Just beer with Munich!
Come October and beer fest time, Munich is still the place to be.
By Praveen S Thampi, TNN |
In Munich, September is October. More precisely, Oktober. To hurt the Queen's English further, it could even be Oktobeer. But then beer in Bavaria is never out of place whether June or January.
On a less busy month, you get a bottle of water for Euro 2, and a mug of beer for less. To give history its due and chronology, the great Bavarian beer festival or the Oktober Fest began earnest in October 1810 in honor of the Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig's marriage to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.
The festivities began on October 12, 1810 and ended on October 17 with a horse race. In the following years, the celebrations were repeated and later the festival was prolonged and moved forward into September in view of the late October chill.
Today, according to a Bavarian government official, the Oktober Fest is more profitable and bigger than the FIFA World Cup. About 6 million devotees of the Church of the Burp land in Munich every year to have a sip of the special — darker and stronger — Oktoberfest brew and a bite of Bavarian specialities like sausages, sauerkraut and roast ox tail.
Now let's have a sip of geography. Imagine a space as big as Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. Fourteen tents — not of the canvas variety, but solid structures as big as each of Pragati Maidan's convention halls — represent six of the big Munich breweries like Augustiner, Hacker-Pschott, Lowenbrau, Spaten, Paulaner and Hafbiau and more. Then there are tents like Hippodrom, a hit with the single-and-available types.
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Even as you enter the die Wiesen via the Wirtsbudenstrafse, you get a hang of things. A huge pissort — well, toilet — stands next to the entrance as if to remind of you what too much beer do to the bladder. Another step, you are there: In die Wiesen, part of the fairy tale fair, where for obvious reasons, the first impression is of a crowded street learning to walk backwards, with good effort but gaining not much distance. Every tent serves beer from 10am to 10:30pm while on weekends it's from 9am to 10.30pm. The price of beer for Munchen 2006 ranged between Euros 6.95 and 7.50 per litre, but never mind. It's not that much about beer than being in the blissful company of thousands of other blissful drunks. It's also about colour: the red leather Bavarian trousers and dirndls, a traditional alpine outfit made up of a snug bodice with a low neck wrapped around a lacy blouse, along with a full skirt and apron.
And then there is the carnival going side by side with everything from the giant wheel to horror-house to freefall with a promise of emptying the beer in you. Surprise, surprise there was even a carnival tent with an advertisement for the Great Indian Rope Trick.
Perhaps an enduring image of Oktoberfest is the busy Munich streets during the crazy days. The die Wiesen is just 10 minutes walk from the Hopbahnoff or the central station, but the drivers take the additional responsibility of caution.
Too drunk to cross the road? Well, lift your hand and make your point, and just walk down the road. You will find the fastest Porsche waiting patiently till you reach the other side. After all Munich and its residents are trying to hold their best against the wannabe Oktoberfests that have mushroomed around the world.
On the way out, I bumped into a bunch that looked like budding teenagers. With beer dripping from every pore, and some so tired to walk, squatting on the road just outside the entrance on way to Goetheplatz... It was the first day of Oktoberfest, Munchen, 2006.
A September 16, Saturday, the tents were closing, and the junior teenagers were trying to sing in a chorus, tired by the beer inside, trying to catch up with the speed of Kaiser Chiefs’ smash hit: Oh, My God, I can't believe I've never been this far away from home Great rulers make for greater glory/The only thing growing is our history. Knock me down I'll get right back up again...
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