Oktoberfest in Bavaria

I have been aware of Oktoberfest since the early 1990s and quickly agreed to go to experience it when a friend proposed a trip. We decided to go to Munich for enjoying it for a couple of days.

Late September in Munich is a time for booming business time. Visitors from all over Germany as well as the world participate in this beer festival, probably the biggest in the world.

It is hard to find hotel rooms close to Theresienweise - the area that hosts the festival.

To seem like a local, one needs traditional garments - lederhosen, vest, plaid shirt and long socks. Many businesses in the vicinity rent these garments, usually for about $55 a day. The average daily prices reduce if you rent the items for multiple days.

After renting the garb, I went to the train station that was closest to the festivities and indeed all roads from the station seemed to lead to Oktoberfest. All you had to do was to follow the people dressed traditionally and you can enter right into the festival. At the entrance, a guard checks to ensure you are not bringing in any beer or drinks of your own, as in there, they want to sell you merchandise, food and drinks to separate you from your money.

The huge area map on a billboard inside shows the various breweries you can visit and the layout of the whole park.

Besides the beer halls, one can visit the different rides, similar to those in a theme park like Disney. With the huge amount of beer people were drinking, I wondered how many of those would visit these rides.

The beer companies had their big tents and each brewery's name was displayed in huge letters. I walked around to see all of them from the outside first, just to get the lay of the land.

Many breweries had their own horses, carriages, and wagons carrying barrels of their beer. These highly decorated horse wagons paraded around the thoroughfare many times during the day. People gathered around and cheered the horses, took pictures with them and steered clear of the horse manure.

There were so many shops outside selling candies, bratwurst, souvenirs. The weather was quite hot, so ice creams and cold drinks were also crowd favorites.

Next on the plan was to visit each brewery sequentially.

The tent is huge and probably seats thousands of people. It has two floors on the periphery and has highly decorated cloth ceilings which are probably fifty feet high.

In the middle of the tent is a full-size band which performs music in sporadic bursts.

Each space has many benches with tables. People gather in their groups or families in a space. Sometimes there are young couples or just two friends sitting together. I was with three other friends, and we got one table for us. Our area had much more space, so we welcomed another couple when they wanted to sit by us.

There are waitresses walking around and semi-aggressively urging everyone to buy food or beer.

With people chugging so much beer, attention was given in each tent to provide big bathrooms which were easily identifiable due to the directions pointing to them in big letters.

Our space was right next to the location of the band, and it was convenient because we could enjoy the music and the performance with a slight turn of our heads.

Every so often, different vendors came by to sell hats, charms or other knick-knacks. They were not shy about spending time talking with us. Many were from Switzerland or neighboring areas who were in Munich just to earn some money during the festival.

People were chilling and genuinely seemed to be having a grand time.

The beer stein was huge, almost a liter in volume. There was an option to purchase non-alcoholic beer as well, which had alcohol, but only 0.5%. For a non-drinker, 1 liter of non-alcoholic beer was enough to make them feel tipsy.

There were huge pretzels available to consume with beer and they were served with a smile.

More hats were offered to us. My buddy was convinced, he relented and bought.

Dolls, fancy eye-glasses and cookies were next. It was quite entertaining just to sit there and have the merchandise come to you.

There were a lot of people on the second floor, and sitting there needed a reservation.

From the second floor, I could see the vastness of the tent and the large number of beer drinkers congregated in one spot.

The boar's head and deer antlers were decorating the walls of the tent.

The lights and woodwork completed the overall decor of the tent.

Evidently, the Germans have been hosting Oktoberfest for over 125 years. Some accounts are of it being a much older tradition, older than 200 years.

After several hours inside, we stepped out and noticed the huge crowds in front of Spatenbrau and headed in their tent.

This tent has a different type of decor but similar kinds of beer enthusiasts.

The decorations here did not have any dead animal heads.

Instead, the decorations depicted traditionally dressed German folk.

And a boat load of actual German folk occupied the benches, chugging down the Spatenbrau.

They all looked in good spirits, the spirits in the steins having lifted their actual spirits, they were quick to pose for pictures.

Walking up the tent's second floor, we could see the sea of people outside. The beer companies were really raking it in.

We went to these benches and relaxed for a minute, before being hounded by a waitress to buy more beer.

Further up was Hofbrau Festzeit and it was next to visit. Luckily, there is no fee for getting into the Oktoberfest tents or the arena. All they ask is to buy beer if you occupy their benches.

Different decor, same idea.

There was a huge stuffed bear-angel playing a harpsichord dangling from the roof.

It went around in circles.

I was told that the waitresses can carry 13 full beer steins in their hands and walk briskly to their customers. I imagined they mayhem if someone stepped in front of them while they hurried around in the tight spaces.

By now, I was walking towards the Augustiner tent. It had a green theme.

People here seemed as happy as those in other tents.

Their walls had many colorful flags.

This treat had a dreamy look with its clouds and blue sky vibe.

The musical station was in the center.

Citi-scapes and skylines of German towns were on the walls.

You could almost imagine yourself at any German town of your liking and drinking beer there, while sitting in this tent.

It was a riot. I mean a tame riot. Happy people everywhere.

We walked out and took another picture looking backwards. Still more happy people.

These cookies, baked many months ago could be purchased and gifted to a person's special someone.

Pschorr Braurosl was the next tent sporting an arboreal theme.

More people, music station, high ceilings, two floors, all a standard issue.

It was getting to be early evening. I sensed the people in this tent had a whole hard day of drinking under their belt.

The music station had a good performance underway.

There are only so many tents I could handle on my first day in the Oktoberfest. I went out.

I saw each tent had a big tower proclaiming its name.

Lowenbrau's tower had performers coming out of the lighthouse like tower with a huge lion drinking out of a huge beer mug.

The lion is Lowen in German, makes sense.

Finally, I saw the waitress put down her 13 beer mugs on the table in my presence, it was not a myth.

I admired the Lowenbrau tent, it had more lights than the other tents but still seemed darker.

I had reached my limit and could not visit any more tents. I ventured out and discovered a huge sculpture on a nearby hillock.

It was built in the 1840s by King Ludwig, and was part of the Bavarian Hall of Fame.

I did not go inside the statue but read that the Bavaria is the first colossal sculpture of modern times, standing on a pedestal 9 metres high and measuring about 19 metres from the foot to the upheld oak wreath.

It is the only walk-in large bronze in Germany. In its cavity, one can climb up a steep spiral staircase to a viewing platform in the sculpture's head.

From the mound where the statue was, I could look back and see the huge crowds of the revelers and beer enthusiasts. It was a remarkable display of German beer culture.

I had had a good day marveling at the hugeness of the tents and the tens of thousands of people who were keeping this centuries old tradition alive.