Tradition Reigns at Munich's 'Other' Oktoberfest

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,789197,00.html


Reichert Gastronomie

Bavarian folk music, old-fashioned carnival rides and a beauty pageant unlike any other. At Munich's 'other' Oktoberfest, the city has found a way to keep the beloved festival true to its traditional roots.

The tiny wooden stage was crammed with polished brass instruments, guitar stands and microphones. Atop a makeshift clothesline, judges had hung dusty rugs for contestants to beat clean as part of a beauty pageant scheduled for that evening. When they finished, the three women would be tasked with seeing who could hold a full mug of beer at arm's length the longest without putting it down.

These weren't your average beauty queens. But then again, Peter Reichert and his wife Gerda, the proprietors of a tent for musicians and folk singers at the Oktoberfest, weren't looking to throw just any party. Their establishment, called "zur Schönheitskönigin," or "beauty queen," is located in a tranquil corner of Munich's Theresienwiese, the site where millions of people converge each year to attend the world's largest beer festival, in an area dubbed the "Oide Wiesn" -- Bavarian for "old Oktoberfest."

Last year, as part of the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest, organizers started the "old Oktoberfest" as a way to bring back the former traditions of the world's largest beer festival. It was hugely popular and this year it has already drawn some 500,000 people. Senior citizens and local Bavarians are especially taken with the more traditional Oktoberfest, where kids can play and visitors sport their best lederhosen and dirndls.

"It's not that we weren't happy with the Oktoberfest in and of itself -- it just wasn't as peaceful as we would've preferred," Oktoberfest Director Gabriele Weishäupl told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

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1. Those German barmaids are something else!

I went to a few beer tents while on an all expense paid two year tour in the army, and I've seen them carry eight 2 liter mugs without a tray! (A handle between each set of knuckles.) :crazy:

You better believe I tipped well!:rofl:

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2. i can't even imagine how much those weigh. wild and wonderful. nt