The Oktoberfest report!
O'zapft is!
Don't worry folks, that's not English, it's Bavarian for: It's tapped! - as in, the beer is now flowing and will not stop for anyone. Perhaps I've started out on the wrong foot. Let's disregard for the moment that 6 million mugs of beer are consumed, or rather 49.5 Million Euro spent on beer, during 17 days of celebration and focus on some other numbers. 12,000 people are employed at the Oktoberfest; of these, 1600 are waitresses. There is seating for up to 100,000 people at one time and people eat roughly 438,886 sausages and 459,279 roast chickens - that's of course not counting the pretzels, tons of french fries, candy, and whatever else is served at Oktoberfest in abundance. In simple terms, the Oktoberfest is the world's largest celebration and feast.
Let me skip the history of Oktoberfest, since that's coming to you in my next episode, and discuss the experience of attending Oktoberfest for the first time. Flying to Munich from Berlin was an experience in itself - the flight crew were wearing traditional Bavarian clothing and serving beer at 8am. I'm not sure how I feel about the stint now, as I experienced similar forced excitement injections on my way down to Cancun, but at the time it contributed to an overall sense of holy journeying, or pilgrimage if you will.
Arriving in Munich was no less magical, as the airport itself is probably one of the cleanest, sexiest buildings I've ever had the honor of pacing through. Ok - perhaps that's exaggerating a little, but quite honestly, the airport is a masterpiece in architecture and design. Sleek, efficient, clean, huge... very impressive. Anyway, to my surprise, women in Dirndls*, (see below), escorted me through the airport and towards the metro. I have no idea why that happened, but like I said, magical. Catching the metro was less magical, but regardless, I was on my way to the famed Oktoberfest at Theresienwiese.
Exiting the metro was a huge buzz kill. Not only was it raining, but I was an hour early, meaning I was the only Oktoberfester there. However, I was able to scope out the Oktoberfest grounds, which would later, after a significant amount of beer, prove to be very helpful. A sausage and beer later, the place started to fill up and I nabbed myself a seat at one of the 14 enormous beer tents. Despite a seating capacity of 5000-6000 people, seats at the Oktoberfest become invaluable commodities and are even traded on the New York Stock Exchange at ridiculous prices. As soon as I sat down, I was swarmed by lovely waitresses, coaxing me into buying beer, pretzels, Oxen, chicken, sausage and other delicious specialties. The brass band fired up, what seemed like seconds later and the concept of Oktoberfest set in. AHA! This is what it's all about! I had some of the most excited and heated debates with my fellow Oktoberfesters and talked about everything from the consistency of the weisswurst and quality of the Ox-platter, to the living conditions in the former East block. There were within my immediate vicinity, Germans, Italians, French, Americans, English, Russians and Australians. The size of the Oktoberfest is really what impresses the most. The efficiency with which the tent staff operates is also unbelievable, serving up hundreds of chickens and sausages in seconds. When the tents fill to capacity, the seating spills out into the adjoining beer-gardens, where despite the rain, people also seemed to be having the time of their lives.
The Oktoberfest is hard to describe, as everyone experiences it differently. It's a traditional festival, surviving within a modern context. Things have obviously been updated since the first Oktoberfest in 1810. Besides beer here are some of the year's funnest attractions: Roller coasters, shooting galleries, bumper cars, you name it. The people are, from my experience, hugely social and friendly to foreigners. Of course one can expect the occasional run in with someone less friendly, but overall the vibe is very positive. As for my situation, I will probably do things differently next time. My experience was unique in that I went by myself. I wasn't sure if going by myself was such a good idea, but I made several friends and had a good time despite being on my own. In fact, I was able to sit wherever I liked BECAUSE i was alone - groups have a much harder time finding seats.
Next time, I think I'll go with a group of friends and do my share of praying for nice weather in advance.
Let's finish by briefly going over some of the important vocabulary used at Oktoberfest.
(Oktoberfest has 14 large beer "tents" or beer halls)
bartender! - der Wirt || beer! - das Bier
beer hall/tent! - die Festhalle, das Bierzelt || beer mug/stein! - der Bierkrug
brass band - die Blaskapelle || a liter stein of beer - der Masskrug
sausage - die Wurst || dirndl - das Dirndl, (traditional Bavarian costume)
*and last but not least, lederhosen - you can figure this one out on your own.
Now for some common questions and answers at Oktoberfest:
Q: Wo ist mein Bier? - Where is my beer?
A: Sie habens doch gerade eben bestellt. Ganz kleines bisschen Geduld noch, bitte. - You JUST ordered it. Relax!
Q: Sind die Bretzel frisch? - Are the pretzels freshly baked? A: Natuerlich! - Of course!
Q: Halt! Haben Sie ein Bierkrug in der Tasche? - Stop! Is that a Beerstein in your bag?
A: *RUN*
Prost!
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