Oktoberfest--Sunday, October 3

OK, here go!  It's Sunday morning, and we are off to Munich again after having seen the Passion Play yesterday.  We are heading to Oktoberfest!
It's the last weekend of this boisterous Bavarian Beerfest....how did you like THAT "alliteration", 8th graders!!  :-)  Today is also the celebration of German Reunification after the "Wall" came down in November of 1989, so that, along with GORGEOUS weather, means that there will be huge crowds at this lively carnival.  Yes, security will be tighter, too, as this is one of those supposed "targets" for terrorism...but, we Bavarians know how to deal with them!  If you scroll down and get a good look at those gigantic
                                                                                    beer steins, we'll just have to hurl them at anyone
                                                                                    who has any ideas about ruining our Oktoberfest!!

YES, we had a MERCEDES BENZ coach bus!

On the way to Munich...the landscape is SO similar to southern Wisconsin.  That's why Bavarians settled there after they came to America, moving west from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.  They found in all of these areas fertile land and the climate they were so familiar with back in the "old country"!

Here's our group upon entering Oktoberfest grounds.  What a GORGEOUS fall day it was!
It was about 60° and sunny.  Being the last day of the 2-week fest, and with the weather SO nice, you can understand why there were such huge crowds there.  But, everyone had fun and things didn't get out of hand.  Unless they all went nuts after we left!!  :-)
(The building is where we had lunch...the
   Löwenbrau  "tent"...actually, all the
   places to eat were originally under tents!)

This is the statue of "Bavaria" at the entrance to Oktoberfest.
Notice the Roman architecture..."Bavaria" is the goddess who watches over this southern state of Germany.

These are members of the "Schützverein", or shooting club.
The men had small pistols that they DID shoot off...glad we knew THAT was coming or we'd think it was the predicted terrorist attack!!  YIKES~!  (There was plenty of security around, and even with the "threat", everyone had a good
time and didn't seem to worry about anything going wrong.)

A close-up of a figure on top of one of the posts on the grounds near the entrance...."Oma" and
grandchild.

Yes, that's the "Löwenbrau" Lion, for all of you out there who enjoy a fine Bavarian beer!  :-)











The balcony of the Löwenbrau, where we would later have the traditional lunch of roasted chicken..."Hünchen", auf Deutsch...mmm!

                                 Getting ready to watch all the groups coming out in their traditional ethnic dress, representing  the various clubs and organizations in Bavaria.

 The view from the second floor where we had lunch.

The appetizers on a board:  radishes, sausages, and cheeses.

"Eins, Zwei, Drei, ZOFA!!" 

Fritz, our tour guide...he is a ski instructor who lives in Austria....he was quite the comedian!!!


By the way...those giant pretzels cost 4 Euros each, which is about $5.52...exchange rate on that day was 1 Euro=$1.38

Fritz shows how to hold the Bier Stein...paying attention, Monica????

My sister, Monica, showing us the proper way to hold a Bier Stein...ja, wohl, Fritz??  :-)

Ok...now THAT'S a photo worthy of posting to Facebook, Monica and Fritz!!  ;-)

Souvenirs, anyone?  LOVE those hats!!

We met this nice young family, and I asked the parents if I could take their picture, "Bitte,
darf ich ihre Foto nämen?"  They said, "Ja!"
The dad was very interested in hearing about Chicago!  :-)


The "hearts" you see are the famous gingerbread cookies that are used as greeting cards...they sell them everywhere throughout Germany and Austria.

Geez, I couldn't escape Wisconsin...had to get a picture of the guy with the cow hat!  :-)

The "House of Hearts"...gingerbread greeting cards!

We saw SO many beautiful ethnic costumes: women and girls in their Dirndls and men and boys in their Lederhosen.  Some of the Dirndls
were gorgeous!  And the younger women and teens had rather interesting ways to individualize them!! 

 

   Click here for information on:   History of Oktoberfest!

We were all perplexed as to what this was when we drove away from Munich...this is how farmers grow the hops for the beer!!

We saw many examples of 'Green Energy" all throughout Germany and Austria....way ahead of us Americans!!!

Leaving Oktoberfest...a final view

Looking back at the entrance to Oktoberfest

From outside the fest grounds you can see the top part of the "Bavaria" statue!

This is the only photo I could get of the beer wagons being pulled by the huge horses!  They would come through the Oktoberfest grounds, but it was hard to get the picture with all the crowds.

Love this hat!!  :-)