Munich Oktoberfest 2022 Edition!

Isaac’s age and my and Chris’ ages are all about equidistant from the age Chris and I were the first time we went to Oktoberfest. With that weird thought, we drove up to Munich.

“Do we have to wear those lederhosen and dirndls?” Eloise asked.

“I want to wear one because I don’t want to look stupid!” Isaac said.

Chris apparently told Isaac that people would stare at him if he didn’t wear lederhosen. And although we of course saw many many many people wearing lederhosen, nobody stared at Isaac for not wearing them. They did, however, stare at Isaac and Eloise for their ferocious husky dog hats. One lady jumped when she saw Eloise’s hat in the bathroom and said, “I thought you were holding an animal!”

“I LOVE OKTOBERFEST!” Eloise declared immediately and frequently. “I want to come to Oktoberfest every year!”

They went in a fun house and a toboggan slide, we all rode a rollercoaster and the super-high, terrifying spinning swings.

We revisited the Paulaner beer hall of our youth and had a gigantic pretzel, liters of beer, spätzle and mushroom dumplings. The band played on the bandstand, everyone sang along when they’d play familiar songs, and the kids agreed it was way better than being at school on a Tuesday!

Eloise has been begging to do the duck carnival game everytime the carnival comes to our neighborhood, and we told her we could do it if she found it at Oktoberfest. Isaac got to do a shooting game before Eloise realized the game she assured us was the duck game was actually not a game at all. So she got to try her hand at some other game, and both kids got to experience the keen disappointment of getting a crappy carnival prize even when you did a decent job with marksmanship.

Then we walked around Munich, visiting a few cathedrals and the Marienplatz, admiring dirndls and lederhosen and hats with feathers, and having some more traditional Bavarian food. As we headed back to the car, people continued to flood into the Oktoberfest grounds. Eloise wanted to go back, but we said family day was over and it was time to head home. But there’s always next time. Even if it takes another 14 years.