Oktoberfest

At 9:30am, the train was already filled with everyone in their lederhosen and drindl outfits.  We thought we started our day early in catching one of the first morning trains to Oktoberfest as it opened at 10am, but apparently not. The crowd led the way out of the station, through the neighborhood, and to the large festival.

We entered the festival by all of the large rides, so the girls were very excited about the day's activities. In the morning, we walked around to enjoy the festival atmosphere before it became too crowded. By 10:20am, we saw signs posted on the tents they were already at maximum occupancy and heard the loud noise all around, despite the doors being closed. The girls took a mini-roller coaster ride before I found the sweets tent, where we took a chocolate truffeltorte and donut break from walking. Our trek around the festival led us to the Historical Oktoberfest.

This year marked the 200th Anniversary of Oktoberfest. They had an area specifically set-up with many antique items on display from past festivals along with a timeline. The area also included traditional decoration and food, plus entertainment from older Oktoberfests as this was a quieter and child-friendly environment, representing how the festival initially was. The girls enjoyed riding the ponies and seeing the horses decorated for a show in the arena. We took a break in the children's biergarten with little picnic tables.

This picture was taken at 1:30pm.

Our journey continued to the vintage ferris wheel. While we were waiting in line, the girls took a short nap as Eric and I were being herded like cattle into the boarding area of the car. Germans do not believe in order when boarding rides, so it is a rush to be first in line as it is just a large area in front of the rides and whoever physically gets nearest the ride, gets to take a ride. Once boarded, we all enjoyed the view from above Oktoberfest. It was incredible for how early in the day the festival was packed with visitors.

After our family ride, the girls selected the couple of rides they wanted to go on. Adeline chose the swings, while Emmie picked a bug she could control to fly up and down as it spun around. We all went on the bumper cars. Emmie was tossed around in the seat, but she loved it when we crashed into Eric and Adeline. At the last minute, Adeline choose the tall slide over the roller coaster. Eric took both girls on it and managed to get a little airborne with Adeline.

Before leaving in the early afternoon, we picked out our souvenirs. The girls choose the traditional gingerbread heart shaped cookie. I  saw some small beer mugs I liked when we initially walked into the festival, but obtaining a pair on our way out turned out to be a race around the park. We found the first one on one of the stand's shelves, but it was the last one at that stand, so we went to look for others. After searching four other stands nearby, we raced back to get that one. As we worked our way through the crowd and out of the festival, we were unsuccessful in finding one more until the stand at the entrance. Eric saw it in the window display and started to reach for it, when the stand operator questioned what he was doing. I believe we got the last two mugs.

We boarded the subway and headed to the University area for a quiet early dinner where we could enjoy our Bavarian meal and beers. Oktoberfest was a great experience and we had a fun family day at the festival.