Oktoberfest 2013 seen from up in the air: the non-beer side of it

 

This year the famous Oktoberfest takes place for 180th time in the beautiful Bavarian capital Munich! A friend of mine asked me few days ago why Oktoberfest starts (and takes place mostly) in September? Good question I have to say. But there is also a good reason for it: the difficult Munich weather! In 1810 and the following years the celebration took always place in the month of October (usually in the middle of the month). However in 1829, four days after the official opening, the first snow storm arrived and everything had to close down! Since 1872 this big beer party has been moved to the last 10 days of September (+first October days) so one could enjoy better weather& more pleasant temperatures....

This huge celebration is known of course to most of the visitors for the ...German beer! Every year during 2, 5 weeks (this year between 21.09-6.10.2013) around 6 millions liter of beer are sold&drunk there! However half of the surface at the fair ground is dedicated to having fun like a child: big wheel, carousels, rollercoasters...name it! These are all there waiting to be enjoyed the whole day&evening (recommended before the drinks:-) So this year I enjoyed the "Riesenrad" and one carousel-ride, which made me feel like a happy kid again;-)

 

Oktoberfest 2011: night views and energy costs

 

Only during Oktoberfest-time the second biggest Munich church St-Pauli offers interested visitors  (against a fee of 3 EUR) to climb up one of its towers. The view from there at the "Theresienwiese" and the huge beer tents is simply breathtaking...Yesterday I was pretty lucky and climb the almost 300 steps up and enjoyed a very colourful and magic view...

 

However once I was up there and saw all those attractions and lights I start wondering about the energy consumption. so today I checked somestatistics and found out that the famous Oktoberfest uses within 17 days as musch electricity as 1200 households for one  year. The 750 customers get the final product via 3 underground and 16 above the ground transformer stations, 43km of cables and 160 feeder stations, Very often the energy usage of the festival is compared to a town with 20.000 inhabitants!

 

Another curiosity is the fact that for some years, asthe festival was first held (1810) everything was working without current. Only in 1866 did Werner von Siemens find "das dynamoelektrische Prinzip" and developped afterwards the first electricity generator...

Best of ...Oktoberfest....

Of course there are plenty of annoying things connected with the yearly Beer Festival/ Oktoberfest in Munich....And i dont only think of the drunk toursits and locals all over the city...i could also add to the first argument the crowds and the full public transport, the non-stop increasing price of one "Mass Bier" (this year at 8, 50 EUR, compared to 0,83 EUR in 1950), and, and....

But of course there are some good side effects too...
1. There is no other time of the year one may see on the streets so many people dressed in the traditional "Dirndl" (for the ladies) and "Lederhosen" (for the guys)!
2. A nice thing to do at lunch time on a sunny September/ October day is just to walk and watch all the beer tents (ouside as well as inside) and enjoy the amount of crazy (or old-fashioned or both) attractions...

3. And last but not least.. the city seems to be covered with Lebkuchen (heart-shaped candy) with funny messages...

200 Jahre Oktoberfestjubiläum, München 2010

200 years ago the royal wedding of Prins Ludwig and Princess Therese set the start of most probably the most famous Volksfest around the world: the Oktoberfest! To this year big anniversary a new historical part does welcome all the curious visitors...

Here one may choose between the "Museumzelt" and the" Kultuzelt", horse-racing and old-fashioned carousels ... The guests may enjoy the boat swing from 1925, smell and taste the famous fish grilled on stick or walk around while nibbeling on freshly cut cheese sticks

It was really pleasant experience for my lunch break and i have to say that here I did not encounter so many drunk people as outside of the Historisches Oktoberfest:-)

O'zapft is! Oktoberfest...in September:)

There is something that always makes me laugh when I hear "Oktoberfest"- it starts mid September and only the few last days of the 16-day-beerfestival are indeed in October! But I have to say it is amazing to see the enormous number of beer fans and party-addicts and of course the tons of Dirndl (typical Bavarian dress, consisting of a bodice, blouse, full skirt and apro) and Lederhosen(leather pants).

What took place in October 1810 as a wedding party of King Ludwig I and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, its now a huge money-making and beer-selling machine...Löwenbräu, Augustiner, Pschorr-Hacker: the most famous beer producer have their own party tents where beer and music are flowing sometimes in the same tempo. The price of one liter beer increases every year-from 2005 till 2009 the price increase was 1,50EUR. The 2009 price was 8.60EUR (to compare in 1949 it was 1,70 EUR)!

The Munich Oktoberfest is known as the Largest Volksfest (People's Fair) in the World. In 1999 there were six and a half million visitors to the 42 hectare Theresienwiese. 72% of the people are from Bavaria.15% of visitors come from foreign countries like the surrounding EU-countries and other non-European countries including the United States, Canada, India, Japan, Brazil and Australia.

And last but not least-make sure you leave before the tables start get wet of all the beer on them:) And dont forget dancing is allowed only on the benches, but not on the table-the only place where just the Mass Bier is safe!