Munich, Germany for the weekend

This past weekend I caved in and took a trip with the gang to Munich Germany for many things, but most importantly Oktoberfest. Little did we know it was actually the 200th year of the festival, but unlike the 1920's we got to have a great time instead of burning a hyper-inflated German Mark to stay warm at night. Life is great in the 21st century isn't it?

Anyway, the first two days of the weekend we went to the Oktoberfest Tents and the last day we went to the BMW Museum (I know what you're thinking. Two + one = three...Three day weekend!??! Yes, that is the norm on study abroad. I have three day weekends EVERY WEEKEND! Now let me bask in your jealousy for a few moments). On both festival days we went to the Hofbrauhaus tent and it was nothing short of an experience. They started serving food and their Bavarian beer at 9am and the tents closed at around 10-11pm. I didn't have the steel reserve (lack common sense?) to stay till close. The waitresses with their well-endowed upper bodies would carry 12 Steins at once! Each Stein was a liter and it was awesome watching them move through the crowd, hardly spilling a drop. The lady in my picture was ONLY carrying 10...BOO! Also, every 15 minutes or so the entire crowd (prompted by the band) would break out in a toast called Ein Prosit. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I happily partook.

Finally, the last thing to point out about the festival is the security. They were terrifying. In Germany, there is no such thing as equal rights in the workforce (or at least not ostensibly so). There were absolutely no women whatsoever working as security. They were all over-sized men wearing gloves that were "oddly" shaped around the knuckles. I wasn't even in World War II and I was having flashbacks of Stormtroopers marching through ghettos. If they said to do something, I did it. I mean their grandparents committed the holocaust, how could you possibly have an argument with someone from that kind of lineage. (Please note: some people DID argue with the security and it was fantastic entertainment. We were near the door on the second day and had the pleasure of watching a kid who was too drunk get picked up and thrown out of the tent...by the neck.)

The final day in Munich we went to the BMW Museum!! Hooray! The cool thing about the museum was that in one of their showrooms of their newer models we heard this tremendous roar and sure enough we see a guy driving a dirt bike THROUGH THE MUSEUM. BMW organizes a kind of impromptu show where they push the crowd to the sides of the main walk and a guy drives up and down the stairs of the museum ramping, and speeding all over creation. It was a surprising ending to what was a very cool museum.

P.S. did you know that Germans love The White Stripes- Seven Nation Army and Hey Baby. Who'd a thunk it?