My time in Munich was brief and I wasn’t able to visit too many places on this trip. But I was able to tick an item off the bucket list and attend OktoberFest. The appetite has been sufficiently whetted and I would definitely like to do it again.
I was very lucky to be attend as a client of a German company. I attended meetings in their offices during the day and whilst I was worried about a stitch up, my hosts were also wearing their leiderhosen and checked shirts. One bloke told me that he was attending 8 OktoberFest sessions – some work, some play. And he left nothing in the tank on the night I attended – very impressive.
There is just nothing small about OktoberFest. It is the world’s largest “Volksfest” or People’s Fest. The population of Munich is 1.5 million. 6 million people attend OktoberFest. It is a festival of Bavarian culture and ends on the first Sunday of October (hence OktoberFest). Usually 16 days of absolute mania. The tent I attended (Augustiner Brau) seated 6000 indoors and 2500 outdoors. They started building it 2-3 months before opening day. Amazingly the grounds that host the event – the Theresienwiese or d’Wiesn are bare for the remainder of the year. And if you are good at carrying 14 steins at once you can earn 15,000 Euros ($25000 AUD) for two weeks work.
The vibe of the event is extraordinary. Everyone is just so, so happy. In our tent the four activities were drinking, eating, singing and dancing. There’s one beer and one vessel available – a litre stein of Augustiner Festbier weighing in at 6.3%ABV. There’s grazing plates of radish, bread, cheeses and meats and the standard feed is half a roast chicken and potato salad. The music is relentless. I reckon for the 5 hours I was there the band had 30 minutes off. As the evening goes on people go from sitting to standing and by the time everyone bonds in a raucous version of Sweet Caroline – everyone is standing on their table or bench. Everyone is jammed in and with some enthusiastic dancing going I’m surprised people don’t go down.
Apparently only the locals used to wear the Bavarian outfits. I can’t recall a one that wasn’t wearing the garb. It is all about being Bavarian for a day. Other than one bloke laid out at the entrance, I also don’t recall seeing anyone really trashed. I scratched the surface of OktoberFest. Next time I would walk the grounds during the day and attend a hall in the evening. So much to look forward to.
I did find one the better sports bars I’ve been to not far from my hotel. The Keg Bar is an amazing that looks like nothing from the outside but opens up into a heaving mass of expats watching various codes of football. The less said about the results the better – Chelsea dismal and the Wallabies historically awful. At least the Keg Bar offers a few Munich uniques (Geisinger and Crew Republic). The beer choice is pretty uniform in most places. HofBrau, Erdinger, Spaten or Augustiner dominate. Then it is a Helles, Dunkel, Weissbier or Festbier. Occasionally you’ll be offered a Tegernsee.
back of the ferry 