Oktoberfest, Munich

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Favorite thing: Happens every year, and 2010 was the 200th anniversary of this event which i was fortunate enough to attend. In 12 massive tents, 6 million guests from around the world gather and consume 6 million litres of beer, eat 500,000 chicken, countless prezels and 100 oxen, then I have not even mentioned the famous schweinehaxen.
It is in honour of Ludwig von Bayern and his wife Therese's wedding and it takes place on the Thereseinwies. It usually takes place end of September as the weather is better then than around 12 October when the actual wedding took place.

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Favorite thing: Here is a general list of facts concerning Octoberfest
• Area: 0.42 km2 (103.78 acres)
• Seats in the festival halls: approx. 100,000 (you are thinking this is enough?)
• Visitors: 6.2 million
• Beer: appr. 6,940,600 litres(126,900 litres non-alcoholic) (100,000 spilled on floor)
• Wine: 79,624 liters
• Sparkling wine: 32,047 litres
• Coffee, tea: 222,725 litres
• Water, lemonade: 909,765 ½ litres
• Chicken: 521,872 units
• Pork sausages: 142,253 pairs
• Fish: 38,650 kg
• Pork knuckles: 58,446 units
• Oxen: 104 units,
• Expenditure of electricity: 2.8 million kWh (as much as 14% of Munich's daily need or as much as a four person family will need in 560 years)
• Expenditure of gas: about 205,000 m³ (?)
• Expenditure of water: about 90,000 m³ (As Much as 27 % of Munich's need )
• Waste: 678 t (2004) (TRY TO FIND A TRASHCAN)
• Toilets: about 980 seated, more than 878 meters of urinals and 17 for disabled persons
• Telephones: 83, also for international credit cards
• Lost property: about 4000 items, among them 260 pairs of glasses, 200 mobile phones, wedding rings, and even crutches.[12]

Garbage and toilets
Nearly 1,000 tons of garbage result annually from the Oktoberfest. The mountains of garbage created are hauled away and the ways cleanly washed down each morning. The cleaning is paid for in part by the city of Munich and in part by the sponsors.
After 2004 the queues for toilets became so long that the police had to regulate the entrance. To keep traffic moving through the restrooms, men headed for the toilets were directed to the "Pissoir" (giant enclosed grate) if they only needed to urinate. The number of toilets was increased in 2005 by 20%. Now approximately 1,800 toilets and urinals are available.
Many Oktoberfest guests visit the quiet stalls in order to use their cell phones. For this reason it was planned in the year 2005 to install a Faraday cage around the toilets or to use Mobile phone jammers to prevent telephoning with a mobile telephone. However jamming devices are not certified in Germany, and Faraday cages made of copper would be too expensive, so instead signs were placed warning toilet users not to use cell phones in the stalls

Fondest memory: Are you beginning to understand just how BIG Octoberfest has become? If not, go back and read the second part which discusses number of toilets, and how people used the toilets as a way to enable them to hear their cell phones through the noise.
This year, in 2010 I did not see even one trash can. There are tiny boxes on poles about the size of a kitchen wastebasket, but nothing that could handle the amount of trash generated daily.

There are plenty of security workers, and it is understood that if a person gets in a scuffle by accident they are still handcuffed and hauled off regardless of the story. Don't let this happen to you. Walk away from all altercations.
We saw people being taken in this manner, and we also saw stretchers that look like mummy bags where drunk people who are unconscious are taken to where ever they can sober up. If you want to see bunches of drunk people at one time, go to the hill of grass located by the big monument.

Favorite thing: Who doesn't love the Oktoberfest?
But who has ever been there knows the hazzle of getting into one of the big tents, not mentioning finding a seat or even an entire table...
So last year, my friends and I decided to follow the advice of a local friend and tried an alternative: "Das Wiesnzelt am Stiglmaierplatz". Though it is not directly located at the Oktoberfest, it's just a few minutes away. The tent is located in the historic Löwenbräukeller and offers genuine Wiesn-atmosphere without the usual closing time, all other tents are bound to. There was an awesome band playing, literally around the clock (not like in the tents, where they take more breaks than actually play music). And when we were all kind of fed up with the bavarian ratatata music and up to party, we didn't even have to leave the place. In a seperate room upstairs is an After Party with hip DJ music and cool drinks. the best thing was that we could book our table online in advance, conveniently on their website at www.daswiesnzelt.de. I already made my reservation for this year, as I am definetly coming back! Munich be aware:-)

Fondest memory: Oktoberfest - every year again:-)

Favorite thing: Hello!
I can not remember what percentage of the tables are reserved but myself and 2 friends went to Oktoberfest 2008 opening day. We got there at 7am with the intention of getting into the schottenhammel tent for the keg tapping ceremony but found a very large crowd already waiting in line. We decided to see what the crowds were like at the other tents and found lines at all of the tents we looked at. We decided to go with the Paulaner tent where we were about 15 people back at the door we were waiting at(mostly young people between 18-25 I would guess). The line was also about 15 wide. We waited for two hours until 9 am in a crowd that just got bigger and bigger. All the bodies were touching each other and we could barely move. When the doors opened at 9am there was a huge surge and I could hardley keep my feet on the ground. Had I actually picked them up, I think I would have been carried in by the crowd.
As soon as the door opened, you could hear the stampede of people RUNNING for a table. It took us 5 to 10 minutes to get in the door and the place was already packed with people. We were lucky enough to get seats at a table that was occupied by only 5 people by asking if we could join them. They looked us over and said OK. As a sort of "Thank You", we bought the first round for the table...and the second...ant the third. In fact, somehow we managed to spend about 500 Euros between the three of us that night.
They do serve food, soft drinks, and water before the beer starts to flow. We ordered those huge pretzels and the others at the table got the boiled white sausages. There was other stuff but I do not remember what. We were talking about how we were going to switch off between beer and water, but after the wait that seemed like forever we just stayed with the beer. Boy that first one was OUTSTANDING! The other 5 were good too!
One of the girls at the next table lost her shoe in the opening mad dash and never found it.
Try to head to the bathroom a little early...maybe 10 or 15 minutes before you really have to go as the lines are quite long. There are long troughs for urinals and you stand side by side so if you have "Stage Fright" and need to use the stalls it will take even longer. When we were there, the womens line was even longer and they were coming in the mens room through the exit and waiting for the stalls also.
What an experience...and I would do it all again in a second given the opportunity. Great beer, great food, and GREAT PEOPLE we met from Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, England and Iran.
I think the next time we will try to get there at 5:30 or 6:00 for the first day.
Please let me know if I can be of any assistance!

Have a Ball!

Chuck

Favorite thing: Every year, Munich hosts the biggest beer fair in the world – the traditional Oktoberfest, which starts in September. It is originally from Munich, but it has already taken to all over the world. Traditional Bavarian dishes are also part of the fair – sauerkraut, bockwurst and pork knee are the most common ones. German cuisine uses a lot of pork, especially for different kinds of sausages and frankfurters.

Favorite thing: Go to the Oktoberfest if you are in Munich at the right time of the year. It is really a great experience and lots of fun!!!

The Oktoberfest goes for 15 days prior to the first Sunday in October. It is held at the Theresienwiese grounds (about 10 minutes walk from the Hauptbahnhof)...

Get there early to make sure you get inside a great tent! And HAVE FUN! :) I would say the earlier you get there the better tent you will get. We ended up in the "Aussie/NZ/South African" tent because we got there too late...

Also, if you intend to go on all the rides then I'd suggest not drinking too much beer beforehand... ;)

Favorite thing: As the picture shows the people are very friendly - My mates wife didn't speak to him for a week after seeing this picture. So if you do happen to be the girl with the pigtails on the left please get in touch and confirm that the guy sat next to you didn't have a chance.

Fondest memory: Getting my first beer of the day in the hoffbrau tent at 10.30am

Favorite thing: The Beer Festival. We spent the day in the Hofbrauhouse tent - it was magnificent

Fondest memory: The people in the tents were so freindly. where esle in the world can you get 8,000 people in one tent, drunk, happy and singing.
even if you accidentaly bumped into someone, they were more likely to smile and give you a beer than to complain!
Fantastic