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Author Topic: 2012 Oktoberfest  (Read 3517 times)

Offline jonesser

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2012 Oktoberfest
« on: November 17, 2011, 11:37:43 am »
Hello AHA Forum hivemind!

Friends and I are currently planning to visit the great party next year and are looking to get our tent reservations in soon, around Thanksgiving.

I imagine that some of you may have been before and I would be ever grateful if you could share any insights.  For example, what tent(s) did you visit?  Is there one over others you would recommend reserving?  Or, perhaps, is there a lesser known aspect of the festival we should seek out?  We’re planning to attend 3 days of the event:  is that short or long for the experience?  Where should I buy lederhosen?  Any other general wisdom for attending, especially with family?

Really appreciate the assistance, prost!

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: 2012 Oktoberfest
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2011, 12:06:35 pm »
Well I have never been but here is the answer to one of your questions!

http://hausofbavaria.com/hose/#Lederhosen
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
-A Einstein

"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
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Offline jonesser

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Re: 2012 Oktoberfest
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2011, 12:16:06 pm »
Wow - all denim?  That would be a classy choice.

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: 2012 Oktoberfest
« Reply #3 on: November 17, 2011, 12:23:42 pm »
But then you couldn't call them lederhosen ;)
Tom Schmidlin

Offline morticaixavier

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Re: 2012 Oktoberfest
« Reply #4 on: November 17, 2011, 01:30:24 pm »
There are some in leather further down the page. all extremely classy!
"Creativity is the residue of wasted time"
-A Einstein

"errors are [...] the portals of discovery"
- J Joyce

Offline SiameseMoose

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Re: 2012 Oktoberfest
« Reply #5 on: November 17, 2011, 03:01:09 pm »
If you really want to buy lederhosen, or any other variety of authentic tracht, I recommend either ebay, or waiting until you get to Munich. European sizing does not translate as well to US numbers as we might like, so getting a good fit is not always so easy. The prices in Munich during Oktoberfest will not be super, but I found them competitive with anything in the US at least. In particular, I recommend the department store C&A in downtown Munich.

Concerning Oktoberfest itself, we only spent one day, but more would been great. I really wish we could have seen more of Munich. We spent no time in the tents, as the weather outside was great and inside the smoking was extreme, and my wife has asthma. I believe they have since made all of the tents smoke-free.
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Rob
I named my brewery after my cat, Moose. He's Siamese.

Offline jonesser

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Re: 2012 Oktoberfest
« Reply #6 on: November 17, 2011, 03:16:51 pm »
Good insight, on both accounts.  I'll advise my friends that we buy in Munich, maybe make a day of the city alone.

Yes, I've heard the tents may not be all they promise, given you can easily get beer outside too.

Offline Delo

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Re: 2012 Oktoberfest
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2011, 10:16:55 am »
A group of us spent about a week in Munich during Oktoberfest in 2009 and I could have stayed longer, but that always is the case on vacation. We also did other than Oktoberfest things.   Dachau, Deutsches Museum, Bike Tour(which was free). My wife and I would like to go back for 4-5 days when our daughter is older.

You can rent Lederhosen and Dirndls if you don’t want to buy them.  I didn’t rent or buy, but when we go back I will buy one….Lederhosen that is….I don’t have the moobs for a Dirndl.

I went to some of the beer tents (Hippodrom, One of Paulaners, Lowenbrau, Hoffbrau, don’t remember all of them) and the wine tent. The wine tent was more reserved and the beer tents were more rowdy.  Reservations can be tough and ours were made by my friends German friend and it was for the wine tent.  We didn’t drink in all the tents because if you are not seated you may not get served and we didn’t wait to get a seat. All tents we went to were a great time.  In 2010 they were going to ban smoking in the tents and I’m not sure if that happened. 

We actually had better times in some of the bars.  The ones I remember were the Hofbrau house, the Rathskeller and this yodel bar http://www.jodlerwirt-muenchen.net/.  The yodel bar was packed, but we happened to get a table upstairs, which was great. If you go, try to get upstairs. It seemed like more of a local crowd. They were really friendly and probably the best time we had there.

Hope this helps. Cant say Im not jealous. mmmm so much Meat and beer.   Have a great time.
Mark