September 24

Day 13: September 24 

Festival//Culture

Our day began at 8:30 in the morning with a quick breakfast in our apartment. We didn't eat much because we knew we would be eating and drinking all throughout the day. The famous Oktoberfest was happening today and we were over the moon excited to experience it for ourselves. We all grabbed our bags and made sure our phones were charged before racing out into the streets to join the hundreds of other people from around the world waiting to participate in this iconic event.

Oktoberfest- Culture

Oktoberfest 1810

Oktoberfest began over one hundred years ago in 1810. On October 12, 1810 Crown Prince Ludwig, who later became King Ludwig 1, married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. To honor their union the citizens of Munich were invited to participate in a series of festivities held outside of the city gates. The fields that they took place in were later named in honor of the Princess and have since been shortened by locals to being known as simply "Wies'n". Horse races took place in the presence of the Royal Family themselves and ended the spectacular event. When it was decided that the horse races would continue the next year it laid the foundation for the tradition of Oktoberfest. The second year of the horse races, 1811, brought many new events including the first Agricultural Show. The show was created to increase Bavarian agricultural. Today, the Agricultural Show is still held every four years in the southern part of the Wies'n, whereas the famous horse races which started it all haven't take place since the 1960's. Oktoberfest has only been cancelled a handful of times for reasons such as an epidemic, war, or depression. 

Girls in traditional garb performing a traditional dance

We arrived at Oktoberfest just in time to see the 10:00 traditional costume parade take place. Originating in 1835 to honor the twenty-fifth anniversary of King Ludwig 1 and his wife Therese, it only became a regular event in the 1950's. The parade begins at Maximilianstrasse and continues past the official box of the Bavarian Prime Minister and Mayor of Munich, Briennerstrasse, Maximiliansplatz, Lenbachplatz, and Stachus. The parade finally reached Oktoberfest after crossing the Kaiser Ludwig Platz. By this point we couldn't wait to see all of the traditional costumes, habits and traditional dancing routines. Entertainment wasn't hard to come by and it seemed to us that everywhere we looked there was a different music group, costume club, dance troupe, or flag bearer. Over six million people attend Oktoberfest every year, making the streets incredibly congested. 

Traditional Beer cart 

Exterior of Schottenhamel Beer Tent 

Fighting our way through the crowds, we finally made it to one of the famed beer tents. The only beer served is beer that has been brewed in Munich. Beer has been served at Oktoberfest in the traditional glass jug since 1892. In 1896 the old sheds which the brewers were using to sell their beer out of were replaced with large halls. We had arrived in front of the famed Schottenhamel tent. This tent, which is now one of the largest tents part of Oktoberfest, seats up to 10,00 people between indoor and outdoor seating. In 1867 this same tent was only a small beer booth, with only enough seating for about fifty people. Schottenhamel is also one of the most important tents because this is where everything starts. On the opening day of the Wiesn, at exactly 12:00, the mayor of Munich taps the first keg and calls out "O'zapft is!" confirming that the tapping was in fact successful. Beer may only be served after this event.

Inside the Schottenhamel Beer Tent

Entering the tent we all bought ourselves a glass of beer. The brewery who was providing the drinks was the Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau. Weaving our way back through the crowd in the search of seats we couldn't help but stop and appreciate the music. The band that was playing was the band, Otto-Schwarzfischer. If it hadn't have been for the drinks in our hands we would've stayed and danced longer! Finally finding seats, Ellie said a quick toast and we were hooked. The people around us couldn't have been nicer, and before long we were all singing along with the band and refilling our mugs. 

Wanting to escape the loud and busy atmosphere of the Schottenhamel beer tent, we all made our way to a much smaller tent, The Wildstuben. This tent can only seat about 200 people and offers typical Bavarian food. We found seats for all of us. Logan went and ordered all of us a round of drinks as well as a plate of roast wild boar and venison.  The boar was delicious! It was cooked to perfection and looking around the tent I saw that all of the Germans were enjoying their delicacy. Ella and Laurel got their Boar in a sandwich, while Grace, Ellie, and I enjoyed a boar leg. We decided to walk to the top of the tent because from there you could see the entire festival. It was beautiful and you could see the Ferris wheel and the beautiful statues. Tired of being inside and stuffed from all of the boar we went back outside.

Exterior or Wildstuben

With the sun shining for once, we strolled through the streets and took in all of the people and bright colors. A line was forming under the ferris wheel so naturally we joined. Grace had to sit with a stranger because the carts that you sit in for the ride only seat two people. The views from the top were better than the ones we had experienced while we were in Wildstuben. Everywhere we looked there were people talking, laughing, singing, and dancing. Drinks were being passed back and forth, and the aroma of food reached our nostrils even at the peak of the ride.

Exterior Cafe Kaiserschmarrn

Back on the ground we decided to satisfy our craving for something sweet by going to the Cafe Kaiserschmarrn. The exterior of the tent reminded of the gingerbread house that Hansel and Gretel stumble upon in their famous fairy tale.  The inside is full of all sorts of treats to satisfy anyone's sweet tooth. One of Munich's most famous bakeries, Rischart, runs the tent and provides all of the food. Music is introduced to the tent every day at approximately two in the afternoon. Seeing that it was now 2:30, we had the opportunity to hear the band play as we shopped for our desserts. A wide selection of Kaiserschmarrn-variations including cakes and pies were on display and it was a miracle we were all able to pick only one to try with a promise from everyone that they'd let you try theirs. We again opted to sit inside to observe the tent some more and its many customers. Grace made the ultimate discovery when she found a selection of specialty coffees. We all got a cup and sat back down to enjoy our food and drink. Not long after we finished our meal we passed by a bar offering wine, champagne, and cocktails but we wanted to walk around some more and see if we couldn't find any other special tent to enter. We ventured out to the southern section of the festival because we were inspired by the Cafe Kaiserschmarrn and its cozy vibes.

Interior of The Oide Wiesn

The Oide Wiesn tent was what we were looking for. All of the staff members wore vintage costumes and there were fun-filled twentieth-century rides to try. We all had another round of drinks and spent time reminiscing about our amazing trip in Germany. We returned to our apartment where we all ate the rest of our food and each took an Advil. Packing took us some time since we all had to find room to stuff our newly acquired souvenirs. We all went to our respected sleeping areas and fell soundly asleep, with the sounds of Oktoberfest in the background .