Oktoberfest

Celebrating Oktoberfest in Munich has always been a bucket list item akin to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Halloween in Salem, or New Year’s in Time Square.  Check another item off the list!  The Switzerland crew and I headed to Munich the other weekend for the last two days of the bicentennial Oktoberfest (way to up the bucket list ante huh).  A group of MITers made the trek across the ocean to meet us for a long weekend of debauchery, lederhosen, oopmha bands, and general shenanigans.  Here a few of them are in their lederhosen and dirndls.        

All decked out in their German finest

Although the inaugural Oktoberfest was to honor the marriage of King Ludwig I and Therese of Bavaria, these days its devolved into a celebration of German beer.  The festival grounds house 14 tents each staffed by a Bavarian brewery serving their own brew in addition to an enormous carnival of rides, games, and food stalls.  I was expecting the Mardi Gras like atmosphere to permeate the event and was surprised by the number of families at the Oktoberfest grounds.  However the grounds were packed and unless you’re going in the morning during the middle of the week, I would not recommend taking small children.     

Oktoberfest grounds

We woke up, took the train, and were at the festival grounds by 8:30AM to be in line for when the tent doors opened at 9:30AM.  Wow how grossly we underestimated the throngs of lederhosen-cladden people.  Our lot hoped to spend the day at the Hofbräu-Festzelt tent, waited in line in a crush of people for about two hours, and then were saved from near claustrophobia when Karla paid off the doorman and got us all in.  Thanks Karla!  After our unwelcomed two hour interlude in line, we were eager to join our classmates who had gotten up at 5AM, arrived way earlier, and managed to hold us seats at tables inside the tent.  Each tent holds 3K – 7K people so seats can be tough to come by.

Allen & I enjoying our beers

Oktoberfest is a highly entertaining event.  At least two thirds of the people in the tent were dressed in traditional attire.  Waitresses scurry between drunken hordes miraculously carrying ten liters of beer.  Waiters hoist half chickens, pretzels, dumplings, and wurst through the air at hungry patrons.  The band takes the stage in the middle of the tent playing lively oophma music.  The Hofbräuhaus in Munich actually inspired what seems to have become the Oktoberfest theme song "oans, zwoa, g'suffa" (Bavarian dialect for: "one, two, drink").  Every twenty minutes or so, the band breaks into the above song and the cheering crowds jump to their feet on benches or sometimes tables, hoist their beers, and scream.

Hofbrauhaus Band

A few liters of beer, half a chicken, a pretzel, and many rounds of singing later, the tent was closing for the evening.  Somehow we managed to spend fourteen hours at the Hofbräuhaus tent and went back the following day to try out a few more tents and further soak up the Oktoberfest culture.  I have no idea when, where, or how I acquired the hat below.

Decked out in our new hats