(Previously: The many beers of Munich.)
Nick has been dreaming of Oktoberfest since he was able to hold his own stein. It is Germany’s most famous festival, after all.
The original Oktoberfest was held in Munich in 1810, which made this year its 200th anniversary.
The first festival celebrated the marriage of Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese (namesake of the Theresienwiese festival grounds) with a great horse race. But what do Bavarians do today to celebrate?
They dress in traditional dirndls* and lederhosen.
Then then party for 17 days with over six million friends.
They drink millions of liters of beer in one of 14 tents. And by “tents,” I mean elaborate (and surprisingly non-permanent) structures decorated with canopies and paintings that hold hundreds of long wooden tables and thousands of people.
They consume copious amounts of hendel (chicken) and schweinshaxe (pork knuckle) and brezen (pretzels).
And after all that food and beer, they stand in line for amusement rides.
Then it’s back into the tents to sing and dance on the tabletops to traditional oompah bands, as well as cheesy American classics from Queen and Neil Diamond.
Yes, we celebrated in true Bavarian form at the Ochsenbraterei, the Hofbräu-Festzelt, and the Hacker-Festzelt.
I can’t tell you how many liters we drank or how many times we sang: Ein Prosit, ein Prosit Der Gemütlichkeit.” But I can tell you that a good time was had by all. Happy 200 years, Oktoberfest! Prost!
*I purchased my dirndl from a dress shop in Rothenburg. It’s a perfect fit with a miniature deer print and edelweiss buttons. Though I wasn’t quite able to achieve that famous cleavage, I still think I looked pretty authentic.
Next up: We get lost in the Alps and end up at Neuschwanstein.
You look fantastic!! I’ve been oohing and aahing at all your posts and getting such a vacation bug, I have to admit! How cool you guys were there… my sister in law who lives in Austria was there, too! I like to think you two might’ve clinked beers in some massive group sing-a-long. 🙂
It’s very likely I clinked steins with your sister-in-law — how cool! Someday when we return to Bavaria … I want to visit Austria, too. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.
That looks like so much fun – and I want one of those pretzels now! The dirndl will make a great Halloween costume 🙂
I’m also going to wear it for our first annual Oktoberfest party!
Those pretzels are HUGE!! Yum! LOVE the dirndl.
LOVE the outfits! hahaha that is AWESOME! I’m super jealous of you two
It is too cool that you got to go to Oktoberfest on its 200th anniversary! Your whole trip looks like so much fun; I’m loving the pictures of Bavaria.
Thoroughly enjoyed your recaps so far! My brother-in-law Nate directed me to your blog, as my wife and I are spending a little over a year here in Germany for my job, and are taking in many of the same observations as you (though admittedly, not always through an astute culinary eye =) ). Glad you had a fun trip!