Day 265: Prost!

Not only is tomorrow a special day in that I ONLY have 100 days lefts of my 365 (actually 366, thank you leap year) photo blog, but it also marks the opening ceremonies of the one, true Oktoberfest.  Munich, Germany.  The home of the festival of festivals.  Just the name "Oktoberfest" brings feelings of pure joy and some sorrow.  Joy from all the wonderful memories and sorrow only in that I'm not there taking in the celebrations and more importantly, the BIER!

I really can't begin to describe what the O'fest is all about.  For those of you that have experienced the one, true O'fest in Munchen you know exactly what I mean.  Oh, don't get me wrong, there are many towns and cities across the globe that actually put on a pretty decent show but nothing compares to the festivities in the Fatherland of Munich, Germany.  I use to go to the O'fest every year, several times a year, when I was in high school.  Now before you think "scandal", the drinking age in Germany was like 14, so at 17-18, I was like an old guy.  Yeah, we use to drink away our sorrows after another humiliating loss.  Our football team REALLY sucked back then.  But I digress.  It was such a wonderful experience back then but even more so when I had a chance to go back in 2007.  The memories hit me like a tsunami and I'll admit I placed a drunk phone call to my folks back in the states to thank them for giving me those wonderful experiences as a teenager. 

I can remember one of my first experiences at the Oktoberfest.  I remember sitting at a table with a few of my high school friends.  We were working our way through a few liters of beer enjoying the German Oom-pah band as they wailed away to traditional beer drinking folk songs when all of a sudden this person next to me, who I didn't know, locked arms with me and started rockin' from side to side, belting out the song as if their life depended on it.  I looked over at the person thinking "WTF!?" and they just gave me this huge smile and kept on singing.  I noticed that the rest of the table was doing the same.  Soon enough all my friends were locked arms, rocking from side to side, slurring and harumphing our way through the song.  The rest of the night was a blur.  Liters of beer kept appearing in front of me.  It's German law to drink any beer placed in front of you and being a rule follower I obliged with gusto.  It was a night of non-stop singing, laughing, hugging and somehow carrying on conversations with locals even though I only had a rudimentary grasp of the German language. 

So many memories I couldn't begin to capture them all here.  I'm sure many of my Munich and Army Brat friends reading this will be reminiscing about their experiences.  The massive pretzels to go along with a liter, or three, of Spaten bier,  "Schnapps stops", the crazy carnival rides, the chicken dance, trying to steal the liter steins, racing to the S-bahn to catch the last train home, and the smells of the O'fest.  A weird and wonderful combination of beer, pastries, fish and chicken on the grill, as well as candies and other assorted treats.  All with an undercurrent of bier, wonderful German bier.  There's nothing like it any where. 

So to my friends that are heading to Munich for the O'fest or already there, I hate you.  :-)  But seriously, raise your mass and together we shall sing....

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit.

OANS ZWOA DREI! G'SUFFA!