Munich; a quest for sausage

I was lucky enough to get sent to Munich for work back in October. I was running some panel sessions at a huge expo there, so me and a bunch of colleagues head over there one Sunday, ready for the expo which was running Monday and Tuesday.

NOW, this particular Sunday happened to be the last day of Oktoberfest. HELLO ALL THE STEINS. So, we OBVS all booked super early flights so that we could spend that free day absorbing everything Munich had to offer.

The lads went to the pub to watch the football but there was hella NO WAY I was doing that, so I went for a wander around the city centre. It was super quiet and chill and beautiful.

After that, we basically hit the booze. HARD. We hung out in some underground Irish pub right by the Sendlinger Tor U-bahn station, which was near where our hotel was. It was rammo full of dudes in there and not in a good way.

Then we went for a walk into town and sat an an adorable bar in the Marienplatz, overlooking the Rathaus (town hall) and had some dinner…and more beers.

Next up was the main attraction: Oktoberfest. So…what I hadn’t realised about Oktoberfest is that parts of it are basically a massive fairground. Like Margate on steroids….and surrounded by sausage. I’m not a fan of fairground rides (I get vommy), so I held everyone’s coats and ate Currywurst while they went on godawful looking rides.

But, reader…..we were about to head into one of the tents. It looked like this:

It was fucking carnage in there. But in the best way. Everyone was in leiderhosen or dirndles (I’m gutted I didn’t wear one), dancing on tables and swilling steins about like mental people. It’s a health and safety hazard of the highest order and GOD KNOWS what their insurance is like to run these tents….but I have never seen anything like it in my life.

We found some of our clients who had a reserved table there…apparently you basically can’t get served unless you reserve a space…and I decided I needed to GET ON IT immediately to catch up with all these other drunkards. I grabbed an empty stein and tried to grab a waitress as they walked by but it was impossible, so people nearby just swilled half their steins into mine so that I wasn’t dry and…well….the photos speak for themselves.

The next day was the first day of the expo, and we all felt like shit, obviously…so we powered through and then planned our next night out. We decided to go to Haxnbauer, a totally awesome traditional German restaurant that was all about the wursts and sauerkraut and whatnot. We had a total legend of a waiter and…yep…more steins.

THEN we went back to the god-damn Irish pub, which was karaoke night, and in there was basically the entirety of all the UK expo delegates from all the various companies, absolutely smashed. I’ve no idea how any of us got away with expensing so many pointless beers, but we did, and it was fun, But my liver was dying inside.

Second day of expo was a STRUGGLE mate, so I bowed out of the third night out on the town, went back to my shitty hotel (and it WAS SHITTY)…and I Deliveroo’d a pizza and a family-sized tiramisu. And I am so glad I did, because it meant that I felt fresh the next day (ish) and could spend it sightseeing before my flight in the late afternoon. I decided to do this solo, because after a hectic and intense few days, I just needed some space. It was glorious weather and I had the best time, just walking and taking snaps and listening to the dudes on the street playing the accordian…and eating more currywurst of course.

Munich is such a beautiful city. Way better than Berlin. I would love to go back and experience Oktoberfest properly with some pals, in full dirndle get-up, and I am totally grateful that my job took me to such a wonderful place.