As usual, my journey to Munich began with a flight out of Phoenix Sky Harbor at dawn on Saturday. With a layover in Newark, NJ, this travel was uneventful.
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| Phoenix Sky Harbor at dawn. |
Clouds and light rain greeted my arrival in Munich, Sunday morning. Quite a change from the heat and sun in Phoenix. I was pleasantly surprised that my room at the hotel was ready when I checked as early as I did. After putting away my luggage, I headed out to Theresienwiese Park.
Theresienwiese Park, home of the Oktoberfest, became more than a fairground because Oktoberfest was much more than a fair. It was a grand festival, originating from a great celebration of a royal wedding. So Theresienwiese Park became a village, a town with an amazing festive atmosphere. Visitors could see great effort was spent dressing up food stalls and stands and beer tents. Many food stalls and stands had elaborate decorations; some reminiscent of cuckoo clocks.
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| Food stall with rotating "pit roast". |
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| An old-fashion horse-drawn wagon "delivering beer barrels". |
While thick clouds and intermittent rains did dampened the festive mood a bit this year, but the fun energy from the crowd was still noticeably strong. There were adults and children dressed up in traditional outfits, honoring and showcasing their Bavarian heritage, and enjoying food and thrill rides with friends and family.
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| Children in Bavarian outfits. |
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| Spirit of Oktoberfest. |
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| A Bavarian maiden. |
The atmosphere in beer tents was just amazingly fun. It was just electrifying. One could not be help but be drawn into the festive mood. Beer tents were full of people enjoying the delicious Bavarian beer, but also eating, singing and dancing to musics performed by live bands. Yet in spite of alcohol, I did not witness any bad behavior. It was just fun and enjoyable.
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| Roast pork with potato dumplings and sauerkraut - a typical Bavarian dish. |
Of course, the rest of the week was taken up by work, the principal reason for my visit to Munich. Then came the flights home. But I hope to have and look forward to my next visit to this lovely city.
A few more pictures of Munich and a video of the inside of a beer tent are at https://picasaweb.google.com/108013863525571472697/121006Munich. And as always, I solicit your constructive comments and critiques of this blogs and photographs in my continuing effort to improve.
Enjoy and thank you for visiting.
Paul.
