A Hankering for Herbstfest – Missing Oktoberfest, and a sneaky trip Home

Facebook memories.   As a currently repatriated ex-expat, these kind of things can be both a blessing and a curse.  A blessing in that they remind you of the sweet times you had during your time abroad – growing babies, the children in their first regional wear and the like, but they also double as a curse in making you insanely jealous about things that you are missing out on now like Autumn in Bavaria for example which is just so beautiful, or other topical things like Oktoberfest (even though I can’t believe it finished at the weekend – it will be Christmas Market season there before we know it!!). To be honest, now is a time of year that I try to stay away from things like Facebook – memories and all.  To see all of our friends that still live in Bayern dressed to the nines in their tracht (traditional dress), and with nothing but  photos of smiling faces gathered around those long bier tables staring back at you that seem to shout “you should still be here”, it’s something I enjoy, but makes me feel a little sad at the same time if that makes sense…

Not that all of my Oktoberfest experiences were frivolous and full of joyful drunken abandonment… Many a time I had to go with my husband’s work and be on my best behaviour for the first half of the evening at least whilst important work stuff was discussed (waiting for his seniors to have a few biers so that they might think my Deutsche speaking abilities passable!!). An interesting experience to say the least, often in the quieter more traditional tents away from the tables full of tourists.  It was quite an honour to be part of that looking back.

But then there were definitely the more raucous fun times, the expat friend bonding times, and the times that still make me laugh out loud when I think about them – like my friend who fell over in a (admittedly hard to see) fountain whilst clad in his lederhosen – smashing the two precious Oktoberfest tankards that had up until then been carried about carefully and kept intact all day)… Or when Mr R accidentally stood up on a bench to swap places with somebody else which was a mistaken but sure indication to the crowded tent of around 5,000 people that he was about to down his entire litre of bier in one. Somehow (and I am still really not sure how) he managed it  (read more about what you should and should not ever do at Oktoberfest here – to which I am going to add, if you are intending on going next year and want to wear something “traditional” don’t opt for some cheap polyester outfit from amazon or something, real dirndl’s can cost a fortune, and you will feel ridiculous in a replica even after a bier or three believe me.  You are better off  visiting a shop when you get to Munich, and getting the staff to help you with a more authentic option…) …

I only missed one Oktoberfest whilst we lived there, mostly down to the fact that I was about to have the Toddler and my dirndl definitely wouldn’t have done up, but like many other things we adopted from our time abroad such as Saint Nicholas visiting, eating roast duck on Saint Martins and making our own stollen and lebkuchen each Christmas, it’s become something that I think we will always take part in in one way or another…

In fact, whilst we didn’t make it back to the main event this year, we did actually make it back to our closest local festival (a couple of weeks back!) thanks to some air miles, some good friends, and some very lovely family members who held the fort whilst Mr R disappeared for a day and a half…

Whilst a few big changes at Munich airport had me feeling more than disorientated, it wasn’t long before it felt like we hadn’t left all…  It’s quite a strange feeling feeling completely at home all of a sudden when you are no longer resident, and it was easy to feel like we had just popped out for some Saturday afternoon shopping (no shops are open on a Sunday!) whilst walking down Erding High Street!    It was full of revellers heading to the Fest though which reminded me we would be doing the very same ourselves a couple of hours later!

Being buttoned up in my dirndl after such a long time felt a little strange, but it wasn’t long before we were walking around familiar stalls, remembering our first visits when we moved there, eating favourite fest food stuffs and wondering whether we would see any of our old friends and neighbours from our village (we did manage to give our old village taxi driver a “große Überraschung” (big surprise!) when we booked him back to the airport the following day – it was nice to catch up on a bit of local news!).

obazda – a kind of cheese spread – with bier, served with huge pretzels, and so good!

As with many bier fests, there are only a few tables that are left unreserved so you need to get there early to get a seat (something else first time visitors need to be aware of!).  During the day especially tables are reserved for chunks of time, before the last reservation that is typically for the entire evening.  Our tables were booked from 6.30 for the whole night.

As we are now seasoned pros, it was easy to pace ourselves, and dip in and out of the boiling tent to have a little wander (and at the same time wonder at what possesses some people to go on some of the most stomach churning rides after an afternoon spent in a bier tent (!!!)), before heading back in for the rest of the night spent dancing on the benches (never the tables!!) and singing along to by now more than familiar songs from an old and very much missed chapter of our lives.

And so it’s back to the back of the wardrobe for my Bavarian dirndl that was such a big part of life while we lived there (you don’t just wear them to Oktoberfest!) this is definitely one year that whilst I might have looked at the social media memories and pictures of my friends at Oktoberfest with a little twinge of sadness, thanks to our flying visit with friends I don’t feel I have completely missed out!   Same time next year??