lederhosen, beer and rollercoasters

Oktoberfest. The title sums it up.
It's the largest festival in the world.
6 million people descend upon Munich from all over the world with the purpose of drinking litre upon litre of the best beer in the world.
In order to get served a beer, you must have a seat at a table at one of the 15 beer tents at the festival. Table reservations are sold out at least 6 months in advance. So, we woke up at 7:30 am (after a 6 hour drive the night before) to stand in line to get a spot in one of the tents.

We sat in the Spaten tent. By 10am, the place was packed with people of all ages and nationalities donned in lederhosen, dirndels or ridiculous hats shaped like kegs. They only serve one type of beer (good) in one size (big). Every few minutes, a random table will break out in song. Well, it's more of a chant. (see video)
We went with Mike, Nate, Todd (all teachers from JFK), Tonya (dating Mike) and Eric (Todd's friend visiting from CA). Tonya drove us in her mini-van and we stayed with her friends in a town about 40 minutes outside of Munich. Kathy and Fritz. Kathy has never been to Oktoberfest and Fritz hasn't been for 20 years. However, after seeing our pictures and hearing our stories, they have asked if they can go with us next year!!
I think the pictures really say it all. So check out the complete album at our snapfish album
-- katie