Fogg’s Horn The Miscreant Meanderings Of Our Man Markus
Travels with Gambrinus Here’s a travel tip for all you Foggistas out there: avoid going with heavy drinkers, unless you’re taking them to rehab. And, if you are ever contemplating a trip to Oktoberfest in Munich, don’t even think about it; that’s the last place you want to be. The writer Budd Schulberg, in The Disenchanted, his thinly disguised novel about F. Scott Fitzgerald, described accompanying Fitzgerald to a college winter carnival, where the iconic novelist and alcoholic began sipping cocktails on the train, and ultimately disappeared for the entire length of the festival. In this case, our traveling companion not only didn’t disappear, but dragged our small party into bars of every description for refills in what seemed like every half-hour or so: corner kiosks, delicatessens, subway stops -- and at the last place imaginable -- the train station at Dachau outside Munich, site of the infamous concentration camp. Sitting nervously in the crummy old station bar, our small party was eyed malevolently through the cigarette and pipe smoke by grizzled old men in cloth caps, obviously not interested in welcoming visitors. Not a good start. However, things improved noticeably once we arrived at Oktoberfest itself -- that happy crossroads of drunkenness and gluttony. Here, everyone was in a great mood – in medical terminology, “three sheets to the wind.”
Artwork by Sharafina binti Teh Sharifuddin Ar
Now, for any Foggophile followers contemplating a visit to this great Dionysian experience, three things are necessary: a fondness for beer, of course, a lesser fondness for German oompah bands, and a bladder as watertight as a container ship. Pockets full of euros help too. Lining the midway of the fairgrounds on the way to the beer tents, crowding in with the rides (the Somersaulting Toboggan sounds really fun), the exhibits and souvenir stands, a cornucopia of food venues beckon the hungry mobs with racks of roasting chickens, shish kebabs of all varieties, giant pretzels, and other tasty snacks of all descriptions, while small sit-down cafeterias
7
