Jaeger's Hostel

We booked accomodations for Oktoberfest really late and I think we were lucky to have found a place at all. Fortunately, this hostel was both clean, spacious, and comfortable. My friend Patrick and I got our own room with two beds and a bathroom for really cheap. It was like a hotel room for a fourth of the price. The staff here was also very friendly and helpful. Also within walking distance of the Oktoberfest fairgrounds and Marienplatz.

Oktoberfest was amazing! At first I thought it would just be like a giant, drunken, dirty international frat party (which I would have happily passed on), but my experience was much different than that. There are 14 beer tents, each sponsored by a different beer company. The word "tent" is a bit of a misnomer because these structures are huge, each containing hundreds of tables and capable of fitting thousands of people. Each tent generally has a different vibe and theme too. There were tents filled with predominantly local, German familes and others (like Hofbrau) which consisted almost soley of drunken American and Australian tourists.

The thing that struck me the most about Oktoberfest was how friendly everyone was. Maybe it was because everyone was drinking, or maybe it's because people from Munich are extraordinarily friendly, but the entire atmosphere felt warm and inviting. We didn't know that we had to reserve tables at the different beer tents (literally every table was booked), but often it was no problem because friendly German familes would invite us over to eat, drink, and be merry with them. You could easily tell that all the locals were proud of their traditions and celebrations and that they wanted everyone else to feel just as comfortable as they were. Overall, Oktoberfest feels like a giant family gathering rather than a giant, wild party.

In addition to the beer tents, the festival grounds also contained a ton of amusement park type rides, many which would have probably been banned in the States because of safety code violations. For example, there was a giant, flat, saucer-type contraption with seats along the outside that just spun around and tilted at crazy angles. None of the seats had any restraining harnesses and often times people could be seen grabbing onto the side rails with their legs flailing in the air. Definitely not recommended after having a few steins of beer and a hearty slab of pork dripping in gravy.

I'm not a huge car fan (as long as it gets me to where I want to go, that's good enough for me), but the BMW Museum is still an interesting diversion if you are looking for some time to kill while in Munich. I was expecting a larger space, but in reality the museum is quite small -- just a small room with a few cars in it. If you get bored, the Olympic Village from the 1972 games is nearby.

Note: I think the original, larger museum is currently being refurbished, a process that is supposed to take ~3 years. This might explain why the museum I visited seemed so small.