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Back again for another “cracking” episode of the myGermany Podcast! Well…perhaps “cracking” is a bit exaggerated. It is a pretty good one, though.
In this episode I give you 10 tips for driving safely on the famed and, in some cases, infamous, German Autobahn. Plus there’s a few interesting facts about driving in Germany in general:
- like how long can you drive with your national driver’ s license before you are compelled to get a German Fuerhschein,
- what to do when getting into an accident,
- what kind of vehicle documents are needed,
- etc.
I know that I said in the last episode that I was going to be putting out shorter episodes, like about 15 minutes. But somehow I’m still at about 25 minutes with this one. Didn’t realize that I had so much to say did ya?
At least 3 of those minutes are taken up by a really cool German New Wave (neue deutsche Welle, 80’s music) song called “Ich gib Gas, will Spa?” by Markus (roughly translated: “I floor it, ’cause I wanna have fun”). It’s about driving fast, and I though that it was fitting for this episode.
Last but not least, many thanks to:
Vanessa, for her comment on episode 11, Kristie for her comments (check out her blog here) and for milo for making such a groovy WordPress theme for me! ?:razz:
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This is just a short note to let all you faithful readers and listeners know that the next episode of the myGermany Podcast is coming very very soon. This time I’ll be giving you some (lifesaving) tips about driving on the autobahn. Stay tuned!
The first day of school is a big deal for any family, I’m sure. I was surprised, however, at the amount of tradition and effort that went into the first day of school in Germany when my son Simon started school a few weeks back. It seems that no longer how long I live here, there are always new things to learn about. Hope you enjoy this episode. Read the whole post ⇒
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This is a nice guest articel for you to read. The podcast episode 11 is coming out soon. Talk to you soon!
-Taural?
Germany Is Expecting Several Million Visitors At Oktoberfest
By Iuri Tarabanov
The scale of Oktoberfest is just grand: Bavarians and guests of Bavarian capital drink about 6 million litres of beer, consume some 1 million chickens, about 400 thousand sausages and other tasty dishes of local cuisine. 30% of all the beer that is produced by Bavarian breweries is consumed namely during this holiday.
I would not talk about special beer cult among Germans. And I would not call the Oktoberfest a solely German holiday nowadays, because thousands tourists travel from all corners of the world to be present at it?, - Kristof Zaurenbah, 27 years old, a great Bavarian admirer of beer festival told to.
The history of Oktoberfest dates back to the year 1820 when Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig I decided to marry Saxony Princess Therese and organized a great holiday on the 12th of October. He invited all the residents of the city to join the celebration. The holiday was repeated at the same date the following year, and very soon it became a tradition.
Somebody may wonder that Oktoberfest is celebrated in September. The point is that already at the end of the 19th century the time of festival was changed for it can take place when there is still some summer warmth. Nowadays it is celebrated from the middle of September till the beginning of October and it lasts from 16 to 18 days.
Having arrived in Munich you can see large tents and pavilions in the meadow that is as large as 50 football fields, with that some of the tents holds up to 10 thousand people. It is impossible to imagine this holiday without Bavarian accent and hustle, without sausage smell penetrating right into soul. 
There are strong selected Bavarian waitresses dressed in traditional costumes “Dirndls” running about everywhere. Their hands tightly holding up to 12 litres of beer lead to some interesting thoughts. And it is understandable, nature begins to tell in Oktoberfest.
From the year 1819 the holiday has passed under the auspices of city authorities and since then namely them maintain the old traditions and establish the new ones. From the year 1950, at 12 o’clock in the day of opening the Mayor of Munich taps the keg of beer with the words “it is tapped!” that sounds rather poetical in Bavarian “Ozapft is”. It is considered that with this exclamation the holiday gets started and after it the kegs are tapped in all the large and small tents. By the way, beer consumed during the holiday is unusual. Bavarian breweries make special Weizen beer with malty taint, the alcohol content in it is a bit higher than usual from 5.5 up to 6%. People drink it from traditional liter mugs made of glass.
It is almost impossible to find seats for two people and moreover for a company in tents: more than 6 million people come to the festival and there are only about 100 thousand seats! That is why it is necessary to come there in the morning to be able to reserve seats for the later time. But the notorious democracy of the holiday leads to the fact that reservation sometimes does not work out.
“Thousand policemen maintain the order during Oktoberfest. People are different and alcohol individually affects everybody. But in general the holiday proceeds without mass hooliganism and very cheerfully”, - Kristof Zaurenbah told.
Iuri Tarabanov writes about interesting travel experiences. His Travel Deals site is http://www.travelime.com
