In September, 2002 we visited Munich to attend Intermot and Oktoberfest with our friend Nancy Haynes. We spent several days just wandering around Munich seeing some of the major sights. One of the most recognizable is the new Rathaus (below, right) on the Marienplatz. This is a popular area for tourists as many of the major sights are close by. We happened on the Glockenspiel in the Marienplatz as it was playing its noon session (below, left). Of course there are more than enough churches to visit, all very different, but the Asam church definitely wins the prize for being the most ornate.

Close to the Marienplatz, the Victualers’ Market was a delight to wander through to see and smell all the wonderful fresh food available. It was also a great place to grab a wurst and beer to stave off the midday hunger. On the other side of the Marienplatz we found Dallmayr’s Delicatessen to be a delight - much like Harrod’s (London) food hall. They have an excellent selection of all types of foods and beverages; we escaped with only a small selection of their exquisite dark chocolates, although Verna was looking longingly at their pastries (right).

The weather turned a bit cold and rainy on us so that gave us ample opportunity to visit several of Munich’s varied museums (there are a lot!). One of our favorites was the Deutches Museum of Science and Technology - the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is very similar. The exhibits were varied, extensive, current, and of excellent quality, not to mention plentiful. We split up to maximize our time and still didn’t get to see everything of interest to each of us. The Eyewitness Guide said it best, indicating it would take a person 36 working days to see every exhibit, assuming they spent only 1 minute at each one (and probably by that time they would have changed a few of the exhibits). They also have special exhibitions and/or demonstrations at 10, 2 and 4 daily. Verna’s favorite was the electrical power demonstration where they sent several thousand volts of electricity through a hanging metal capsule (left) in which a man was sitting (without harming him, of course). The bright spot in the picture is the resultant arc of electricity.

We also spent several hours touring through the Residenz. Unfortunately we only got about halfway through. They provide an excellent audio guide so that you proceed at your own pace. The first half is focussed on the furnishings while the second half highlights the royal apartment rooms and audience chambers. At right is one of the grand halls, representing the lavishness of the Residenz.

The furniture represented was equally as lavish and not considered to be everyday pieces of furniture, but were instead collector’s pieces. As a result they were made by the finest furniture makers in Europe. Several pieces were made of tortoise shell finish in Belgium and were quite impressive. The shell is thinly sliced and placed on a red wood producing a soft, red/brown mottled look. Over this, brass and silver was placed, then cut out into intricate designs. The table top at left displays the intricacy of the cut work, although the tortoise shell background is not clearly visible. This particular table also featured an elaborate inlaid piece of art in the center, all made from inlaid marble.

All in all, we saw some wonderful items not often seen, but at the same time we know that the common folk at the time had so little that the contrast makes it seem even more “over the top” than it appears at first. We imagine that most people at the time would have been happy enough to have had a house the size of one of the smaller rooms!

While we were there, Oktoberfest opened - and we happened to be in the right place at the right time to see the opening parade (along with a few thousand other people). At right is Jim’s view of the main gate from our vantage point along the parade route. It was the best view we got between the heads, the tree, and the crane that the TV cameras were on. 

We enjoyed being a part of the event and seeing all the beer wagons being drawn by teams of horses to the site along with the various Bavarian bands that were walking in the parade. The crush of people made it slow-going into the grounds, but eventually it thinned out a bit as people moved into the beer tents. We had our sausages and beer and listened to the music, then strolled around the grounds. They still had a few of the horse teams out so we got a better picture of them (left, the Lowenbrau team). All of them were quite lavish with the flowers on the wagons and the fancy hardware on the horses.

The Oktoberfest is like a big carnival with all the rides, games and booths of souvenirs, lebkuchen (decorated spice cookies), candied nuts and other assorted goodies. Many large beer tents and several smaller food tents offer food and drink to the thousands of visitors. Various types of wurst are the most common food, although there is a lot of roast chicken and roast pork. There are even several stands offering fish sandwiches ( pickled herring, mackerel, or smoked salmon). Beer comes in liter and half-liter sizes (6.70 Euro for the liter, 4 Euro for the 1/2). So although the entrance is free, if you have many beers, the cost for attendance can be high. At right is one of the many waiters and waitresses with 10 liters of beer, heading to his customers’ table in the beer tent. Above left, is a photo inside one of the large beer tents, with customers dancing on the benches to the band playing on the platform in the middle of the tent. Everyone was certainly having a good time and the beer was flowing smoothly.We couldn’t find a table in the hall, so went on to one of the smaller tents for dinner and beer. After we strolled through the grounds, and noticed quite a lot of people out and about, even with the rain (below). We decided after our big dinner of roast chicken and potato salad (not to mention a mug of beer), tonight was not the night to be riding the roller coaster!

So we were satisfied with enjoying the sights, Nancy bought some souvenirs, we got some fresh candied almonds, and Verna had to try a splittebombe (a huge chocolate-covered marshmallow on a wafer; she thought it was great, but Jim couldn’t fathom eating that after a liter of beer). So farewell to Ocktoberfest for another year. Maybe next time we’ll figure out how to make reservations in a beer hall, then we can spend the entire evening with all the party makers.

If you find typographical errors or have any other problems when looking at the site please contact the Webmaster describing the problem and the page involved.