Oktoberfest!

Rich and I headed to Munich to experience Oktoberfest! Oktoberfest started in 1810 to commemorate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese and has turned into an annual 16 day festival. Over 6 million people participate in Oktoberfest festivities! There are carnival rides, bands, lots of food, games and, most importantly, beer tents!

We took a train from Landstuhl to Munich- it took about 5 hours.

Our hotel- the Metropol.

Check out the lime green swirly carpet!

After a short walk (our hotel was only about a 10 minute walk from the grounds), Rich and I started our experience with some Heffeweisen and some bratwurst (I don't usually eat bratwurst, but figured I could make an exception)! Bratwurst were first served at Oktoberfest in 1881. Some of the vendors offered 1 meter long bratwurst!

There were merry-go-rounds that you could hop on, order a drink and then slowly watch the world (and all the people) go by.

We started out at the Lowenbrau beer tent which features a 15 foot lion who roars, twitches his tail and then drinks from his stein.

Our first liter- almost 7 million liters (or 1.5 million gallons) are sold each year. The large glass steins were introduced in 1892. The barmaids will carry up to 10 steins at a time!

I'm having a liter for all my friends back in Hawai'i!

Hey, there's a band! Popular and folk music, marches, and polkas make up the stereotypical German "oompah" music. Later in the day, the band begins to play louder and more people begin to sing, link arms and swing beer mugs from side to side while standing and dancing on the benches or tables. It's quite catchy! One of the most popular drinking songs is Eins … zwei … g'suffa! Prost!

Rich and I found a table near the center of the tent, near the band, with a nice Aussie couple and a group of Italians!

Lots of people were wearing the traditional German dress- women wear little dresses called dirndls and men wear leather shorts called lederhosen. Rumor has it that lederhosen are passed from generation to generation, but that they aren't typically washed......ew.

Walking around, you could often see large horse drawn wagons which used to bring the kegs of beer into the fairgrounds.

Oktoberfest scenes- there was definitely some good people-watching!

After spending some time in the Lowenbrau tent, Rich and I decided to take a walk and were brave enough to try and ride something. We picked the Star Flyer- the tallest swing set I have ever seen.

The view was amazing!

However, this seemed a little too high for me! Yes, there was some screaming......

After safely back on the ground, we headed back to check out some of the other tents. It's amazing that they build these huge "tents" every year- the largest tent holds up to 8,450 people!

The Hippodrom is the first tent on the strip- it's considered one of the trendiest spots and often attracts local celebrities.

The Ochsenbraterei- famous for it's ox dishes.

And the Armbrustschützenzelt (schenhierscherstein......). Translates as the "crossbow shooters tent"- a competition which started in 1895.

By that time, it had gotten a little crowded and most of the free seating at the tents were full.....

So, we wandered back to the Lowenbrau tent and found our new friends! Luckily, they still had a little room at their table and we were able to squeeze in! Here's Rich and Andreas.

As the evening went on, there was some arm wrestling (check out those guns).....

And some shooting.....one of Rich's favorite carnival games.

And lots of good times! Here I am goofing off with Marcus and Andreas.

On weekdays, the festival starts around 10 am and then shuts down around midnight. Rich and I were able to follow the crowds out to find our hotel and still get a good night's sleep. What an experience!