Photo: Thinkstock
- You did not know that yet!
- 1. Alcohol? Not at the Oktoberfest! Or?
- 2. Is this art or can it go away?
- 3. Price the beer
- 4th Nobel Prize winner builds Oktoberfest tents
- 5. Greetings from the Oktoberfest in Munich
- 6. Big Business Oktoberfest
- 7. 20 years waiting time for the Oktoberfest
- 8. One measure = eight glasses of schnapps
- 9. Well-traveled leather pants
- 10th At the Oktoberfest is lent out!
- 11. Supply and demand
- 12. Nothing like gone!
You did not know that yet!
From Nobel laureates as laborers to Indian leather pants to the secret origins of toasts: We have exciting facts about the Oktoberfest!
Already for the 180th time the Munich Oktoberfest takes place this year. Clearly, over the years many witty anecdotes and facts worth knowing about the world's largest folk festival have accumulated.
The travel price comparison website Momondo has collected twelve of the most bizarre and surprising facts about the traditional Oktoberfest .
These facts are likely to surprise even some Munich - and guaranteed to keep exciting discussions going ...
1. Alcohol? Not at the Oktoberfest! Or?
You can not imagine that today. But at the beginning there was no alcohol from the Oktoberfest . The event was also planned as a kind of sports event. Therefore, you could buy alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine only outside the festival area. However, the organizers and the city administration quickly realized that it would make sense to allow the sale on the site. Since 1880, there is only beer at the Oktoberfest - and the topic of sports moved more and more into the background.
2. Is this art or can it go away?
The art project Les désastres de la biere takes center stage where others prefer to look away. Pictures of the "Oktoberfest victims": drunks who vomit in front of their eyes, drop their pants or simply empty the bladder. Not nice, but art does not just want to show the beautiful side of life.
3. Price the beer
That the beer at the Oktoberfest every year is more expensive, you hear and feel again and again. This year will cost a measure up to 9.85 euros. How drastically the price increase is only noticeable when you look into the past. Because between 1950 and 2010, a price increase by a whopping 1081 percent is recorded!
4th Nobel Prize winner builds Oktoberfest tents
Even the greatest genius once started small. Because before Albert Einstein discovered the theory of relativity, he helped as a 17-year-old boy during the construction of the Schottenhamel marquee at the Oktoberfest.
5. Greetings from the Oktoberfest in Munich
Munichers are not the only ones who go to the Oktoberfest. Many people travel from far away to celebrate at the world's biggest folk festival. In order to send a few greetings to their loved ones back home, Deutsche Post annually builds its own post office, where souvenirs and cards can be sent to all over the world. In 2012 over 130, 000 shipments were sent there.
6. Big Business Oktoberfest
Legendary 74, 365 articles can currently be found (as of 16.09.2013) on Ebay under the keyword "Oktoberfest". But there are also so many things you could have: from the matching costumes to the most beautiful Oktoberfest decoration for your own home, to funny sunglasses and beer mugs.
7. 20 years waiting time for the Oktoberfest
It is well known that the places are coveted in a beer tent at the Oktoberfest. But on the other hand, you also need a lot of patience: As a host, you can wait 20 years before you can build your own party tent at the Volksfest. Anyone who applies to the city of Munich lands on a long waiting list, on which only one place is free, if another says goodbye. And it will also be expensive: Around two million euros can cost the construction and dismantling of a marquee. That is why only the most experienced Munich hosts manage to welcome guests to the Theresienwiese.
8. One measure = eight glasses of schnapps
Can not be? Oh but! Because the beer that is served at the Oktoberfest is not a normal bright. The barley juice has a higher original gravity and therefore has up to 1.3 percent higher alcohol content. The beer is brewed specially for the Oktoberfest.
9. Well-traveled leather pants
The Lederhosen, which are standard on the Oktoberfest, are typically German - but rarely from Germany . For most goats, from whose leather the pants are made, previously grazed in India or Pakistan.
10th At the Oktoberfest is lent out!
"A Proooosit, a Prooooosit of Gemüüütlichkeeeeiiit!" Gladly this toast is sung at the Oktoberfest and then of course taken a big sip of the measure. But this saying is not typical Bavarian. It was written by the Chemnitz musician Bernhard Dittrich.
11. Supply and demand
When demand for a limited supply increases, so does the price. Hotel prices in Munich can therefore double at Wiesn times. Only in top class accommodation, like the city's most expensive hotel suite, prices remain constant. The "Royal Ludwig Suite" at the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten features Cararra marble, calfskin floors and a 24-hour butler service, and costs a whopping 15, 000 euros per night.
12. Nothing like gone!
However, the Oktoberfest does not just have fans, so many people from Munich prefer to leave the city during the Oktoberfest. The travel metasearch engine Momondo has found out that about 27, 000 Munich residents take their vacation in exactly the two weeks that the Oktoberfest takes place in their home country. Especially popular this year are the destinations Bangkok, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Istanbul and New York.
