Things you need to know about Oktoberfest:
- there were 6.2 million visitors at last year's Oktoberfest...this year should be slightly larger
- there are 878 meters of urinals at the festival (Gary attests to the fact that they are well used!)
- 550,000 roast chickens are consumed (the main food served in the beer halls)
- there 9,500 people in lederhosen and dirndls taking part in the parade to open the festival
- 3 Olympic pools would be filled by the amount of beer drunk each year
- 140,225 pairs of pork sausages are served
- 15 hangover beds at the Red Cross emergency center at Oktoberfest
- there were 111,000 foiled attempts to steal souvenir beer steins last year
- the largest of the beer tents can seat 9,500 thirsty beer drinkers! (and the tent is the size of a soccer field!)
Those are the facts I learned from the airline magazine on the airplane...what I wasn't prepared for was how freakin' amazing Oktoberfest is!!! I am now so glad we went today...in fact we had so much fun we are figuring when we can go back...(to the wine tent this time) and have dinner! I knew it was all about the beer tents, but I had no idea it is a huge family oriented carnival as well...and I had no idea how HUGE it is!! If you think of the Walnut Festival at home, it is probably 20 times that size!! I have no idea how many rides they had...we saw at least 2 huge roller coasters, 4 haunted houses, 3 log flume rides, 3 death drop type rides...and then all the regular upside down and spinny rides! But there were so many families and young kids (dressed in dirndles and lederhosen of course!) on the rides - it was really a family atmosphere. The carnival food at Oktoberfest is sure different from State Fair food at home...stands selling toasted nuts, fresh fruit (strawberries and more) on a stick and then dipped in chocolate, lots of sausage stands, a huge fire pit with steaks cooking on a grill, fried dough balls (like donuts with no hole), herring and smoked salmon and other fish sandwiches...and on and on - all freshly made, nothing frozen - it was fantastic! There are 14 LARGE beer tents (and several smaller ones)...each with a different feel; one caters to the local soccer club fans, one caters to hunters, one caters more to the gay crowd, one tent hosts cross bow championships, one prides itself on the fact that the beer served in their tent comes from Munich's oldest brewery and is still tapped from classic wooden kegs, one serves fish rather than the traditional roast chicken and 15" pretzels, the Löwenbraü tent has a mighty lion on top that roars "Löööoööenbräu" every minute
and on and on! They are all decorated differently and they are all quite beautiful inside. And those bands we saw in the parade this morning...well, each beer tent has a large stage (usually in the middle of the floor) and the lively (and loud!) bands play on an on with the beer drinkers joining in on old favorite German drinking songs!
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| I so wanted to jump up and dance with the 2 blonde women on the benches! |
The tables and benches are so close together, you literally have to walk on the tables and benches to get in and out!
And the beer servers NEVER stop moving!!
(1 liter steins...just 11.5 euro each!)
I know there is NO WAY these pictures and videos can do justice to Oktoberfest...it really is something you have to see to believe!! (And we are going back tomorrow to see more!)
And I now realize that I can't get my videos to load as videos...they will only load a photos...sorry, I'll keep working on it!
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