Oktoberfest Munich, Germany

I know what you are thinking. You are thinking how much I don't like beer, so why on earth would I attend October Fest?

Let me show you.

This year Oktoberfest is celebrating it's 200 year anniversary and since we are here in Germany, it seemed a shame to miss it.

We arrived early this year so we could see the opening parade.

The pageantry and music are wonderful.

Here's the Oktoberfest princess heading up the festivities.

Carts of each tent's dignitaries.

Look at the flowers decorating this one.

Teams of horses

(these were my favorite)

drawing the flower-adorned floats

 Each tent has a wagon of flower adorned kegs.

Look at these clever ladies!  They brought their own 'bretzel' snacks hanging round their necks.

Band after band came by...

This little man took it all very seriously.

He did a very good job though!

People riding on the floats threw flowers to bystanders.

Cousin Terry and I got this beautiful rose.

Our policeman friend who was managing our section of the crowd got a flower as well.

Terry does love her men in uniform.

FYI: her son is a policeman in Los Angles.

Now, lets move on to the food.

The food is quite different than what we expect at our "fairs".

Here's smoked fish on a stick....it's actually really good.



Fish sandwiches.....a bit different than McDonald's but popular.

Chocolate covered fruit on sticks.  These are pineapple chunks.

The German versions of pizza.

They do have cotton candy and gingerbread too.

Let's move on to the games and rides.

You name the ride

They have it.

As well as the scary fun house.

All the normal games we have at fairs.

A quick word about the beer tents.

There are 14 large tents and some 20 smaller ones.

This is the Löwenbräu tent.

It's 15-foot lion lets out a roar now and then and takes a sip from it's beer.

I was thinking the Belfast Lions could use this at the high school (minus the beer of course)

It might intimidate the other football teams and we'd go on a winning streak.

We did manage to get a seat in one of the smaller tents for lunch.

I chatted for a moment with this man who was drawing up the beers and cokes for the crowd.

He enjoys his job, he says because he meets so many interesting people from all over the world.

I liked him because he was very kind and said my German was "pretty good."

Mac gives Oktoberfest a thumbs up.  He says to tell you,

"If we have to miss the Unity Fair in Maine this year,

I suppose Oktoberfest will suffice."