O'zapft is

...yes, the October fest is over and this year when the Mayor tapped the keg (that's right) and said ''O'zapft is'' (you thought I was swearing, didn't you? Its slang for “the keg is tapped”) it proudly celebrated its 200th Birthday.

The October fest ends today (and yes, it starts in September) and I am going to miss…

…the heart-shaped Lebkuchen (cookies)

…people in traditional costumes

…staring at the rides and the Zelten (tents - don’t be thrown off by the word tent, it can hold 100s of tables, 1000s of people and atleast 10,000 litres of beer!) of the different breweries as I walk by the Theresienwiese

…general festivity in the air with office goers taking 2 hour long lunches with one too many beers

I will however not miss…

… buses and underground system being so full (and usually they are half empty) that its better to walk

… people drinking beer at 10 am being considered normal

… watching pretty girls in beautifully dressed Dirndls horrifying innocent bystanders (like yours truly) by throwing up on the road

… Theresienwiese taken away from Joggers

… and finally stone-drunk people who go around breaking glass doors (the pic shows the handiwork of one or more of them on my building entrance door - click on it to see the cracks up close)

This year the biggest highlight was the ‘Historische Wiesn’ that showcased 200 yrs of October fest. It had:

- A Museum that showed the mobile homes people used when visiting the October fest in 1925, for example.

- Rides that were almost 100 yrs old (Doesn’t the photo remind you of poi kal kudirai ??)

- A Horse race arena (pity there were no actual races since that would require extra security measures). Apparently, it was all about the races when the October fest first began

- A festzelt where people can eat and drink (I loved seeing old people attired in those really traditional costumes. One old lady actually had 4 fresh roses pinned to her blouse!)

...and it will start all over again in another 49 weeks ! Auf wiedersehen !