friends had a table reservation for Saturday, and naturally we took them up on this offer to get to know the local culture a bit more intimately.

In order to claim a reserved table on the weekend, you have to arrive by 2pm. The entire scene at this hour was entirely civilized - just like at a large restaurant which seats 2,000 people. There was live music, heavy German food, and, of course, a lot of Starkbier, served in liter krugs.

A couple hours later, the band changed from one with a tuba to one with guitars, and the audience started showing signs of life. Slowly, at first - only a couple lone dancers popped up at a table here and there. A couple popular songs were played which got the whole room singing along. And then, all of a sudden, it seemed like everyone was dancing on the benches. Everyone.

The band took breaks from time to time, during which some revelers took the opportunity to power-nap.


The crowd got bigger and bigger, and we had to get a little defensive of our prized seats whenever someone in our party got up. I can't really blame people for trying to poach a table spot - those krugs were heavy. Not exactly something I'd want to drink out of while standing around mingling.

Speaking of drinking beer, naturally we did a lot of this, but I have to admit I only had one Starkbier before switching to the Helles. Starkbier is fine in small doses, but it's too sweet for my tastes.

There seemed to be more people wearing Lederhosen and Dirndls than not, making me wonder if we're going to have to break down and get our own Bavarian clothing to wear to such events. What do you think?

Lindt has been holding out on me

While in Munich last weekend, I wandered in to a Karstadt department store and perused the chocolate section. It really wasn't bad (and I say this as someone who lives in Switzerland). Of course a lot of it was Swiss chocolate, like the gigantic Lindt display which contained quite the array of dark chocolate flavors. There was my new favorite cherry & chili, plus several others I had never seen before. What's up with that, Lindt? You think the Swiss are too good for lime & green peppercorn filled 70% cocoa chocolate? Well I'm not...

Lindt wasn't the only brand sporting the creative flavors. Everyone seems to have thrown their hat into the spicy-chocolate ring now, and ginger was also a popular accompaniment for dark chocolate. Out of curiosity we picked out a wasabi & algae bar and a chili & highland whiskey bar. That's right, I said wasabi & algae. We like to live on the edge like that.

Turns out that wasabi & algae don't make for as fabulous a chocolate bar as one would expect, but the chili & highland whiskey one was pretty good. The lime & green peppercorn chocolate was surprisingly endearing. I might even need to go out and find a local source. Anyone seen it?

Mellowing out in Munich

So after being home in Zurich for, oh, less than a week, it was high time to get out of here again. A weekend in Munich, Germany, was exactly what we needed.



Munich is a fun, livable city, especially once you escape the hordes of tourists in the very center. Actually the touristy stuff is fun, too - in a big, drunken, stereotypical Germany kind of way. Pretty much all of the prominent stereotypes about Germany are based on Bavarian culture and traditions: Lederhosen and Dirndls, pretzels, beer served in liter-sized mugs, Oktoberfest, oompa bands...



We spent most of Saturday afternoon in the Englischer Garten, the largest city park in the world and an extremely popular place in the summer. Parts of it feel very similar to Central Park, if you ignore all the naked Germans soaking up the sun. I myself am not such a fan of sun-absorbing (naked or otherwise), so we opted for soaking up some beer and pretzels at the beer garden at the Chinesischer Turm in the middle of the park instead.

Unlike at Oktoberfest, regular beer gardens offer the choice of 1/2 liter mugs, too, which is what we ordered. My excuse is simple: by the time I get to the bottom of a liter of beer, it's really, really warm, and I'm just not a fan of warm beer. So until I learn to drink faster, it's wussy little half-liters for me.

It's fun to people-watch in beer gardens. For some reason it is perfectly acceptable to bring your own food to beer gardens in Munich, provided you purchase your beverages there. Plenty of locals do this, even bringing along tablecloths to make the whole experience more civilized. Of course there were plenty of tourists around, too, notably the drunken American frat-boy type. I didn't see any of them with tablecloths.



PS - Did you notice the name of the bus company in that second picture? Those wacky Germans...

Fun in Bavaria

We spent last weekend in Landshut, Germany, a small town about 45 minutes northeast of Munich (like all Americans, I measure distance in hours and minutes). We went to see our friend and her new baby, who were visiting relatives there. I’m usually not all that enthralled with babies, but this one was particularly cute. Not like most babies.

As stipulated by Bavarian law, we consumed nothing but pretzels, cheese, and weissbier for the entire weekend (being a vegetarian, I was able to finagle my way out of the sausage requirement).

Landshut is awfully adorable for a town you’ve never heard of. It has a gorgeous cathedral, and a foreboding castle up on a hill overlooking the town. The houses along the main street look like they’ve been painted with birthday cake frosting. There is also a bakery on practically every corner, offering among other things a tempting assortment of melted-cheese-covered baked goods (mostly pretzels).

This was our second trip there, the first one being earlier this year for the Landshuter Hochzeit, a festival held every four years which involves the reenactment of wedding festivities from 1475, the year that marked the end of Landshut’s importance to anyone from anywhere but Landshut. There is jousting, parading, medieval flag-throwing, public drunkenness, and of course obscene amounts of sausage, cheese, pretzels and beer. In order to participate as a character in the reenactment, one must have been born in Landshut, which surely explains why black-market Landshut birth certificates command such ridiculous prices. You also have to stop cutting your hair years in advance to qualify, because apparently haircuts had not yet been invented in 1475. Plus, I hear it helps if you have lots of money, or have connections on the all-powerful Landshuter Hochziet board of directors. I learned this while drinking weissbier with my friend’s father, who seemed more than a little bitter that he had never been chosen to participate…