Post date: Sep 23, 2012 10:8:53 AM
Germany-Oktoberfest -- Germany starts 16-day long beer festival
GERMANY-OKTOBERFEST - Germany's Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, kicked off on Saturday in Munich, with an estimated over six million visitors.
While people were counting down, Munich's mayor Christian Ude inserted a tap into a keg full of beer with a mallet, opening the 179th Oktoberfest.
A total of 14 beer tents have been set up at the Theresienwiese, main venue of the beer festival. Visitors can enjoy traditional German delicacies like sausages, grilled chicken and sauerkraut besides various kinds of beers.
Entertaining facilities and beer festival museum are also available to visitors.
The spotlight at the beer festival is no doubt the deft waitresses, who walk freely in the beer tent that can accommodate 7,000 to 8,000 visitors while carrying dozens of one-liter beer glasses with their own hands.
Michael Schottenhamel, chief manager of Munich Beer Festival, believed the beer festival gives the strict Germans an opportunity to relax and enjoy themselves.
"The festival has new food and new charm every year. The beer tents get bigger and bigger. The Munich beer festival was and is a very important traditional festival," said Michael Schottenhamel, chief manager of Munich Beer Festival.
Horst Seehofer, Minister-President of Bavaria, was invited to the festival and he advertised the festival on site.
"Come to Munich. The Munich beer festival is very pleasing and joyful. It is unique in the world," said Horst Seehofer.
Oktoberfest was first held in 1810 to celebrate the happy nuptials of the Bavarian Prince Ludwig. Two hundred years later, it has become a worldwide festival, in which international beer lovers all raise a glass to the memory of the first festival.
This year's festival lasts from Saturday to October 7.
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