Ein Prosit, ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit! Ah, the standard toasting song of the Oktoberfest is still ringing in my ears after a weekend of beery excess with friends over from the UK. Yes! Siobhán was here from the Isle of Man for a weekend (I haven't seen her in over four years!!) and Matt was here from Leamington with his German girlfriend Sandra (I haven't seen him in at least two years).

Siobhán's trip was just like the old days: far too much booze, lots of laughter, happy memories. I went to the airport on Friday lunchtime to meet her and we went straight to the Airbräu on-site microbrewery, where we proceeded to demolish half a monster duck & several organic beers. Then it was a quick dash to mine to get changed and we were straight out again to the Wiesn.

There we experienced not one but two true strokes of luck: Bénédicte told me that she was in the Ochsenbraterei tent with a few people from the EPO, but it was already nearly five o'clock & the Wiesn was heaving with people; after all, it was just after work on Italian weekend. We went to the front entrance but were told that this was shut. We tried our luck at one of the side entrances, where initially the security guard told me "only with reservations", but inexplicably he paused after my "but all my friends are already inside, & it's only us two out here" plea and then ushered us in!

The second bit of good fortune came when we eventually found Bénédicte & her friends, because just at that moment two people got up & left the adjacent table, allowing us to squeeze in & settle down for a long night's drinking. And oh boy did we drink! The people next to us were a friendly lot from Salzburg, and soon we were chatting & laughing with complete strangers, in that special Oktoberfest way.

Around eleven o'clock we emerged bleary-eyed from the tent & hunted for some food. I headed back to the corn-on-the-cob stall I'd discovered with Lorna, only this time I pushed the boat out & had the garlic butter option. Oh yeah! So did Siobhán. But this didn't stop this Mancunian policeman from stopping to chat with her whilst I snuck away to get some chocolate-coated fruit. His name was Simon, and we ended up spending the rest of the evening together.

After a bumper-car ride & some snacks (deary me, Nutella is sticky stuff!) we headed into town to meet up with Michaela, Lisa & friends at the Schrannenhalle. It was their after-Wiesn party, and we had to queue to get in, but we drank our money's worth of free prosecco at the entrance (well, we DID fill in the name & address cards, just not legibly...) and headed in for more beers.

At four thirty, after fifteen straight hours on the razzle, Michaela, Siobhán & I jumped into a taxi and headed home. It was as much as we could do to get Simon to get into a DIFFERENT taxi; he was all up for heading back to mine with Siobhán & me! Ah, the Oktoberfest brings out the best in people.

Siobhán had the energy on Saturday to head into town with me & Christian & Bénédicte and buy herself a Dirndl, but she was flagging by the evening so I went into town alone to meet Michaela, Lisa & Claire for a bite to eat & a few beers in Faun.

I think it was secretly good that we didn't go to the Wiesn on Saturday, because it meant we were all the more ready for some Oktoberfest action on Sunday. Plus, it was a gorgeous sunny day. So after a brunch at Christian's, Siobhán & I headed down to the Wiesn, which was absolutely heaving AGAIN. And there we met up with Matt, Simon's old housemate, who was over for a few days. It was great to catch up with him & to meet Sandra. He's still busy doing crazy design stuff. That man is going to go far.

After a couple of Maß and a good deal of sunshine to the forehead (and in Siobhán's case to the chest, courtesy of her naughty Dirndl neckline) it was time to head back to mine, to get Siobhán packed off to the airport. The weekend was too short!!!! I can't wait to see her again - at the latest next year for the Oktoberfest, so she can get out her Dirndl again!

It occurs to me that I have been so caught up in Oktoberfest stories that I have completely failed to mention another visitor I had last week. Let me rectify this grievous omission immediately!

Johannes from Sydney is over in Europe again at the moment, and he headed over to Munich for the day on Tuesday. I met with him in the afternoon for a coffee & some beers in a number of bars around the Glockenbach quarter. Then Christian met the two of us in my new favourite restaurant, Cooperativa, where we had some delicious food followed by their divine chocolate mousse. Cor blimey! One last drink and then Johannes had to jump in a train back to Austria. But hopefully we'll be seeing him again in a few weeks' time in Paris...