Oktoberfest 2013

Written by Dave:  After we left Lake Bled in Slovenia, our next stop was Munich, Germany.  We knew Oktoberfest was on, but had heard it was going to finish up just before we arrived.  Once we arrived at our rental, we were informed that it was the last day of Oktoberfest, and we hadn’t missed it.

Peter, who we rented the apartment from for the week, generously offered to meet us later that evening with his wife and be our guides.  He said it was an opportunity not to be missed, so we gladly took him up on his offer.

When we arrived at the train station, we got off and were met with hundreds of people dressed in lederhosen and dirndls.  Our family was definitely underdressed.  Out of curiosity, I checked the price of lederhosen, and the cheapest I saw was 200 euros.  I decided to stick with my jeans and sweater.

As we approached the festivities, we were greeted by a large sign welcoming us to Oktoberfest.

Inside, everything took on the atmosphere of a fair combined with a drinking festival.  There were rides for kids and adults, games, food, and the largest glasses of beer I have ever seen.

There were multiple different buildings scattered around the grounds that were a completely self contained party on their own.  We were told that people came early in the morning to hold a table for the evening, when the real partying began.  Although they didn’t wait till evening to begin the drinking.

As this was a Sunday night, and there was work in the morning, things were much calmer with more control on the drinking.  Even so, the buildings were packed.  Hard to imagine what it would have been like on a really busy night.

Inside it still seemed fairly packed with people, and hard to move around.  It is hard to visualize how large of space this really was from the picture, but it was immense.  There is room for around 6,000 people inside.

The kids were more interested in the rides, of course.  The amount of rides available would put many large fairs to shame.  Of course there was much pleading to go on the rides, but there was too much to see.

We did agree to one ride, and Luie picked the bumper cars.  Summer went with him to drive, and both kids had a lot of fun.

We stopped to watch some of the feats of strength, which was in reality more of feats of technique.

Of course, being Bavaria, bratwurst was available everywhere.  The ones that were half a meter were quite impressive.

One of the most popular traditions at Oktoberfest is heart shaped gingerbread hearts with messages.  There are over 100 stands scattered around the grounds selling the hearts.  Most people walking around had one or more hanging around their necks.

This was the size of the beer mugs.  Believe it or not, they hold a liter of beer each.  And rarely do they drink just one.  The bathrooms must see a lot of action here.

It was quite impressive to see the barmaids carrying these to the tables.  I saw a couple girls carrying six of these at a time.  That is 3 liters of beer and the weight of the mug in each hand!

By the time our visit was done, we had learned lots of history about Oktoberfest and Bavaria from our wonderful hosts.  We were so fortunate to have such nice and knowledgable hosts in Munich.  Once again, unplanned timing worked out perfectly for us, and we were able to experience a German tradition.  It was a great experience for everyone.  Although I never dreamed that I would be taking my kids to Oktoberfest.

And the numbers for this year:  6.4 million visitors, who consumed 6.9 million liters of beer.