Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/80542
festival each year. (It's only after he calls out "O'zapft is!" ["It's tapped!"] that the other tents can begin to serve beer.) Unlike our fi rst evening, when the tents were plagued by long line-ups, today the doors are wide open and we walk right in. The tent is more than half full, but the vibe is calmer than at night. Families with young children are seated at many of the tables around us. They order food and beer (soft drinks for the kids), stay for an hour or so, and then leave. We end up at a table with a 40-something couple from California who are more than happy to toast Shawn's 40th and sing "Happy Birthday." They've been travelling around Germany, too, so we swap stories. Two young sisters on a backpacking trip around Europe, also American, are deliv- ered to our table by the server, so we order a second Spaten Märzen (it's hard to distin- guish the breweries' different versions of Märzen at this point, but it doesn't matter, because they all taste great). Pretty soon, it's time for a third round. Some young German guys join our table, probably attracted by the American sisters, and when the California couple leaves I real- ize we've been here the whole afternoon. More people join us. Language barriers are no problem – it's too loud to hold a con- versation now anyway. We just smile and toast each other and sing. The tent fi lls up. The front doors are closed now and the crowds outside are barred from entry until some of us lucky insiders deign to leave. The families with children are long gone, and we're surrounded by 20- and 30-somethings. It's our last night at Oktoberfest, and it's Shawn's birthday, so we admit to ourselves that we aren't going anywhere. And as the band breaks into "Ein Prosit" for the ump- teenth time, we laugh, raise our glasses and sing the words one more time. AMA MEMBERS SAVE MORE Before you go: Pick up a German Rail Pass from Rail Europe. Second class from $254 per person. Discounts available for pairs, youths and children. 1-866-667-4777; AMATravel.ca While you're there: Save 20% on a Rhine riverboat cruise with KD, the largest cruis- ing company on the Rhine. Also save 10% on daily rates at Lindner Hotels & Resorts. AMARewards.ca/SearchForDiscounts WESTWORLD >> SEPTEMBER 2012 33