R&R alpha - oktoberfest - the beginning

so it goes a little something like this...

1-october-08

i arrived into munich around 3PM knowing that TheWayne had gotten there around 10AM and was waiting for me. i turned on my phone and tried to call the only number i had for him, but i wasn't sure if he even brought his phone. the number didn't work anymore, so i gave up and just figured i'd find him somehow. our flights' bags took, oh, about 45 MINUTES to get to us, i'm guessing since we were the only non-lufthansa flight in the terminal (egypt air), we had to wait in line for a baggage truck or something. i got my bags and stepped out the door, through customs, and saw TheWayne standing there patiently for me. while he was waiting for me, he'd walked around and scouted the train situation and such, so we pretty much hit the ground running.

the germany metro system is honor-based. you don't actually give your ticket to anyone, but they have random inspectors who get on the train on occasion, and if you don't have a ticket, you get a 40 euro fine. we walked to the train station at the other terminal and tried to get a ticket from the automated machine. for one, it's all in german despite a screen indicating that it should have multiple language options, but we couldn't figure it out (engineers, jeez!). then we couldn't really figure out WHICH ticket we want, as there are different prices for different routes, length of validity, and how many people are on the ticket. luckily, there was a german lady who it seemed worked for the train system who helped us determine what we needed. we ended up paying 9 euro a piece for an all day ticket. we took the train through two transfers until we reached our destination of feldkirchen. as we pulled up to the station, we noticed that our holiday inn wasn't in view. we left the station and figured we should inaugurate our our arrival in germany with a beer, as you see here. my first beer in germany. i can't recall the name of the bar, but it is immediately outside the train stop which was quite convenient. we found out after a few beers and taking in the german ambiance that there is a bus we need to take that stops outside and will take us to the hotel immediately next door to the holiday inn.

we got into the hotel easy enough, i'd booked two rooms as i thought there were going to be more people, and then holiday inn wouldn't let me cancel without 14 days notice, fukkers. TheWayne and i cleaned up and booked it to oktoberfest. we probably got there around... oh maybe 6 or 7PM. initially we tried to get into the hippodrom but confirmed what we read that you pretty much need reservations to get into the "tents" [read: massive wooden warehouses full of drunken merry-makers, beer wenches and half-hendls (chickens)]. we wandered about a bit more taking in the strange carnival-like atmosphere of oktoberfest. something we really didn't expect to see were MASSIVE amusement park rides. you can't see them in that picture, so i'm guessing they bring them in just for the fest. we caught up on old times, talked about goofy OCD things like ALWAYS putting your hand through the camera strap before using it so you don't drop it. good times. after a bit, we wandered into the one of the augustiners (there are a few), as the door seemed to be unmanned, and we had to piss. the pissers were right at the front of the building, so we got in line to do our business. somehow at the trough, TheWayne gets caught up in a bit of small talk with the guy next to him. he finds out the guy is american, works for IBM, is living in scotland, and was here at oktoberfest for a team productivity celebration just for the day. TheRon, as was his name, invited us back to his table, as you can't get served if you are not sitting at a table. we ended up drinking out of several stray beers as they were in front of us, and we were urged to. before long, we were up on the tables with the IBM crew, beers held high sloshing about, us swaying side to side in unison with the rest of the revelers in the building to some german song none of us knew the words to. later in the night, i'd asked wayne to see his camera, since he'd just bought it a week or two earlier, and i like new gadgets... in my drunken clumsiness, AS i was putting my hand through the strap, my finger caught the strap and i dropped the camera to the ground. in my head, everything went silent besides a whole lot of !@#$%%^&@#$^&(^!#%^&**!!!!!!!! i picked it up, and realized very soon that his 2 week old camera had been destroyed by the very cautionary step that was intended to keep it safe. the lens was out but cocked. as drunk engineers, we tried to right the wrong, trying to pull the lens out or push it back in to straighten it to no avail. again.... sorry man. to get over it, we drank more of someone else's beers.

upon leaving, we tried to get a taxi. IMPOSSIBLE!!! every taxi we found was "reserved" for someone. it took us ages, and i mean ages, like 1-2 hours, to find a taxi available to take us home (i'm not quite sure why we didn't take the train back). during this time of waiting, TheWayne had to piss something fierce. we looked around for a bar or something to go, but found nothing, so TheWayne walked over the hill to piss on a wall. problem was, he was a bit intoxicated, and despite thinking he was well hidden from the street, he was, in fact, putting on a profound display of urinary prowess, that is, he was pissing everywhere for everyone to see. i tried to get his attention to let him know without alerting more people on the street, but he was in the zone. he came back up the hill, i told him, we laughed, and took our taxi home for a good sleep.

here's some folks leaving the oktoberfest metro station at theresienwiese (this was well before the end of the night so most people are sober).

day two and three next...