Oktoberfest

From Wikipedia:  "Oktoberfest is a 16-18 day festival held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October.  it is one of the most famous events in Germany and is the world's largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year.  The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture, having been held [almost without exception] since 1810."

UW German Club in Germany!

Before heading down to Oktoberfest, we stopped off to visit our Karen (our German teacher), Josh, and their baby.  Credit for tricking us in coming over here belongs to Karen, so we figured we pay her a visit on our way to Munich.

After meeting up with the Tabogas, we headed over to a Biergarten for a smaller Oktoberfest celebration.  It was awesome.  Lots of people celebrating, but not to crowed; great food like giant pretzels and some absolutely delicious chicken; and even the beer was pretty good (at least as far as beer is concerned)  We watched some exciting soccer on some big screens.  It was great.

Our food from the Biergarten.  It was awesome.

After spending the night at Josh and Karen's, we headed out to the actual Oktoberfest celebration.  Even before we reached the actual fairgrounds, the streets (and trains) were packed with people.  It was almost difficult to move around the fairgrounds.

After we explored the fairgrounds and went on a couple of rides (including a great roller coaster), we attempted to get into a beer tent.  After waiting 30 minutes at one and realizing we weren't getting in, we went to another.  This one actually seemed to be letting people in, and, after another 20, 30 minutes, we were in.  Not that it mattered, though, since the inside of the beer tent was more packed than the fairgrounds were.

Inside the beer tent.

We finally found some awesome Australians (or Irish people, as Erika thought they were) to sit with.  They were in Europe for a several-week vacation.  It sounded pretty awesome.

The beer at Oktoberfest was pretty good (at least as far as beer goes).  The same goes for the beer I had at the Biergarten the previous day.  Unfortunately, the beer was really expensive: 10€ for one Maß.  Sure, it's a whole liter, but still, that's a lot.

Our Aussie friends.

To send you off, here's the video James Willey of Australia made of his Oktoberfest experience.  More pictures can be seen on Google+.  Tschüss!

All pictures were shameless stolen from Erika Yagi.  The video was as shamelessly stolen from James Willey.

Thanks, guys, for your kind albeit unknown contributions.

Though, really, I took virtually every one of Erika's pictures, so I totally get to take them.