200 years of tradition, in other words, Oktoberfest. It all began with a wedding, the royal wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, and 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 fields") in honor of the Crown Princess ever since, although the locals simply refer to it as the "Wies'n". At that time, horse races marked the close of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria. A good time was had by all, so that they decided to repeat it annually.
Gradually with time, along with the agricultural fair, beer was introduced so visitors could quench their thirst and in 1896 the beer stands were replaced by the first beer tents and halls set up by enterprising landlords with the backing of the breweries. The rest of the grounds were occupied by amuzement (carrousels , rides, swings etc).
The festivties begin with a weekend filled with parades, the first being the Grand entry of the Oktoberfest landlords and breweries where decorated carriages, the magnificent horse-drawn drays of the Munich breweries, waitresses on decorated floats and all the beer tent bands parade.
And G. would like to point out that they (the people on the floats) are not pretending to drink their beer at 10am!The following day , Oktoberfest Costume and Riflemen's Parade and almost everyone is out in their drindl and lederhosen (I will explain the clothes in another post)
M. and her carriage!
M and I cheering on...God save the queen, and princess for that matter!
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