On an extended 3 day pass out of Heidelberg, a group of us, some military and some civilian, rolled into Munich for the Octoberfest.
Got there at dawn and made it to the Lowenbrau brewery around 8 am. I believe that the tours started around 8:30 or 9:00 and the bunch of us were first in line. After the tour we repaired to the lobby/gasthaus and talked to each other about the beauty of the hop. They woke me up around 10:30 as I had claimed a side corner of a stone bench to relax on.
Went to the big tent thing that afternoon and ended up with a dozen or more of those fantastic Litre-sized, beer steins. Oom-pah-pah bands and swaying from side to side with folks from around the world, while drinking beer in a hall where Adolph Hitler made speechs can seem like a strange right of passage.
Safer than running with the bulls.
Steve