BEFORE I visited Munich, Germany, for Oktoberfest, I expected cheap beer, bad food and drunken college-age reveling along the lines of an American football or a European soccer game.
What I found was entirely different. The beer was of the best quality, if slightly higher in alcohol content than that served in a bar or pub. The food offerings were delicious, from crispy chicken to brisket, and featured the best soft pretzels I had ever tasted. And the participants ranged in age from small children to the elderly. To begin with, although the sights are free and the carnival rides are open (but not free) to all, in order to maximize the Oktoberfest experience, it is necessary to purchase a ticket to a “tent” sponsored typically by a beer company. These tickets are generally purchased well in advance in order to ensure access. But they are not purchased individually; rather, they are procured by buying a table for twenty or so people. And they are timed for four-hour intervals.
The tables -- hundreds of them -- are set up in each sponsored tent and are served by waiters selling food and beer. Vendors also walk the floors hawking Oktoberfest merchandise – helium- filled balloons, Tyrolean hats, feathers and badges for the hats, and the like. Most of the crowd is dressed in traditional German outfits, such as lederhosen and dirndls. A large stein of specially made Oktoberfest beer (it tasted like a pilsner to me) costs €18, so the day is not cheap. The tent I was in had a large stage with a band playing music -- mostly American (”Sweet Caroline,” for example), but plenty of German Oompah as well. Conga lines form periodically, drawing participants from tables throughout the tent. Despite the continuous consumption of beer, I saw very little drunken behavior in our tent. Occasionally, a reveler would stand on his or her bench and attempt to guzzle a liter of beer, to the delight and applause of the audience.
Outside the tents, there were surprisingly sophisticated carnival rides. A Ferris wheel flanked one side of the park, of course. One ride sent people spinning up a hundred foot pole and down again. The rides were not cheap. The roller coaster cost €10 for a thirty second thrill. But they looked incredibly safe. And even the children participated. There were mothers with strollers whose children gawked and giggled with delight, even when they were too small to ride themselves.
My son, who had purchased a table with his 30-something friends and who had invited us, termed the venue “a beer-themed Disney park.” His wife likened it to a Texas State fair. I found it to be an unexpected pleasure and nothing like I expected.
