On the second weekend of Oktoberfest, not only did Frau A's friends L & M visit, but my friend J from Buffalo!
We had tickets to the Schottenhamel beer tent - it's the oldest one, and where the Mayor taps the first keg.
Before arriving at the tent, we noticed a stage being set up for a television concert in front of the Bavaria statue:
A closer inspection shows Swiss alpine horns, and lots of men in lederhosen with brass instruments:
To open the concert, the alpine horns were played... but they forgot to turn on the speakers.
They did turn them on after 23 seconds though! I captured a short video below:
Then they did another short performance:
Then a conductor got the entire band going...
...and tried to get the crowd to sing along too.
Here's a video of the brass band in concert:
The next act was a schlager singer - move video for those interested below:
From there we went to into the Schottenhamel beer tent. Our table was reserved from 11am to 4pm.
To start, they provided brotzeit ("bread time"), which is a mix of traditional Bavarian finger food. This includes sliced radish, obatzda (a cheese spread), bread with cream cheese & chives, and bread with pork fat & bacon.
Frau M thought it was funy that she was drinking her first mass faster than Herr L...
...but Herr L was saving room for the schweinehaxe (pork knuckle) - it's really quite good, but huge.
Frau A & I were tired but happy - she returned from a 2-week trip to New York, and I've been workin' late.
Frau M borrowed one of Frau A's dirndls and looked great, then tried a hat to go with it.
That's what happens when you're working on mass #2. (The brewery is Spaten for those interested.)
Merchandisers swarm the tents selling hats, t-shirts, pins, and anything else you can think of.
This guy's t-shirt is homemade, and really funny. Captures the spirit of Carnival more than Oktoberfest, though.
We had to wait until almost 12:30 until the band started playing. This guy was impatient, already standing:
Eventually the band got going, we ordered a seconds mass, and taught our friends the Oktoberfest songs.
At 16:00 we left the tent to explore the rides and games. Below is Frau A trying the soccer/kicking game.
It's cheesy, but one of our favorite games is where you try to launch a frog onto a flower with a hammer.
Below, Herr J has set his frog on the launch pad, and will strike the other side of the lever with the hammer...
...and the next shot is of Herr L who has just smashed the lever and sent the frog flying. We won a few here!
On the way out we noticed a new show: Monster Truck. Yup, behind the screen is a small dirt pit.
We didn't try it, but were surprised because it's non-traditional. What's Oktoberfest coming to?
Again, thank Herr L, Frau M, and Herr J for visiting. Hope to get more friends next year!