Oktoberfest 2006

Try and imagine 1 million people wearing leiderhosen and frauline dress things along with 14 massive beer halls coupled with never ending beer, fried mystery meat on sticks, chicken schnitzel rolls, roller coasters, dodgem cars and crazy german songs (and people) and you will have some inlking as to the craziness that is Oktoberfest. Set in Munich, Germany the festival runs for around two weeks and I went to the opening week which starts at the end of September. On the first day, the mayor tapped the first keg at noon which symbolised the beginning of the festival and the start of some crazy shennanigans. After thinking that there was no way that I was going to be able to down a stein (around 1 litre of beer) by myself, by the end of the week I was chugging through them like a seasoned drinker (which I guess I was by that stage!) I ended up meeting up with two girls that I went to primary school with which was a blast from the past and ended up hanging out with them and their group of mates which was really cool. Kylie Humber was there as well so I got to hang out with her at the start of the week for a few beverages. Highlights of the eight week tour included the festival and having my first stein; visiting Dacchau (going to a concentration camp in the middle of a beer festival is very sobering though); seeing Neuchwanstein castle and visiting various little towns in Germany and Austria. Lowlights included seeing the 100 club (that still makes my stomach churn) and the eighteen hour coach journey done with a monster hang over, very bad idea.