Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany

Twelve hours travel time to make it to a party may seem ridiculous but once I saw what Oktoberfest really was all about it was well worth it. The first night we got there, Shaun and I were too late to get into the beer tents, so we walked around the grounds and headed to bed to rest for the debauchery to follow in the morning.
After some breakfast we made it into the HB beer tent and had our first liter stine of beer at about 11:30am. Now, if you have never been to Oktoberfest I don't think you understand the amplitude of this festival. First, it is a carnival, but with rides twice the size of any in the U.S. then there are a dozen or so beer houses which are the size of airplane hangers and can fit up to 10,000 people in each of them. Although the beer is expensive (8euro for a liter) you are paying more for the atmosphere. Of course I had two stines, one in each hand, as I danced around the airplane hanger. Dancing on benches, on tables and through the crowds. I was in Candyland! We were planning on drinking until about 5pm and catching a train to Bratislava but when 1am rolled around and we realized what time it was we had to abort that idea. We finally boarded a 5am train to Vienna and slept the whole way.