When I first moved to Scotland I figured I’d travel ALL the time.  I was going to be so close to Europe and flights are so cheap, I’d finally have the chance to see all the places I’ve been meaning to!  Except that when I was a student and had tons of time off, I was broke.  Now that I’m working and have money, I have limited vacation.  So I’ve hardly traveled in Europe at all.

The one thing I wanted to experience before I moved back home was Oktoberfest in Munich.  It was on my ‘list of things to do before I die’ and I HAD to do it before I moved and maybe lost my chance to go forever!  So I booked my flight.

Then I bought some beer.

LOTS of beer.

And some chicken too.  There were lots of chickens.

And LOTS of people dancing on benches.  The dancing on benches was fun.

And leiderhosen!  Boys in leiderhosen all over the place!  I never would have thought there would be so many guys wearing them.  But they were EVERYWHERE.

Leiderhosen air guitar.

These are apparently some sort of traditional calf warmer.  Tons of guys were wearing them (see the young man above) but I found them so odd!  They’re like socks, but…with the middle missing.  So strange.  I actually asked this one german guy but his English wasn’t so good and apparently the reason they’re traditionally worn is ‘to keep your calves warm.’  So there you go.

There were, unfortunately, also quite a few drunk idiots at Oktoberfest.

Kind of like this dude, who was barred for breaking FIVE beer steins.  FIVE!  I also saw a guy get kicked out for drinking beer out of his shoe.  Though that was pretty funny.

We had a great time though and I’d definitely recommend going, if you have a chance.  Just avoid idiots breaking beer steins and you’ll be fine.