Austria / Germany

Oktoberfest

While in Munich we managed to catch the last couple of days of Oktoberfest. Strangely enough, most of Oktoberfest takes place in September. It is a combination of amusement park and drinkfest making it popular with all ages. To get to the “Wiese” (field) where they set up Oktoberfest, we were told to get off at a specific subway stop and then follow the crowds. And sure enough, by 10am the beer tents were full!

It's interesting to note that the whole setup for Oktoberfest is temporary. Some of the beer halls set up put even permanent structures elsewhere to shame. The other thing to note is that you won't find any plastic anywhere… when you get your “Maß” beer, you get your one liter beer in a glass stein.

Over the years, dressing up for Oktoberfest in traditional garb (Lederhosen and Dirndl) has become very popular again. We enjoyed the people watching and yes, there were some very drunk people… some barely walking and others being tended to by the first aid people!

Since we were in Munich over a holiday weekend, nothing much else was open in Munich so we ended up coming back to Oktoberfest several times as it was a fun place to people watch and the easiest place to get food! The only amusement ride we tried was the ferris wheel which Samantha seemed to enjoy quite a bit. We also had fun going inside all the beer tents to see how they were all decorated. In terms of food we tried some of the hot almonds, the giant pretzels and a bratwurst. We also brought back some gingerbread hearts that they were selling everywhere.

So now Samantha can say that by 7 months she's been to Oktoberfest 3 times! (And no, none of us sampled even a drop of beer!)