I will never forget the weekend of Sept. 20-23, 2024. I took advantage of being abroad in London to travel to Munich, Germany, for Oktoberfest along with my roommates for my birthday. We flew into Memmingen, a town in Germany, then hopped on a train to arrive in Munich.
Lost Souls, a pop hostel in the borough of Thalkirchen, was our home for the weekend where my group and I camped out in tents as we were just some of the over 2,000 people staying in the hostel for Oktoberfest. I met so many interesting people from all over the world and talked to people from Milan, Australia, London and Sweden to name a few. We arrived Friday night and planned to be at the festival on Saturday for the opening day of the three-week-long event.
Saturday morning arrived and I changed into my lederhosen, the clothing that signifies the celebration, preservation and pride of Bavarian culture, and left the campsite to make my way to Theresienwiese, where the main festival was taking place. When I arrived at 10 a.m., I was shocked to see that my group of six paled in comparison to the sea of 60,000 people who were also there wishing to take part in the opening day ceremony of Oktoberfest. We found a table right outside of Augustiner Festhalle, one of 12 massive beer tents, where we watched a parade of all the barrels of beer getting carried into each beer tent on carriages at noon. Following the parade, we indulged in delicious Oktoberfest beer and bratwurst, met amazing people from different countries and had conversations with locals until the curtain set on the first day of Oktoberfest.
The following morning, I headed into the center of Munich to explore the city rich with beautiful architecture and culture. I first explored Karlsplatz and Stachus, which is the main city square and an archway where I saw more parades commemorating Oktoberfest. Next, I visited St. Michael’s, Frauenkirche and St. Peter’s, which are all churches around Munich. St. Michael’s is a renaissance-style church where I was able to see a procession underway. Frauenkirche is a gothic-style church that is iconic for two giant domed towers that stand at the entrance to the church. I climbed the towers and was able to experience an amazing view overlooking all of Munich. The last church I visited was St. Peter’s, the oldest church in Munich and a true gem renowned for its gothic and baroque blended architecture style.
The next spot I explored was Marienplatz, another plaza where Munich’s town hall was located. It was here where over the weekend I indulged in many different Bavarian dishes such as a Bavarian breakfast (white sausages and pretzels), krustenbraten (roast pork with potato dumplings and cabbage salad) and schweineschnitzel (German schnitzel).
After exploring the center of Munich, I hopped on a bus and visited Schloss Nymphenburg, Olympiapark and the English garden. Schloss Nymphenburg is one of the largest palaces in Germany that served as the residence of the Bavarian rulers and was the birthplace of Max Emanuel, a ruler of Bavaria and a member of the house of Wittelsbach. Olympiapark was home to the 1972 Summer Olympics and now serves as a large park where a lot of social, cultural and religious events take place. The stadium was constructed by Frei Otto and Gunter Behnisch to resemble the Alps with its unique design and transparent appearance. Lastly, the English Garden is one of the world’s largest urban parks in the world, measuring 910 acres, beating Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London. Multiple locals that I spoke with recommended exploring it as it is home to Eisbachwelle, or the most popular river surfing spot in Central Europe. Eisbachwelle attracts surfers from all over Europe for its thrills and dangers as the shallowness and strength of the current make it a difficult task, especially when you consider that it attracts huge crowds of people to watch these surfers.
Unfortunately, the weekend came to an end too quickly and I took a train back to Memmingen where I flew back to London. The weekend was one of the greatest of my life and I made experiences and memories that I will never forget. I highly encourage anyone who has the opportunity to travel to Munich to do so, as it is a city filled with a rich history, gorgeous architecture and delicious food!
