Oktoberfest 2011 is Almost Ending
Oktoberfest, the most famous event in Germany and the world’s largest fair is ending very soon. You still have time to visit it until tomorrow, October 3. I believed millions of liters of beers are consume again during this year’s fair.
I was able to witness this festival three times already. Sad to say, we were not able to go this year due to our vacation in Turkey. I hope to visit it again next year.
Here some snapshots we took from last year’s celebration.
view of Oktoberfest taken as we were riding the Ferris wheel last 2010.
the Bavaria statue in the background.
one of the beer tents in Oktoberfest.
HISTORY
Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, was married to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12th October 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event. The fields have been named Theresienwiese (“Theresa’s meadow”) in honor of the Crown Princess ever since, although the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to the “Wies’n”.
Horse races in the presence of the Royal Family marked the close of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria. The decision to repeat the horse races in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the Oktoberfest.
“The festival was eventually prolonged and moved ahead to September to allow for better weather conditions. Today, the last day of the festival is the first Sunday in October. In 2006, the Oktoberfest extended two extra days because the first Tuesday, October 3, was a national holiday. Over the past 200 years, Oktoberfest was canceled 24 times due to cholera epidemics and war.”
