A Dirndyl! A Dirndyl!

voltee ♦ October 27, 2010 ♦ 3 Comments

Item: Dirndyl and skirt Color/Fabric: Black/white/flowers, linen/carpet/polyester Designer: Landhaus Where Purchased: A department store in Munich, Germany Years Owned: 2
Hello all! I’m sure that I am missing each and every one of you right at this moment. Currently, we are staying in a sweet farmhouse owned by Matt and Nina, on the island of Mallorca. But since there isn’t really internet access there, I’m writing this before I left.
In honor of the approaching Halloween, I’m going to do a few posts of my favorite costumes. This one’s also in honor of the month of October, quickly drawing to a close.
When we went to Europe for the first time, two years ago, we stayed with two of our friends from IBM, Keri and Tim, who were living in Munich. They are wonderful. And they were taking us to Oktoberfest!
The first day in Munich we saw the amazing, historic town, and went shopping for our Oktoberfest outfits. Who knew they were so expensive! Man. Way more than I pay for real clothes. But we lucked out, and found some lederhosen for Nate that were on sale because they had neon green embroidery, and I found the skirt/dirndyl combo that was cheap because it wasn’t the short, slutty popular variety. Plus, it is made for someone who doesn’t have any ribs. I have to expel every last trace of air from my lungs to get into it.
The next day we went to Oktoberfest, and I still felt terrible. I didn’t realize how bad I would feel, with the jet-lag and sausages and all.
In the morning I was a little sluggish. We didn’t leave on time for the Fest. I could sense a little frustration from Tim and Keri, but I thought everything was fine. We were only like 45 minutes late.
The reason for all the anxiety, that they didn’t tell us, was that if you are not one of the first 10,000 people into one of the ten giant beer tents, there is no beer. Nothing. You can have pretzels, giant cookies, sausages. But absolutely no beer.
I had always pictured Oktoberfest as a place where there are fountains of beer that you just dip a mug into, that beer flows freely down the streets, with birds bathing in it and children splashing in it. I thought, perhaps, it even rained beer.
It doesn’t.
For the 100,000 people who make it into a tent, Oktoberfest is heaven. For the rest of the other 1 million souls it is agony.
We waited in a line that never moved, not one inch, for hours. Sometimes the door would open, and we would catch tantalizing whiffs of roasted chicken. But they wouldn’t let anyone in. People got very angsty. One man even started insulting us “Americans” by screaming “Bush! Bush! Bush!!” Into our faces.
So we left. But we did go to a trippy fun-house before we left. Totally worth it!
We finished out the day in a Beirgarten, and it was nice to be outdoors without some many crowds.
Here we are:

I think it was more fun at the Beirgarten, anyway. Except that Nate went back to Oktoberfet without me, and he says, “No. It wasn’t.”
I wore this for Halloween that year, at Herman and Andy’s. They always have fabulous parties, and I will miss Halloweens with them, since they’ve moved to the city.
It is really snug, though. Sheesh. I couldn’t even get the zipper up on Trixie, since she can’t deflate her ribcage. It’s so uncomfortable, I don’t think I’ll ever wear it again. I should save it for an heirloom, though. If I have a daughter someday, she’ll probably be able to fit into it by the time she’s five.

I’m not sure exactly when my next post will be, but please stay tuned!

**I have to keep this forever.  Even if I can never squeeze into it again!