Oktoberfest

[mretzloff]

Today the city of Munich kicked off the 200th Oktoberfest. The festival is a record one: there are more rides, more space was needed to accommodate everything, it is one day longer, smoking is now forbidden, and beer is at a record €8.30 to €8.60 ($10.83 to $11.22) for a Maß.

Have any of you ever gone? Are any of you planning on going this year?

If a few things fall into place, I will be going for a weekend this year.

 

[pal]

I have never been, but Oktoberfest Munich is one of my bucket list destinations. However, I am planning going here tomorrow after the Bengals game.
http://www.oktoberfestzinzinnati.com/okt.aspx?menu_id=256&id=8468&ekmensel=c580fa7b_256_0_8468_2

I have attended for the last couple of years and it is awesome! 500,000 people in five blocks of downtown Cincinnati...Beer vendors everywhere...great food...entertainment...what could be better? You can pay one price (about $15.
00) and get a plastic pint cup that you can refill at any vendor as many times as you want.

It is not Munich but it is very nice indeed.

 

[mretzloff]

Rich, that sounds like fun. $15 for as much beer as you want? Sounds awesome

 

[Dharion]

Damn it. Compared to you folks I'm close yet so far away.

 

[Ru4scuba?]

Lived in GE for three years and I never went

 

[Luc]

It's on my list to go one year and try that... For now, I usually get ~15 different brand of beers that I never tried and I do Oktoberfest at home with SWMBO. There's a nice butcher down the road who sells awesome sausages and I make my own Sauerkraut!

 

[pal]

This is were I first tasted Spaten Lager. I'm hooked now.

 

[Nils]

It's a three hour trip for me, but the prospect is about as appealing as shaving with a rusty blade (without soap and with cold water).

 

[mretzloff]

It's a three hour trip for me, but the prospect is about as appealing as shaving with a rusty blade (without soap and with cold water).

May I ask why?

 

[djh]

I have been and will definitely visit Oktoberfest in München again. A couple of friends are there this weekend- uf d Wies'n, Fussball und Volksfest!
We have a sad, small version of Oktoberfest here in Zürich which kicks off after the real affair finishes (a lot of the same barmaids from Münich) but it is enough fun to draw me along each year.
Prost!

 

[LinuxMintyFresh]

I hit the local Oktoberfest yesterday, and wasn't much impessed. Everything was way overpriced and there wasn't much to do. Hopeully the real thing is better.

 

[Nils]

May I ask why?

Just not my cup of tea, is all.
Sitting in a terribly noisy tent with thousands of others, having to watch them dance and sing on the tables to music I wouldn't even listen to for money, the whole "massive crowd" thing: It's just not my idea of fun. It won't hurt the Oktoberfest though, they're expecting 6 million visitors this year.
We have a local fest every summer (die Lohrer Festwoche) which is really big in this region, with the right bands about 6000 people will be in the tent. The whole area goes crazy about it, and no one understands my rather unenthusiastic response to it.
I guess it's more or less a 'love it or hate it' thing.

 

[StillShaving]

Opening weekend pics:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/09/oktoberfest_2010.html

 

[BladeDE40]

It's on my list to go one year and try that... For now, I usually get ~15 different brand of beers that I never tried and I do Oktoberfest at home with SWMBO. There's a nice butcher down the road who sells awesome sausages and I make my own Sauerkraut!

Luc...you lucky man...your wife likes beer, my wife won't touch the stuff.

 

[Luc]

Luc...you lucky man...your wife likes beer, my wife won't touch the stuff.

I know, plus we like the same type of beers... Belgian ales, micro-brewery stuff...

 

[johsa]

Opening weekend pics:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/09/oktoberfest_2010.html

Thanks for the link! I have been another beer festival in Germany a couple of years back but I think it is time to plan a trip for next year.

 

[Crixus]

September, 1980. Which I just realized was 30 years ago (ouch). I was sitting in the Hofbrau Haus with the folks I was staying with when we heard a somewhat thunderous explosion outside. They tried to assure me that it was just part of the celebration but I had been around naval gunfire enough that I actually seemed to feel some percussion. Sure enough, as we were leaving the police and medical personnel were wheeling sheet-covered bodies through the grounds. The explosion was attributed to a small terrorist band (Red Brigades?), but I don't remember the politics of it anymore.

I was a little (a lot) hung over the next morning and was a little slow getting around. My hosts politely urged me to get a move on since I had to catch my train on into Switzerland. Used to as I was to Amtrak, I knew the train would not be on time. I arrived at the station in time to watch my train pull out, exactly on schedule.

 

[Nils]

September, 1980. Which I just realized was 30 years ago (ouch). I was sitting in the Hofbrau Haus with the folks I was staying with when we heard a somewhat thunderous explosion outside. They tried to assure me that it was just part of the celebration but I had been around naval gunfire enough that I actually seemed to feel some percussion. Sure enough, as we were leaving the police and medical personnel were wheeling sheet-covered bodies through the grounds. The explosion was attributed to a small terrorist band (Red Brigades?), but I don't remember the politics of it anymore.

I was a little (a lot) hung over the next morning and was a little slow getting around. My hosts politely urged me to get a move on since I had to catch my train on into Switzerland. Used to as I was to Amtrak, I knew the train would not be on time. I arrived at the station in time to watch my train pull out, exactly on schedule.

The man who planted the bomb was called Gundolf Köhler; he used an empty mortar grenade that he filled with 1,39 kg of TNT and put into a fire extinguisher filled with nails and screws.
The explosion killed Köhler and 12 people, 211 more were injured. Many of those lost arms and legs. It was the biggest single terrorist attack in Germany's history.
Köhler was a 21 year old university student with known Neo-Nazi leanings.
The official version is that he acted alone, but many people doubt that: He had contact to at least one group of Neo-Nazis, and there is some evidence that he was part of a larger network of right wing extremists.

 

[KaiserKrebs]

My family does an Oktoberfest style meal to celebrate every year, and has done so for over 20 plus years. The real one looks amazing, and overwhelming as well. I'm not crazy about huge crowds either, so don't know if I would find it fun.

The HofBrau Haus in Las Vegas, has made a great effort to provide as an authentic an atmosphere as is possible in Las Vegas. I've been there three times over the years, and always had a good time, and meals there.

Have relatives in Wisconsin who say that Milwaukee puts on a great event too, but have never been during that time. Did have a chance to eat at Mader's once, and the Berghof in Chicago years ago, now sadly gone. Loved both places.

 

[Luc]

I got the beers, 6-7 different German ales. I got the sausages, the BBQ will be roasting tonight. I have a cabbage that has been fermenting for 6 months now and I got my potatoes!

I'm ready for tonight!!

(Yes, I kick the party early I know!)