Oktoberfest 2009 - Munich - Food

While you could eat a full meal inside the major beer tents, numerous smaller structures and tents served a wide variety of foods, from fresh fruits to roasted or deep fried anything ... chicken, fish, wild boar, and of course sausages of every variety. Candy and Gelotto places were as common, but the numerous bakeries were the most tempting....

Oktoberfest 2009 - Munich - Fest Area "Tents"

The fest area was many acres in size and much of it was dedicated to family oriented attractions and rides, with about a third of the area containing these football field sized Brewery "Tents". Actually more like huge athletic field houses with engineered fabric roofs. Each typically had a main bandstand with many bench tables in the center. Around the periphery and balconies were reserved boxes of benches or tables and chairs for dining and more reserved revelry. While one could attempt to eat in the center section, masses of beer and huge pretzels were more common, and folks were partying on top of these tables most of the time. While the most popular songs and cheers were largely in German, most all languages were present, and fully a third of the songs were popular English rock & roll, we about lost it though when they sang "Sweet Home Alabama" with German accents. Each Brewery tent, I think I remember nine of them..., had it's own theme and general personality. Some were traditional and an older crowd, some younger and a bit more raucous.

Yo! Still adjusting to the time lag and daily schedule and haven't had time to post more of the photos from our trip. I'll post over the weekend on segments of the trip that were particularly noteworthy. Reflecting on our European experience, one of the things that impressed me the most was how thin and healthy Europeans are generally. You can almost pick out the American tourists in a crowd. Everyone there walks, hikes, bikes everywhere to local commuter trains, very few in the smaller villages own cars. Their diet also consists of more fresh vegetables, fruits, breads and cheeses; more fish,poultry and less red meat from what I saw. Yes they have McDonald's virtually everywhere, but they seem very youth/toy/Happy Meal oriented, and all have McCafe sections which serve more of a Continental fare than anything we have in the US. Processed food is expensive there and local farmers markets rule. So I'm resolved to try to adjust my diet accordingly. Overall I lost a net 2 lbs on the trip despite the German Bier, Italian meals and Gelato!