Bavaria loves princesses, emperesses, and queens, especially Princess Therese Charlotte Luise Friederike Amalie von Sachsen-Hildburghausen, or simply Therese, who married Bavarian King Ludwig I in 1810 and became queen. Oktoberfest is the traditional celebration of that marriage. Bavarians adore Sisi. Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie, or Empress Sisi, was born in Munich and raised near Lake Starnberg… Read More Bavarian Queens
Since Richard Wagner’s death, the music story in Germany has been one of a long, slow, seemingly unending and inexorable decline, with The Scorpions, Kraftwerk, and Rammstein the few exceptions. Perhaps there is no brighter, glaringer example of this than at Oktoberfest. The songs heard at Oktoberfest with German lyrics are often also sung at… Read More Oktoberfest: Top-10 American Songs
You, Oktoberfest, are without compare, Overpriced everything, and especially the beer. Drunken Debauchery, in December we’ll do a detox, Fill up on roast pork, dumplings, or a slice from an ox. Fill up my glass, sir, 12 euros is very dear. With girls scantily clad, call it tradition I might add, After a liter or… Read More Oktoberfest: An Ode
With all that’s been happening with the demonstrations for or against immigrants in Germany, I thought now might be a good time to look at a list of ten things I’ve done (or plan to do, if I can ever get a signature from my wife on a few of them) to integrate, and ingratiate,… Read More A Short List (for Beginners) on How to Integrate into Bavarian Culture (F)
This post is a guest post from my good friend Albert Mooney, who sums up succinctly what about half of the people in Munich actually think about Oktoberfest. It must be like living in Rio and hating Carnival. Or being a Dubliner who dreads St. Patrick’s Day. Or a citizen of Nero’s Rome who has long grown… Read More Oktoberfest: Confessions of a Hater
Exactly 32 years ago today, a pear-shaped man named Sepp (Josef) looked at his watch, took a last sip of his coffee, and grabbed his cap. The sun was trying to switch on under a thick blanket of ubiquitous grey German sky. As he was leaving the bakery all he could think about was how… Read More Oktoberfest: A Bad Reception
Laptops And Lederhosen 