18 wonderful days (one more than usual thanks to the Day of German Unity falling on a Monday...) and here we are: at the end of the 2016 Oktoberfest, the 183rd in the long history of this traditional festival.
Lots of people have remarked on how quiet things were this year - it is, apparently, the least busy Oktoberfest since 2001. Now, that is doubtless the case in statistical terms. For us, however, the Wiesn was the same as every year: jam-packed with fun, excitement, and chance encounters of the kind you only experience here. Besides all the beer and the singing and the dancing, the thing we love most about the Oktoberfest is the dress, of course. Since we sell many of the dirndls and lederhosen people wear, we get a heads-up on the major trends: this year, it was all about hair accessories and Bavarian hi-top sneakers for the girls, traditional costume shirts or casual tops for the boys. (We probably don't need to tell you that dirndls and lederhosen (his and hers) were as popular and as varied as ever.)
Our Oktoberfest 2016
Our team made a valiant effort to wear as much of that as possible - and more. What you'll want to know, though, is what we got up to while we were doing it, right? Well, one of the first reservations we had was in the Armbrustschützenzelt: and thank - quite literally: - heavans we had one, because the skies were anything other than clear in those first few days.
Around the middle of the first week, however, the weather gods decided to look kindly on Munich and sent a textbook September summer our way. Fresh mornings, warm afternoons, and temperate evenings just right for sitting outside in the beer gardens. That's when we headed to Schützenfestzelt for a few days: a great place to soak up the sun and - what with the tents not closed due to overcrowding - a good place from which to view the crazy goings-on (Schützen has a gallery on three sides that offers expansive views).
If you're wondering what those little spots are in the middle picture, by the way, they're balloons released after the traditional Sunday morning brass band concert held round the corner at the feet of the Bavaria statue.
Now, as pleasant as the beer garden may be on days like that, the real life and soul of the Oktoberfest is, as we all know, in the tents. Hacker, especially, is known as the location of choice for Munich's young party crowd, and so we heeded its siren call. We were especially curious to see the new interior - the tent was refitted for this year to be airier, bigger, and more comfortable - and see if the atmosphere was still the same...
And do you know what? It was! But what is the atmosphere in Hacker like, then, we hear you ask? Well, it's hard to describe precisely, but let's just say that we were deeply surprised to find out that it was closing time...