We had a few friends from the States visiting Europe and they suggested a meet-up in Munich during the 16-day long Oktoberfest. Sure, twist our arms!
While this was my first time to Munich & Oktoberfest, Gabe was no stranger to the event. He attended the 201o Oktoberfest on it’s 200th anniversary.
As the biggest festival / fair in the world, with 6 million attendees, it was quite a site to behold. The first thing I noticed is the beer tents are not actually “tents” but beautifully designed wooden buildings. I was expecting muddy shoes and being outside in the elements, but was pleasantly surprised!
Our group outside our “tent”.
I thought the tent was so beautiful.
Our friend from Geneva, Mr. Lederhosen, arranged for an amazing table inside the tent for us. Apparently, you have to get tables a year in advance and still you need to be a VIP – either German with a lot of ins, or willing to fork over a lot of cash. We met some Americans the last day whose concierge said he could get them seated for 5000 euro for their group of six.
Our awesome table location
Mr. Lederhosen hooked us up big time with his Munich connections. We paid 20 euro each for our seats, and got a liter of beer and a half chicken, a Hendl, to boot!
A and I with our first liters
The best chicken in the world. Mmmm.
There is a special attire for Oktoberfest. Men traditionally wear Lederhosen, and the girls wear a German dress called a Dirndl. Both can wear Bavarian hats called Tirolerhüte.
Typical storefront in Munich
Gabe with A & A in their German attire.
Our host, Mr. Lederhosen in his authentic lederhosen
7 million liters of beer are served annually at Oktoberfest. We had our fair share.
Prost!
So did the rest of the tent. I loved when the band played, “Ein Prosit”……
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit
Der Gemütlichkeit.
A toast, a toast
To cheer and good times
A toast, a toast
To cheer and good times.
An enthusiastic crowd.
It was pretty impressive how much the beer girls could carry.
A typical delivery – 7-8 liters without a tray.
We tried to have a stein-holding competition as well as a beer girl competition. It was pretty hard.
Who can hold it the longest?
A gave it a good try!
Certain vendors are very popular. My favorite were the folks selling pretzels.
This pretzel stand means business.
Don’t worry about getting up out of your seat. Pretzels come by every 5 minutes.
The pretzel was the size of my head. So was the beer for that matter.
Gabe liked the pickle guy.
Pickle guy
They also have Lebkuchen – gingerbread hearts for sale. Gabe brought me back one of these in 2010 that said “I love you” in German. He had a work trip in Europe afterwards so by the time it reached me, I needed to wet the cookie in the sink to soften it enough so we could bite into it.
Cookie stand
It was still a lovely thought and I really enjoyed getting to experience Oktoberfest myself!
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