Travel: Raise a glass to Munich service

Sep 22 2010 By Edward Stephens

IF you are going to launch a new route to a European city what better time to choose than when that city is staging one of the world’s largest festivals.

Smart thinking by bmibaby led to its new East Midlands-Munich service taking off on September 17, the day before the 200th Oktoberfest was officially opened.

The first flight was 80 per cent full, vindicating the choice of date.

Oktoberfest runs until October 4 and is a festival you will either love or hate – but never forget.

For Bavarians it’s one of the highlights of the year and some six million visitors flock to the Theresienwiese park area on the outskirts of Munich each September/October to attend it.

The festival starts with a celebratory parade through the streets of the city featuring some of the historic carriages of the big breweries pulled by magnificent shire horses, decorated floats carrying waitresses – many in revealing low cut versions of the traditional costume, the dirndl – and numerous bands.

The tapping of the first barrel of Oktoberfest-beer by the Mayor of Munich signals the official start of festivities.

And on the vast festival site there are 14 huge beer tents with a total seating capacity of 100,000, where steins are filled, emptied and filled again – in some cases with alarming regulatory.

There’s live music on a central stage in some of the tents although individual groups of drinkers tend to go into their own drinking songs and toasts at regular intervals. It’s all good fun but – depending upon where you are – the monotonous chants can wear a bit think after a couple of hours.