Oktoberfest!

 

Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being visited by two friends from the US. Having studied German for four years and having lived in Germany for another three, I decided it was finally time for the three of us to tackle the most famous of all German tourist events–Oktoberfest.

 

In truth, all the signs that welcome you to the festivities should be given a subtitle, “Oktoberfest: The embodiment  of all German stereotypes.” Dirndels, Lederhosen, Pretzels, White Sausage, (and obviously Beer) reign supreme at this event. I was shocked to see that even young men and woman pulled out their traditional costumes, and they looked good!

This is Michael. He tried to tempt Melissa into marriage by mentioning his 150 cows. She was sadly not impressed.

Oktoberfest originally began as the wedding celebration of King Ludwig of Bavaria(As in crazy King Ludwig, who also commissioned the construction of the real Cinderella Castle in southern Germany)  and Princess Therese of Saxony. The original party drew around 40,000 locals, and the event was complete with horse races, and of course, free-flowing beer. 

 

Today, the landscape of the two-week celebration is marked by its enormous “Beir Zelte” or beer tents from the local Munich breweries. Each tent can hold around 94,000 guest. (That’s the Spaten tent behind Melissa and I. The second picture is taken from inside). Each year, anywhere from 6 to 8 million people arrive in Munich for Oktoberfest and together consume around 5.5 million liters of beer and 45,000 liters of wine. 

Pure ridiculousness.