Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Oktoberfest: Your Guide to Enjoying Munich’s Main Event (Even if You Hate Beer and Crowds)

Episode Date: October 4, 2018

As a vegetarian who doesn’t like beer, I never thought Oktoberfest would be an event for me. But, independent tour guide Maxine Ryder has convinced me otherwise! To start, did you know that at Munich’s massive event you’ll also find a Prosecco tent??    On the Postcard Academy podcast, Maxine, an British/Australian expat and Munich resident, and I talk about the history of Oktoberfest, the type of food and drink you’ll find there, strategies to have an amazing time, and more. Visit postcardacademy.co for a roundup with links.   I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel. Ready to travel? Sign up for my newsletter and get your free guide to cheap airfare.    Thank you so much for listening to this show. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.   This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet? Postcard Academy listeners can get a FREE audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via audibletrial.com/postcard   This podcast is also brought to you by World Nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance? Get a cost estimate from World Nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.co/insuranceDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy, your weekly travel and culture podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Micatel, and I want to thank you for being such a valuable listener, and I hope, subscriber, to this show. I really appreciate you spending time with me during your week, and I always aim to deliver something of value to you. And today, it's all about Octoberfest. I am speaking with independent tour guide Maxine Ryder, a Brit slash Ozzy, who's been in Munich for many years.

As a vegetarian who does not like beer, I never thought October Fest would be an event for me, but Maxine has convinced me otherwise. On this episode, we'll talk about the history of Octoberfest, the type of food and drink you'll find there, strategies to have an amazing time, and more. You'll also find a roundup of what we talk about today, including photos and links on postcardacademy.com. This episode is brought to you by Audible, which, as you may know, is an audiobook service, So if beer is your thing on Audible, you'll find all sorts of titles, ranging from tasting beer to brewing up a business. And you, Postcard Academy listener, can get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via audible trial.com slash postcard.

And if you are headed to Munich to catch the final days of Octoberfest, don't forget your travel insurance. I like world nomads, and if you go to postcardacademy.co slash insurance, there you will find a handy calculator to do. get a cost estimate and you don't even have to talk to anyone. It is great. Now into my conversation with Maxine. Welcome, Maxine. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Well, thank you for contacting me. So you are a British-born Australian artist. What does that mean exactly? Where did you grow up? Okay. Well, I was born in England, but we were emigrants to Australia when I was only three years old. So we went on one of the, we were one of what was called the 10 pound pomies. It was assisted passage to Australia. We went by ship. Very cheap, 10 pound. And they needed workers over there.

So my father emigrated in 1963 when I was three years old. So where in Australia? We were raised in Adelaide, Australia. And then in 1974, we returned to England. And I finished off my schooling in England, and then I was the first in the family to go back to Australia when I was an adult. And then my sister and my youngest brother followed me over there, and they settled there. So we have family in three different countries now. Okay. So why did you decide to go back to Australia and what were you doing there? I went back because I had a very happy childhood in Australia, and I loved the weather. And I just felt like I fitted better in Australia. And the weather was very bad in northern England. That got me down. And I decided to study art at that time.

And I wanted to do it in Melbourne. So how did you end up in Munich? I met a German guy. And I was planning to come back to Europe at some point. And I thought I would probably go to Italy. And then I ended up trying Munich because of this relationship I had. And I thought, well, I'll give it a go. And here I am 21 years later. But it was a place I'd never imagined I would be living. When I first came here, I was working at the TV studios and doing a very mundane job. And then the opportunity came up to train as a guide in 1999. And that's when I, yeah, that's when the whole thing started. And yeah, I never imagined that 20 years later I'd still be working as a guide.

You meet people from all walks of life. And I like being able to show people around. I love it. So you went to October Fest this weekend. I think we've all heard of Octoberfest, but what is it exactly? What's the history behind it? Well, the history is over 200 years old. It started as a royal wedding in 1810 of Crown Prince Ludwig I and his bride, Teresa.

Ludwig I eventually became the king of Bavaria. But at that stage, he was the crown prince. And their wedding was located on the same location that the October Fest is held every year. And it's a huge field. It was outside of the town. There was nothing in that area at the time. And it was a five-day wedding from October the 12th to the 17th. And part of that wedding celebration was a royal horse race. And that was on the 17th of October. And the city of Munich decided that it was such a great event and such a lot of fun for the people of Munich. Because all the citizens were invited to watch this royal horse race, they decided. they would have it on the following year as a celebration of the anniversary.

And that's, yeah, the rest is history. And so it's called October Fest, but it actually always starts in September every year, right? That's right. And the thing was when the breweries started to become more industrialized and they were producing a lot more beer and the October Fest was getting bigger, they decided that it would be better to pull it forward to mid-September because the weather's much more pleasant. It's a warmer climate in September. You can sit outside and drink. You can drink.

More people can come along because there's more seats to sit people. And it's just a more pleasant environment in warm weather because it's already getting chilly in October. What are some traditions that are associated with October Fest? Well, they have a fairground there, a huge fairground. The opening ceremony is very special. It's a very cultural part of the October Fest on the opening day, which is a special. Saturday, always on a Saturday, they have the parade of the brewery horses and the tent owners. And that's a very beautiful spectacle.

And then on the Sunday is the parade of the national costumes, the different regional costumes of Bavaria. And every year they invite different groups to come along and sometimes even from other countries in Europe. So there'll be people from Poland, people from Russia, Ukraine, also showing their, displaying their beautiful traditional costumes as well. So that's called the Tracten Umtug or the costume parade. Very cool. So I know there's Lederhausen for men and Derndel for Women. Can you talk a little bit more about these outfits? Yeah, well, it's interesting because I recently saw some photographs of the

October 1st that were taken in the 1950s and nobody, nobody was wearing Tracton, the traditional costume. They were in suits. Men were in suits with ties and women were in normal dresses. It was considered very provincial for people to wear the Tracton. And it's not really until the 80s and 90s that it started becoming more fashionable. And now it's become cult to wear the costume and even the tourists are getting into it. But it was considered pretty much for, you know, people from the countryside, very old fashion to wear it. But all that's changed. And it's become fashionable now. And every year now, Vogue magazine, German Vogue, has a special Octoberfest edition in September of all the new beautiful costumes that they bring out.

Why do you think it has become so trendy? Do you think it's something bigger, like people want to reconnect with their history? Yes, I think so. And I think also because probably after the war, there wasn't really a sense of national pride for obvious reasons with after 12 years of the Nazi regime. And I think even displaying the German flag was not considered. It still isn't considered very a good thing to do to display the German flag, except in the context of football. And I think the same with the costume. I think people, yeah, there was a sense of probably shame after the war, maybe, and that they prefer to just wear normal clothes as well. That's part of it. But now, I think enough time has passed.

for them to take pride in their costume. It's a very Bavarian thing. Yeah, even today, I've heard people refer to themselves as Bavarians instead of Germans. I think a lot of people still associate Germany with Nazism. And so people would rather be associated with being from Bavaria and the land of beer. For somebody who doesn't know, what is Bavaria exactly? Well, Bavaria is the southern, it's a large state. It's one of the 16 states of Germany, one of the 16 federal states of Germany, and one of the largest states, and probably, I would say, the most affluent.

And it's an agrarian culture here as well. It's a lot of farming land here. But it used to be a kingdom. From 1806, it was a kingdom. It became a kingdom under Napoleon. And then after Prussia was, after the reunification of Germany, When Prussia reanified Germany in 1871, Bavaria became part of Prussia. And I know there's quite a big rivalry between Berlin and Bavaria.

What is that all about? Yeah, well, I guess it's that. The Bavarians are very, they see themselves as very different from the rest of Germany. They think the Prussians probably have their noses up in the air. And the Prussians tend to think, as they call them, the Prussians, they tend to think of the Bavarians as country bumpkins, which is not at all true because it's the IT capital and it's actually an interesting duality that Bavaria has of being very traditional but also very technologically advanced in many ways.

It's the IT capital of Germany. Oh, it's quite funny that I feel like each of them feels like the other is the snub because I have friends in Berlin and they're the ones who are like, they're the artsy ones who are like, oh yes, everyone in Munich, it's just all about money and they're such snob. So, yeah, I guess it's funny which side you're on. Yeah, there's that element too where they, yeah, there's the two sides. There's a traditional and then there's a lot of money down in Munich.

It's a very rich state. So a lot of people think it's a bit shiki-micky down here in Berlin's more edgy, which is there is some truth to that too. I mean, Berlin is a lot more edgy than Munich. But I think Bavaria has a lot of character. And in fact, all the clichés we tend to associate with Germany, they tend to be Bavarian. The Lederhausen, the October,

people associate October Fest, beer drinking, traditional costume, alpine chalais, and these beautiful castles of King Liddick, they associate all those things with Germany, but it's actually Bavaria. Going back to October Fest, so where does the main October Fest take place?

It's not a typical beer garden. It's outside of Munich, isn't it? It's just outside. It's a couple of kilometers outside near the railway, station, which back in the day of the wedding was kind of like being out in the countryside because there was nothing between the city centre and where that wedding location was. So the good thing is that it is just outside of the city, so the city doesn't get too crazy during the October 1st.

And it's still concentrated in the same area that the wedding took place. So it's a kidney-shaped huge field. It's two hectares. and that's where they have 14 huge tents. And the largest tent holds up to 10,000 people inside. Is there a difference between the tents? Yeah, there is quite a different. I mean, the six breweries have the Monopoly at the October Fest,

and they have the largest tents, and some of the breweries have two tents. And then there's a couple of small ones. There's a wine tent. There's the Nymphenburg sect tent as well, and these are a little bit smaller. But the ones owned by the six breweries are the largest. And do you need reservations? You don't need reservations.

You can just turn up, but if you want to go there in the evening, it's very, very hard to get a table. So people do tend to reserve. If you have a group, it's best to reserve. And they have an area around the sides of the tent and the mezzanine. where it's all reserved tables. And in the middle of the tent, it's kind of called the pit. That's where it's just free for all. You just come and try and squeeze onto a table with other people.

But it is best to get reservations if you really want to, you know, be assured that you're going to get a place to sit and eat. Because you're not allowed to stand and drink. You have to actually be at a table. Oh, that's interesting. Is that just to keep down the rowdiness? Well, you know, the waitresses have a hard time getting the food and the drink to the table anyway with all the crowds. So having people standing in the way is a bit of a hindrance to them. They usually carry 12 or 14 liters in their hands, which is incredible.

I mean, it's like a workout. And they're doing that all day until 10, 30, 11 at night. So it's, yeah, it's a hard job and they really earn their money. Can you describe the atmosphere? It's, you know, it's an interesting thing at the October 1st. Some people feel like they don't. want to go there because of the crowds and they won't enjoy it. But actually, once you get in those tents, you cannot help but get swept up in the joviality of the atmosphere in there. And

it's quite indescribable. There's a lot of people, you just feel like you're part of something very big. It's a big international party with people from all over the world. And the great thing about it is that everybody feels comfortable being silly and just dancing and singing and joining in and all the silly songs that they sing at the October Fest. It's a very convivial atmosphere and very easy to have a good time there. Who is attending October Fest? Is it mostly tourists? Is it mostly locals? Well, actually, it's a misconception that it's all tourists

because apparently it's about 70% Germans that go to the October Fest, and the majority of those Germans come from Bavaria, because they grow up with it. You know, they go as children, they have family days there on the Tuesdays. where all the fairground rides are half price. So, yeah, it's a traditional thing to go with your family. So, yeah, it's mostly Germans, and it can be quite expensive for tourists to come because the hotel prices can triple.

So it's an expensive time if they want to find a hotel here. What kind of beer are they serving? It's the six local breweries? Yeah, the six beers are, well, Hofbroi, which is the state brewery. It used to be the Royal Brewery, Augustina, which is the oldest brewery in Munich, which is the best. And then you have Palana, Hakkishore, Lervenbroi and Spartan. They're the six big breweries. Wow.

And there's a state brewery? Yeah, the Hofbroy House was once the Royal Brewery. It was built by the royal family. And when the monarchy ended in 1918 after the First World War, the brewery became state-owned like most of the castles. So it's owned by the state of Bavaria. So in that sense, it's protected. Wow, that's so interesting. I hadn't heard of, you know, state-owned brewing before.

And the Augustina is the only private brewery. So most people who come to Munich don't aren't aware of Augustina because it's not imported over to America or Australia. And one of the reasons is that they stick very rigidly to the purity laws for the beer, which are the oldest food regulation laws in the world. they're very traditional and this is one of the reasons they don't export because they don't put preservatives in the beer. If you speak to most locals, they usually prefer the Augustina beer. It's the most popular beer with the locals. And I would say probably the next one would

be Hofbroi. So they're the two that really belong to Munich. And how much does the, does beer cost at October best? I heard it was very expensive. It's 10 to 10 to 12. year, depending which tent you go into. So on average, 11 euro at the moment. Every year it goes up a little bit and there's always a big outcry about the beer prices. But what people have to remember is that it costs the city a lot of money to put on the October Fest. It's free to go in there. They have to pay the builders for the work in constructing those tents. And it takes two and a half months to build them. So that's all the employees they have to pay. They have on-site police, undercover police security guards, toilet cleaners. They have to pay the bans. Every tent has a

band, a brass band. They have to pay the cooks, the cleaners. So when you consider all the cost involved in setting up the October Fest, really 11 euro for a beer is actually okay, I think. Yeah, that is quite a big affair. And Octoberfest lasts a little over two weeks. That's right. And yeah, I was wondering who was organizing this and who was making the money from this event. Because I think it generates like a billion euro, right? And just a little over these two weeks.

Yeah, easily. Because we had record numbers apparently in 2015. And we had apparently 6.4 million visitors to the October Fest. and the population is only 1.5. So that's an astounding amount of people. And even if they only were to drink one liter of beer, that's still a lot of money. And of course, nobody drinks just one. So, yeah, they make a lot of money.

And this is the city then. It's a city event. The breweries and the city of Munich, yeah. And there's all these, the spin-offs as well, all the, you know, people come and do extra tours. They, you know, it's a big money spinner. All the souvenirs. hotel prices, the restaurants. Because there is an overspill into the city.

A lot of people who come to the October Fest will, you know, they'll then go into the beer halls in Munich and spend the money there as well because it's cheaper. Do you have any local tips on how to have a good time at Octoberfest? I think, well, probably my tip would be to get there early, first of all, to get a tent. go with a group and make sure you leave before it closes because it's horrendous when it closes in the evening. And if you're a little bit scared of crowds, that's not a nice time to experience when all those thousands and thousands of people are leaving. So my tip is to get there early and leave a little bit earlier than most people so that you can get home safely without all the crowds.

But it's very easy to have a good time. You don't have to do it. much. So it's, yeah, it's a very easy place to have fun. What are people eating there? Well, a typical thing would be grilled chicken. This grilled chicken at the October Fist is fantastic, but they have a lot of, it's all about authenticity at the October Fest. They don't have anything that's not Bavarian. So they have pork knuckles, they have schnitzels, roast pork, sausages, everything imaginable. And one of the tents has an ox. They have about 16 oxes that they

roast on a huge spit. That's a special tent. And that's worth going to just to try the ox. That's something unique to that particular tent. And there's one tent owned by Augustina that has grilled fish as well. If you're not a meat eater

and you like fish, so there's something for everybody really. I think I also read there's a cafe now. Yeah, there's a Rischart, which is a bakery chain and meek. They have a tiny little cafe tent where you can go and have coffee and cakes as well. So really, there is something for everybody. There's a wine tent as well, a Prosecco tent. A Prosecco tent. Yeah, it's a Nymphenburg sect tent where they serve wine and champagne. So there is hope for us non-beer drinking vegetarians. We can hang out in the same. the Prosecco tent and then go eat baked goods. Yeah.

And there's vegetarian dishes as well. There's the Spetslae, which you can have as well, which is like a Nocki, a Bavarian Nocki, which is, I would say it's a bit similar to macaroni cheese, something like that. And what else is there to do besides drink? I think you said there are rides there and music. There's a fairground. So that's a lot of fun to go on the fairground rides. And actually just wandering around people watching is hilarious. I mean, it's from an anthropological point of view.

Just walking around the October Fest can be quite amusing. Just watching all the activities and all the different stallholders selling their wares. There's also a huge statue of Bavaria. She's the patron saint of Bavaria who's at the October Fest site. And people sometimes go and climb up into her head, like the Statue of Liberty. So that's something people like to do as well. But yeah, but it's mainly about drinking and eating. Is there a best time of day or day of the week to go, would you say?

Yeah, well, the busiest time, they have a barometer for the Octoberfest. And the busiest times, of course, are Friday and Saturday evening when it's really crazy. And it's very hard to get a place. Sunday afternoon is very nice. and if you want to go when it's not so crowded during the week in the morning or afternoon

is a nice time to just wander around at your leisure without having all the massive crowds And would you say one day is enough? Yeah, one day for me is probably enough because I've been there so many times but I have met tourists who have been there two or three times during the time that they've stayed in Munich

so you can, yeah, some people love it so much they go back over and over again. So you said that there's also different events happening in Munich itself. Yeah, they do have a lot of things going on in Munich as well, but people tend to go to a lot of the other beer halls just during, because there's a lovely atmosphere in the city during Octoberfest, even if you're not at the actual location, it's a very lively time. So even if you go to the Hofboy House beer hall or some of the others, it's going to be very lively and busy there as well. But people do day trips while they're here. You know, they'll go to the castles or to have a break. Sometimes people will go to Dachau after being at the Octoberfest because they

want to do something a little bit more serious. So Munich has actually quite a lot to offer to the tourists here besides the October 1st. Indeed, Munich does have a lot to offer. And in the next episode, Maxine and I will continue our conversation and share her insider tips on how to enjoy her city like a local. Visit postcardacadadmy.com for more stories and guides. And while you're there, sign up for my newsletter and you can get your free guide on how to find the best airfare. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe if you haven't already and tell a friend about it. It is the best way to grow the show. That's all for now. Thanks for listening and have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot?

I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas. that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.