Being the travelers that we are we decided we had to go see it. So we set the alarm for 4:00 am and woke up early to get on the road. Our trip took us 3.5 hours by car to a city called Ingolstadt, then from there we got on a train into Munich (about 45-50 minutes from Ingolstadt to Munich,and then about a 15 min walk from the train station to the Oktoberfest grounds). Everything that we read on the internet said that you shoudlnt drive to Oktoberfest because it would be almost impossible to find a place to park, so we took the train.We got to the grounds at about 10:00 and we couldnt believe how big it was. On one side of the grounds there are lots of rides that you would see at a fair, and even some roller coasters. Then on the other side of the grounds is where all the beer tents are. There were quite a few.
I think we read somewhere that there are 34 of them. Needless to say we went to everyone we could, even if it was only for a quick peek. When we got to the grounds there was also a huge concert going on with 400 Bavarian musicians (Oktoberfest is in Munich which is in the state of Bavaria in Germany). There were even guys that were playing the huge horns like you see in the Ricola commericals. We watched this for a little bit but decided to check out what the tents were like instead. The first tent we went to was one of the Paulaner tents. Here Katy got her first beer - at Oktoberfest they dont go small on the beers, each beer is 1 liter (cost is 8.60 euros). Even though it was early it was still a livley atmosphere in the tent. 
People were singing and doing some chants. After this tent we went to some others and throughout the day stopped so Katy could have a beer at 3 different tents.We met people from all over. Some air force guys from Tennessee, some younger people from Italy, some older men from Italy who loved to dance (one even serenaded Katy with a song he sang inbetween the band playing in one of the tents). We met quite a few people from Germany (obviously) and a group of people from Serbia. It was fun to m
eet these people, especially as we could not speak their language and many could not speak ours. We did try to communicate however and were able to get across some things. Even though we could not speak fluently together it was still fun to try, and to be honest I think might have made it even more enjoyable. Whenever you dont know what to say just smile and nod. :)
The Serbians who invited us to sit at their table even bought Katy a rose, and the guy from Italy who danced with her a time or two also bought her a rose...lucky girl.Outside of the beer tents there were many souvenier stands and food stands. We thought there would be many different types of interesting foods to try, like at the state fairs back home, but there were many stands that had the same thing....brats, hotdogs, sausages, that sort of stuff. There was one thing we tried that we havent heard of anywhere else...a half meter long bratwurst. The bun that they gave us was big, but it couldnt even fit the whole brat in it. It was good though and didnt take us long to get through it.
At 6:15 we started heading back towards the train for our ride back to Ingolstadt, and then our drive back to Giessen. When we got on the train
we met this older couple and we told them we came to Munich just to see Oktoberfest for the day. The offered us to go out for a drink with them in Ingolstadt and then stay at their place that night, as it was getting dark, then take off in the morning. It was a nice offer and if I wouldnt have had practice the next morning we might have taken them up on it, but we had to get back. So when we arrived in Ingolstadt we parted ways and hopped in the car for the long drive back. We got home after 11:00 and pretty much crashed as soon as we hit the pillow.I have to say it was an awesome day and we got the chance to see one of, if not the, biggest party in the world.
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