olafman

UPDATE:

For PAYPAL information, read post #303 of this thread. The Saturday Night Dinner and Saturday Walking Tour need to be be prepaid by WEDNESDAY, Sept 16.

ATTENDEE LIST

YES (50)
aviationkiwi
a330marcus
BlueDC
ckc123
dalethomas +1
DCSlav +1
dragonfirebcn
flugvergnugen
GuysInCT +1
howard-socal
ikura +1
itsaboutthejourney
ILuvParis +1
JoesJungle +2
justforfun
klauslubrich
kylemore
kyushuman
MaximusDamon+1
olafman +1
peteropny +1
PHLbuddy
pitbrian +1
Scott218
SeeYa
SeaMeFly +1
stratofortress +3
Teleskier +1
tokioblue +1
TommyClyde +1
Travis MT81
wireless

MAYBE (4)
bjoern69
fooko2002
PTahCha +1
YYZ_TVGuy

You are invited to a weekend of fun, laughter and 5000 gay men in lederhosen in Munich, Germany. Yes, you did read that correctly: 5000 gay men in traditional leather shorts. Highlights of your weekend will include standing on your chair/bench waving your beer stein and singing along with the ENTIRE 5000 person tent to “Take me home, country roads”! I KID YOU NOT. Then later you might find yourself standing on the TABLE with many others, arm in arm singing a song “Who the F*CK is Alice?” In between you will make new friends, get a little drunk and gain a better cultural understanding of Germany.

BACKGROUND:
You’ve always heard about this crazy Bavarian celebration called OKTOBERFEST. Millions of people go each year and drink barrels of beer. Crowds. Loud drunk Germans. Polka music. It sounds like a gay boy’s nightmare.

Last August, my “new” husband (we were married on the first day it was legal in California) and our son moved to Munich to work here for two years. I was excited that a Salzburg DO was happening in September so we booked a Priceline room and signed up. Unfortunately, our son got sick at the last moment and we had to stay home that weekend.

As fate would have it, Oktoberfest opened that weekend and the unofficial “GAY DAY AT OKTOBERFEST” was scheduled for that Sunday. So we dropped our son off at a friend’s house for the day and off we went to experience something that is unlike anything we had every experienced.

OKTOBERFEST:
At 8:00am on that Sunday, we entered the almost empty Weis’n grounds (the place where Oktoberfest takes place). There are many huge temporary “tents” that hold over 5000 each! We couldn’t believe how big it all was!

We headed over to the Braurosl tent and could see that a line of several hundred homos had formed. I didn’t know that gay people got up this early on a Sunday?!? There was no mistaking that we had found the line for the gay tent. The gaydar was beeping loudly.

The Braurosl: Our tent for the day

Around 9am the doors were opened and everyone rushed in to get a table. We had been warned that the tables would be full within a few minutes so if you wanted a seat, an early arrive was a must.

We were six in our group and quickly grabbed a table near one of the aisles. Four Germans asked if they could join our table thus filling it up. It was crazy to think that we were up this early and that we would be served our first beer very soon.

The morning started off slowly. None of us were used to drinking beer on a Sunday morning. In fact, I really never drank beer EVER before coming to Munich. I’ve drunk more beer in four months here than all the beer that I’ve drunk in my whole life. PROST!

Drinking mass #2

White sausages are served and you eat them with basketball sized pretzels. Breakfast of Champions! As we have all seen in the movies, beer is served in litre sized mugs called a “Mass”. It’s excellent beer that has been brewed especially for Oktoberfest. Its alcohol content is a whopping 6%. THAT’S why everyone seems so friendly.

Until noon, things remain quite calm. But as soon as the distant sounds of the band start to fill the tent, the boys all jump up on the benches and start to cheer and chant. There is an art to standing on your chairs after you’ve had a mass or two. I’m getting better at it. It helps to put your arm around the stranger next to you!

A View of the Crowd once the Band Arrives

The band finally arrives on the stage and begins playing some traditional Oktoberfest favorites. The locals go CRAZY for these songs. They know all the words and it’s one big sing-a-long.

More beer is served and the later it gets in the day, the more modern the songs. You don’t ever get anything near ABBA though!

The only drag queens in the building!
Olafman on stage helping conduct the band at the Braurosl a week later for a work party!

DETAILS FOR OKTOBERFEST GAYLA 2009

I have chosen the following hotel as the “host” hotel:
Four Points by Sheraton Munich Central
Schwanthalerstr. 111
80339 München, Germany
+49 89 510830

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/fourpo...propertyID=156

It is located at the entrance to the Weis’n grounds and will be very convenient for the Sunday festivities. It is also not far from the gay area, the Glockenbach.

SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEKEND

FRIDAY, SEPT 18, 2009
7:30 pm – Cocktails and Pupus at the Four Points Hotel
9:00 pm – S-Bahn or Taxi to Dinner at traditional German Restaurant
9:30 pm – Dinner at the Ratskeller Munchen, Marienplatz 8, Munchen. You will pay individually at the restaurant. No prepayment needed.
11:30pm - Walk to Gay Area. Drinks at Kraft Akt
12:30am - Dancing at New York Dance Club

SATURDAY, SEPT 19, 2009
10AM – 1PM – Munich City Tour. This event will cost $15 and will need to be prepaid via Paypal. See post #303 for Paypal details.
AFTERNOON – Lunch and then a variety of activities will be available including shopping, buying some lederhosen, tour of “BMW World”, gay coffeehouse life, disco nap, jet-lag nap…
7:30 pm – Drinks at the hotel
9:00 pm - Walk to dinner in the gay area, the Glockenbach
9:30 pm – Dinner at Palast der Winde Indian Restaurant. This meal will cost $25 and will need to be prepaid via Paypal. You will pay for drinks individually at the restaurant. See post #303 for Paypal details.
LATER ON – While we all know that we have a big day ahead but maybe we might go out for at least one night cap!

SUNDAY, SEPT 20, 2009
GAY DAY AT OKTOBERFEST!!
7AM – Meet for breakfast downstairs at the Four Points
8AM – Join the queue of the LGTB community in front of the “gay tent”
9AM – The doors open and we grab some FLYERTALKER tables. Anyone not there at 9AM cannot be guaranteed a seat or entrance to the tent. At some point, the tent will full and they will stop letting people in FOR THE REST OF THE DAY. That is why we all must be here at the opening.

MONDAY, SEPT 21, 2009
THE SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR IN SALZBURG
Morning – Travel by a quick 1.5 hour train ride to the picturesque city of Salzburg, Austria where you will enjoy a tour showing you many of the locations used in the film, "The Sound of Music". You'll be singing along as you are wisked away to a time of Nazi Austria with a singing family and that ..... of a baronesse.

GuysInCT is organizing this tour. PM him to arrange getting a spot in the van. They will take the train from Munich to Salzburg, then do the 2 PM tour. See Bobs Tours for details. We've reserved Rosa Maria as our tour guide. There's room for 4 more if anyone is interested.

EVERYONE IS WELCOME:
In addition to the 5000 gay men, there are of course lesbians, straight men and women and a couple of drag queens. Last year one of my straight friends came along from work and he had a great time!

I have attended various FT DO’s and both GoodKarmaGuy and Wireless set some high standards. I can only hope to provide a weekend half as wonderful as theirs.

START PLANNING NOW:
Book your air and hotels NOW. Oktoberfest is the busiest time of year in Munich. I was able to book the Four Points hotel using Starwood points but that will not last long. The hotel was not in any position to make any deals for me since it will be sold out months prior to the event. I chose the hotel because of its perfect location. I encourage you to find other options that meet your budget and alliance programs!

COME JOIN THE FUN:
As a recent transplant to Bavaria, I can say that the people here are warm and lovely. And as one guide book put it “Several million people a year can’t be wrong!” Oktoberfest is a fun time that everyone should get to experience.

-Olafman[/B]

thepointsguy

This sounds great! BF and I have been talking about doing Germany for a while... this sounds like the perfect excuse! ^

SeaMeFly

Sounds great, Olaf! I'll put that into consideration... How's life across the pond btw? Missing us in the US of A, yet?

TravisMT81

kinky!

thepointsguy

LOL! You made me blush

TravisMT81

aww good, I was afraid my humor might offend.

meFIRST

Hmm. I'm 50% there. Too early to confirm for me, I haven't even booked my summer trip yet.

Oh Bavarian men.. I also love good brew and pretzels with sausages, hmm, the combination of all the above could be dangerous.

I'm my calendar, I'll confirm later.

This should be a lot of fun. Thank you OP for organizing this.

olafman

We're doing well here in Germany. It's been a big change for us all but I think that we are finally getting settled. We lasted four months without buying a car but finally two weeks ago took the plunge. It has already snowed a couple of times here and going grocery shopping on your bike in the snow is not a lot of fun!

Our daily lives here are very different than what we knew in LA. First off, we eat MUCH more pork here. Bavarians aren't as fond of beef as we are in CA but they sure love their pork! We are definitely missing the choices of ethnic food that we eat in LA. Luckily we have a Thai restaurant that's about 2 blocks from our house.

We've really enjoyed getting to know Southern Germany during the few months that we've been here. It is absolutely gorgeous. We love living a block and a half from Lake Starnberg. It is so beautiful especially when you can see the Alps in the distance.

Being a good FTer, we're fleeing the cold and snow over Christmas and spending two weeks in South Africa to see my family. It is the first time that any of us have lived in a cold climate. I have NEVER looked forward to sun and swimming so much in my life!

Oktoberfest has been one of the highlights of our experience so far. We ended up going three times: once for gay day, once with some friends and once for a work party. I have to admit that it was the CRAZIEST work party I'd ever been to. When's the last time you danced on a table with your straight boss?

You should definitely think about coming to join us for the Oktoberfest Gay Day. It was a blast last year and it is going to be even better this year with all my FT brothers and sisters!

kudzu

Thanks, olafman, for the early announcement ^. I have the weekend booked at host hotel on points, as I don't like paying 340 euros nightly for their cheapest room

September is our favorite time in Europe, and we've been doing that for the last couple of years. So, color me + 1 as probables, and maybe we can convince another friend or two to join us.

Never been to Oktoberfest in Munich, and looking forward to it!

meFIRST

Yuck. EUR 300 + a night.
or 10000 points.
(for a 4 points property in Germany?)

That's Paris or London prices.

All the other Starwoods in the city are around that range.

LM also available for 10000 points per night. And currently, Cash & Points is not available . I didn't investigate further.

The only bright side is that the airfare options look good LH serves EWR non stop to MUC (for *A people) in the NYC area.

olafman

It's only 8000 points or 8500 for the Executive Level. I booked and got a room for two nights for 17,000.

The hotel is NOTHING special but it's got a great location at the entrance to the Weis'n. All the TripAdvisor reports saying that it's only worth staying there for Oktoberfest. Location, location, location.

I can't imagine paying 300 euros a night but it's slightly easier to swallow at 8,500 points a night.

Munich has many wonderful hotels that aren't more than a short taxi ride away but it's always fun to stay where the fun is!

thepointsguy

Have flights on hold and 5 nights at LM Munich. Just waiting on final confirmation, but we should be a go. Very excited!

Am pairing this trip up with 2 nights in Berlin and a day in Stockholm (the only place we could find for a departing F flight on low miles).

So where do I get some nice liederhosen???

19103_aa

8000 pt/night room on hold (had to reserve by calling). Lufthansa F award booked. ^^^
For those who cannot fathom staying in a Four Points, the Le Meridien is also closeby and a wonderful hotel. Hermes vert toiletries...

Ein Prosit!

olafman

There are many places in town where you can buy lederhosen. I'll be taking a group on Saturday afternoon around to a couple of shops.

Here's a picture of my family dressed in the lederhosen finest:
Click here to see what happens to Americans who move to Bavaria

A breakdown of the outfit:
SHIRT: a small checked blue or red shirt is the norm. A collarless white shirt can also work
LEATHER PANTS: The word lederhosen literally means "leather pants". The question is what length do you want? They have a hot pants version that some men with great legs wear. I chose the next length which is just above the knee. I like to think that's the length Jackie O. would have chosen. Then there is right below the knee. Finally there is the unpopular full length pant. Although we searched high and low at the gay day at Oktoberfest, we have yet to find the "assless" lederhosen. I'm sure they exist though!
SOCKS: Depending on the weather, the socks can rise above the knee! Also besides socks, some Bavarians wear this leg warmer type cuff around their calf.
SHOES: Boots are perfectly acceptable but a true Bavarian will wear these little shoes that lace up the side (I'm wearing them in the picture.)
SCARF: All Bavarians will add a garnish of a scarf to the outfit.

Bavarians wear this outfit all over during September and October. Walking down the street, shopping at the grocery store, going to the circus... It's not just for beer drinking anymore!

Closer to Oktoberfest, you can check out this website for some of the less expensive lederhosen:
http://www.cunda.de/

I will have some outfit ideas for those people who don't want the added expense of leather pants but still want to fit in.

Have fun dressing up!

aviationkiwi

Not sure I can make this. But I for sure will try. Never been outside of MUC Airport.