We felt right at home at the much-anticipated Hofbräuhaus. It's like Wurstfest on steroids... Beer, live Polka band (but no dance floor unfortunately), sausage, schnitzel, lederhosen, dirndls, locals, tourists, antlers, steins, the whole shebang. They only sell beer in 1 liter mugs (we've been ordering .5 liter glasses at most restaurants, which is about 1 1/3 of a bottle), so each mug at HB is about 2 2/3 beers we're guessing. We ended up having a little too much fun and some of us, more than others, were regretting their 4th liter of dunkel the next day.
We made good friends with the Dutch father and son we sat next to - they were big fussball (soccer) fans whose team had just beaten the Munich team and they'd been celebrating - scarves on and all - for awhile. The best part was Marcus' (the son) reaction when Chris told him we were from Texas. His impression - like most people here - is that we're all cowboys. He made the motion of riding a horse with guns in the air - " bang bang"! Then his first question in very broken English was - "Can't y'all shoot people if they come into your house?" After a hesitant - "Yes, but.." response from Chris his next question was -"Have you ever done that?" ... As if it's a frequent occurrence.
The Hofbräuhaus is the world's most famous beer hall. Sure there are plenty of tourists but also tons of regulars. Many of the tables have "reserved" signs above them for the groups that regularly sit there and the regulars keep their own steins locked in cubbies. I like Rick Steves' description in his guide book: "It's fun to see 200 Japanese people drinking beer in a German beer hall. The locals go for the entertainment - to sing 'Country Roads', see how Texas girls party, and watch tourists try to chug beer." Hah, pretty true, although we fit right in - being familiar with the songs, the atmosphere, and knowing all the words to the toast. I desperately wanted all my Voges cousins to be there with us singing and toasting -"Ein prosit. Ein prosit... Prost!" Our only disappointment was that the oompah band didn't know "In heaven there is no beer" - we asked - apparently it's an American song.
The wall painting above the band reads: "Durst ist schlimmer als heimweh" (Being thirsty is worse than feeling homesick). It's safe to say we were neither that night...
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