Oktoberfest: Part 2

Oktoberfest Part 1: In which we are in the beer tent

Oktoberfest Part 2: In which we are out of the beer tent

So after some beer and some sausages and another beer and some traditional music, it is time to venture forth and experience the rest of Oktoberfest.

Many people are wearing "tracht", that is, traditional Bavarian costumes. Lederhosen for the men and Dirndl's for the women...but some women wear lederhosen too, and also there are various combinations of things.

I would say half of the crowd was wearing tracht...

I loved the little kids in their lederhosen!

I suspect these horses were in the parade...

On to the rides!

Standard swings...

Same swings...but really high up!

After being a little dizzy from the swings...I skipped this one...

The hubby had gotten an iPhone application that was all about Oktoberfest...what beer tents were open, what the ratings were about, and also what rides there were. We came across a "ride" called "Teufelsrad" (Devil's Ride) that has been around for 100 years, but was rated a "not to be missed." We had to check it out!

There is a spinning circle that people sit on, and the object is to stay on as long as possible. The announcer will call out a group people (Men:18 and older, or girls: 9-13, or little kids) and then people matching the description will run out on to the wheel. The wheel starts spinning and then some people on the outside of the group go flying off into the padded wall. Faster and faster the wheel spins until there is a small group left. Then the giant padded ball on a rope comes and tries to knock people over (or just knock into them, it is hilarious). If that doesn't work, then there are two guys with lassos that try to get the rope under people to try to catch them and pull them off. The audience can stand and watch for as long as they want. It never got old!

Oh no, here comes the ball!

Usually it would end up with one person at the end who the guys were trying to get off the wheel. It is amazing how people can get those ropes off them, duck the ball and still not fly off the wheel. One kid even got on the ball, the guy raised him up, and then put him back on the wheel!

You want to be in the middle of a pack like this, or you will fly off immediately!

We bribed the girls into doing it...unfortunately they didn't move fast and got on the outside of the group and fell off fairly early. I told them I would go on if they did...I was also on the outside of my group but at least made it to the part where the ball started swinging...but managed to avoid getting smacked in the head.

I thought they were pretty cruel to the little kids...They had them wave bye bye with their left hand, then wave bye bye with their right hand, and then they started the wheel up fast and half of them went flying off! And they would still bop the little kids with the giant ball!

The adolescent boys were quite funny...all other groups were sort of every person for themselves...if you can stay on, great! With the boys it became all about pushing the other guys off!

We had a 5:15pm train back and it didn't seem like we had enough time! We didn't go on very many rides (which is good in a sense because they cost 4-6 Euros per person per ride).

Until next year!