More beer, more beer, more beer, more beer...

That pretty much sums up our experience at the Oktoberfest yesterday. We report, much the worse for wear, from Berlin where we have just arrived after 6 hours on a train. I've had a headache for 24 hours straight and there are no pharmacies open on Sundays and no pain killing drugs available in supermarkets.

Our first day in Munich was, to put it frankly, a bit shit. It poured with rain all day long and it was bitterly cold. After becoming drenched in 10 minutes of rain, we eventually procured umbrellas and headed into the city to check things out. With the weather the way it was, it was difficult to experience much of what had been recommended to us in Munich - all the beer gardens were closed, walking around looking at the sights or seeing parklands was pretty useless, so we were restricted to shopping for Birkenstocks and going to the Augustiner Bierhalle, both of which we pulled off with some success.

The rain actually did stop in the late afternoon, so we mastered yet another metro system and went to find a jazz bar recommended by our trusty Lonely Planet guide. Unfortunately the jazz bar appeared to have been replaced by an expensive looking Italian restaurant, so we salvaged some part of the evening and ducked into another bar, which although completely empty other than staff and with pretty bad music, was actually relatively cool. A few drinks later we decided to call it a night without dinner considering we'd had a big lunch.

As something of a miracle yesterday ended up being superb weather-wise, so we boarded the tram and followed the hoards to the Oktoberfest. At first we just wandered around marvelling at the sheer size of the place, watching crazy drunk dudes on suicidal fair rides and perving on buxom wenches and cute boys in tight lederhosen.

We attempted to get into a few of the larger bier halls, but found enormous lines to get into all of them, so we contented ourselves with the smaller and slightly more sedate Paulaner hall, where we were able to get standing room to begin our day of drinking. The first beer went down remarkably quickly and we wisely decided to order some food before things got too messy. Several sausages, roast pork and potato dumplings later we braved the outside beer garden (again, standing room only) and soaked up the sun for what turned out to be a huge afternoon.

We were quickly befriended by a group of Germans from Dusseldorf who took a liking to us and asked us all sorts of questions about Australia and insisted on us teaching them an Australian beer song. They couldn't have been more delighted with the lyrically complex 'more beer, more beer, more beer, more beer...' etc and the rowdy renditions went on for several minutes at a time, always followed up with the magical refrain of 'Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi oi oi!' It was kind of embarrassing but pretty funny.

The afternoon passed in a daze and I remember very little of it other than that every time I came back from the toilet I had a new beer. I think other people were buying us beers, because this morning we had quite a lot of money left over, which shouldn't happen when you're drinking 1 litre steins at €7.70 each.

Somehow we found our way out and back to the tram, where I continuously dropped my water bottle on the ground. On one of these occasions as I bent to pick up the bottle for the millionth time, the tram doors opened and I was surprised to discover myself sitting on my arse outside the tram. Yes, I fell out of a tram. Luckily the other passengers' amusement and my embarrassment only lasted until the next stop, where we were actually supposed to get off. I guess it would have been more appropriate if I'd fallen out there instead.

Neither of us remember anything of getting back to the hotel, but some time later we woke up lying on the bed in the dark fully clothed. In a bit of a daze and wondering what had happened, we got undressed and got in bed, and it was only as we were trying to work out what time to set the alarm for the following morning that we found to our surprise that it was only quarter past eight. Not really being up for dragging our sorry arses out to find some dinner, George went down to reception and ordered us a dodgy pizza, which I am quite sure saved my life. We very quickly passed out again, only to wake up this morning with headaches and foggy heads to make our way to the train station once again.

It's too early to have any real impression of Berlin yet, as so far we've just walked around trying without success to find me some drugs. We'll probably just have a quiet dinner and an early night, and I'm quite sure mine at least will be alcohol free for only the second time in the last 6 weeks...

Auf weidersehen