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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
Greetings and Salutations folks!
It’s been a busy few weeks in my neck of the Black Forest (Schwartzwald). My oldest Son, Simon, started school about a week-and-a-half ago. Two other children in the village also started school too and I was really surprised what a big deal it was here. Despite the many years that I’ve lived and worked in Germany, it seems that there is always something new to learn. That is, of course, one of the things that I really enjoy about being an ex-pat.
Anyhow, in episode 11 of the myGermany Podcast I will be talking more about this experience in detail. I’ll also be getting into some points you should keep in mind when driving on the infamous German Autobahns. So keep you eyes (and RSS Feeds) peeled for episode 11, coming soon!
Cheers and all the best from lovely Luetzenhardt, Germany,
Servus! Moin Moin! Gruess Gott!
Last Friday I received a wonderful mail from a listener, Mrs. C. Neumann, who contacted me on the myGermany Podcast MySpace Profile. In her mail to me she discussed her experiences and point of view about the 9th Episode: German Stereotypes Revisited. I found it a fascinating read, as she has been an ex-pat in Germany for over 18 years. She adds a lot of color and flair to my rather pallid and superficial discussion on the podcast.
Have a look and please let me know what you think about the topic! Read the whole post ⇒
Hi everyone! This is just a brief announcement to let you know that the next podcast (number 10!!) will be coming soon.
If you are a regular reader of this website you’ll have already noticed the design change. I’ve been working with an excellent designer called MILO 317. She’s a designer based out of Munich and I am really happy about the work she has done for me. You can check out her blog here and if you want to see some of her artwork you can check it out here. And last but not least if you are a Word Press user you can get some of her free templates here.
Please take a minute to fill out the survey, in the right sidebar (to the right of this post, under “specials” –> “survey”), and to let me know what kind of topics you want to hear more about.
Looking forward to talking to you soon!
pre-episode 10 announcement [5:45m]:
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