Oktoberfest

Hi everyone!  Just wanted to let you know I’m back after suffering a bout of flu/sinusitis the last few weeks.  Couldn’t swallow, sleep and most importantly eat!  I’ve had enough of chicken soups for the time being.  So I want to get back into blogging today with a post about that great German beer festival known as Oktoberfest.  I had the pleasure of attending the last weekend there in Munich a few weeks ago and I took a number of pictures of my time there.  Hope you enjoy!

A friend and myself made our way from Frankfurt to Munich via the very efficient German train system.  Had a quick “brekky” at the station of pastries and coffee for about 10 Euro!  It was a comfortable three and a half hour journey to Bavaria.  I was quite impressed with the cleanliness and the organisation of the railway environment.

Munich provided a very “Gothic like atmosphere” with its architecture and the weather really added to the mood too.  There were obviously a lot of people in town ready to enjoy the last of this alcoholic festival.

Autumn had really begun to show itself here.  It was quite cool and there was a sight drizzle but that didn’t keep the crowds away.  People were here to sample the beer and pretzels and to be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect when we made our way to the main area where the Oktoberfest activities were being held…

Don’t you just love the decorations?  I could easily try to fit that in my apartment!  My best description for Oktoberfest would be to call it the “alcoholic Disneyland”.  I have never seen anything like it.  This is the world’s largest gathering of beer makers.  Picture it.  Gigantic halls, one after the other with lines of people waiting outside just to get in to drink beer and enjoy the entertainment!  The trick is to line up quite early and of course everyone thinks the same….

So we stayed outside in the drizzling rain enjoying our “steins”.  There was no way we were going to get into the hall.  Oktoberfest runs on very strict rules in regards to beer sales.  All the beer prices are set at one price by the brewers.  That “stein” is a litre and it costs 8.80 euro for one. (Those pretzels are 5 Euro each).   But you have to be “sitting” at a table to order it.  So after a few of these I was very tipsy.  I had to try and contain myself because I was trying to get decent shots.  And then it happened!  A security guard left her door for a moment and my friend and I just casually walked in….

Now I know why people line up forever to get inside…the atmosphere was quite “electric”!  It was a sea of tables with people drinking and dancing!  Bavarians take their Oktoberfest celebrations quite seriously and a lot of them were dressed in their traditional garb.  The men wear an outfit called a “lederhosen” and the females wear a “dirndl”.  Everyone was very happy to pose (after I told them I was a reporter…ahem!).  And the music…one minute it’s a traditional Bavarian knee slapping song and then the band breaks into a version of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”!  LOL…I’m telling you, in it’s own odd way it actually works!

The real heroes are the staff at Oktoberfest.  They can carry up to eight of those mugs in one go.  Remembering that they each weigh one litre, that’s a lot of heavy work!  But they do it so casually and make it look easy.  Everyone was really friendly and they greeted us with a smile.  These are actually the last images I remember taking…A few more steins and I can barely remember how I made it back to the train station to get back to Frankfurt.  I do remember eating a few “wurst” with mustard at some point.  I had a great time and I can’t wait to do it again next year.

Tagged as: Germany