A parade!
It's amazing how things work out when you don't have a set plan. Here was the general idea: myself and my traveling companions decided to go see the market square in Munich because we hadn't made plans for Sunday. Looking on the map, was a simple enough walk, one of those down the street and turn right sorta deals. Only, half-way there, were waylaid by a parade blocking our route....
Without planning on it, and without meaning to, we stumbled across the Oktoberfest Parade and ended up with a front-row view of the festivities.
What a parade it was! The costumes, the marching bands, the fine horses and the guilds (including one group that I assume to be the yeagers based on the fine collection of dead deer, boars, rabbits and foxes they pulled along on little carts. This is something you don't see in the US, but there were no monster trucks in the parade, so quid pro quo) all marching together, boisterously smiling, and enjoying their strut through Munich. Everyone was having a great time; the marchers, and those riding the horse-pulled carts smiled and waved, and the little collection of folks I was standing with smiled and waved back to them.
The best part is that I had really wanted to see the parade, but I thought there was no way to get to where it was being held. I'd completely wrote off seeing it. Sometimes a complete lack of planning pays off.
I understand how visiting Munich during Oktoberfest is sometimes poo-pooed. It's expensive and crowded and full of rowdy tourists. I'm glad I decided to come here for it, 'tho, and not just for the drinking. The square was packed with people -- tourists and locals in lederhosen and brindles alike -- and the atmosphere is one of fun and joy. People were taking pictures of everything and each other, and just having a good time in general. I'm sure most of them were tourists, but so am I.
I haven't yet visited the Fest, but if it's anything like what I've experienced during my first half-day, I can tell I'm in for a treat. A beery, beery treat.
Fun observation: there's a vending machine in the hotel lobby that sells all sorts of German goodies ... and two kinds of bottled beers. The beers are less than the sodas at two euro each.
I think I'm going to like it here in Munich!
-- Mike Beebe