Occasional Observations

Little Italy: The middle Oktoberfest weekend is known as Italian Weekend, for good reason - late September is when all the camper vans in the whole of Italy (seemingly) head over the "Passo del Brennero" and into Munich.

With a hotel room easily costing ?200 a night, a camper sleeping five is cheap accommodation. It's close to the action, and almost always packed to capacity by a group of young men. This is the third and last "Wies'n Wochenende" but again this morning the streets were filled by newly-arrived camper vans bearing Italian registrations.

Until a couple of years back, there were no camper wagon restrictions on the streets of Munich - with the result that you'd find Italian campers everywhere. Literally everywhere. These days they're herded into a couple of huge makeshift campsites close to U-bahns, but well away from the 'fest itself. The occasional maverick tries parking on the street nearby but either gets moved on, or towed.

Local knowledge: We started compiling a "how to spot a non-local at the Oktoberfest" guide. Here's some of the funnier ones:

• They stop and take photos at the main entrance - often grinning like a Cheshire cat
• They're in a group all wearing custom-made t-shirts with a silly slogan boasting about their beer drinking capabilities - often in Italian
• They buy (at ?20 a pop) and wear the silly Oktoberfest hats - and the even sillier ones such as the beer keg hat
• They slurp, instead of sipping
• They're wrecked by midday
• If the main entrance to a tent is closed, they shrug and move on without trying the side doors...

Foreigners dressing up: I was at an evening meeting this week where Trachten was optional - and it was mostly the Americans and Brits wearing lederhosen/dirndls, while the Germans wore suits.

# posted by Nesjo : 10:19