Octoberfest Rides

 Octoberfest also hosts a large exibition with many wild rides, games of chance, and spook houses. Here are a few.

Octoberfest Food

If there is beer being serve, there will also be food. If you buy tickets for a tent, you will receive two beer and a meal. But, there are also food stalls outside of the tents that offer some different choices.

                                            A few of many types of pretzels

 

                                                      Salmon roasting by an open fire
                                           

                                          A kitchen inside one of the beer tents

 

Octoberfest Beer

 Only beer from Munich breweries may be served at Octoberfest. The six breweies that are allowed to make the Octoberfest beer are: Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrau, Lowenbrau, Paulaner and Spaten. 

An interesting tidbit of history about the Augustiner Brewery is that it was founded in 1328 by monks of the Augustinian Order. 

These six breweries start months in advance preparing their brew for the festival. They also up the strength of the beer to 6.0-6.5 percent. No wonder there are many people stumbling around at all hours of the day.

Each mug contains three beer with a cost of about 15 euros plus a tip which works out to about $26 Canadian.

 

Octoberfest Clothing

 Many people who attend Octoberfest dress in traditional Bavarian outfits.

The women wear traditional dirndls. The outfits are beautiful and also quite costly. The dress consists of a blouse, dress, apron and closed in shoes. You need to take notice of where the bow is placed on the apron. If the apron bow is tied to the right, it means the women is taken, if it's tied to the left, she is single, and if the bow is tied at the back it means she's widowed. Female children will have the bow tied at the back, along with waitresses.

Men wear lederhosen(leather shorts) with suspenders, usually a checked shirt, Apline hat, classic socks and sturdy bavarian shoes. Some men also don vests or jackets.

 

 

Munich's Famous Octoberfest

Our main reason for coming to Munich was to attend Octoberfest. Our riverboat cruise which begins September 24 coincided with Octoberfest's timeline, so we said "what the heck! Let's checkout this beer drinking event". 

Munich's Octoberfest is an annual event held over a two week period and ending on the first Sunday in October. The festival's origins began October 12, 1810, which celebrated the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis1, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

This celebration continued annually and eventually morphed into what it is today.  There are many aspects to this festival which included the beer tents, clothing, food, exhibition rides, horses. This post will focus on the beer tents. This was early in the day. The doors open at 9am and close at 12:30am.

                                                Each mug holds 3 beer

 

             This couple, from the States, sat at our table, so we had a beer together.

 

Munich, Germany

We are presently in Munich, Germany....a trip we were to take in 2020, but that all changed with the pandemic. So now it is go...and here we are!

The name Munich means "home of the monks". A name that stems from the Benedictine monestery founded in the area around the 8th century.

Munich lies in the state of Bavaria. It is known for its pristine countryside, clean air, rich culture, and a laid back attitude. It's host to medievel castles, Baroque churches and urban hubs that provide traditional events and opera festivals. 

 

Saskatchewan's Great Sand Hills

We discovered a unique site in Saskatchewan while driving back from Calgary. It's north of the #1 highway, off the beaten path taking us down narrow highways, through itty-bitty towns, and desolate but beautiful countryside. We have heard about the Great Sand Dunes in Saskatchewan, and in the past have driven by, saying...."ahh well, we'll see it next time we pass through this neck of the woods". So the time had finally come, and we turned off the #1, and headed towards the dunes.

All the boots in this picture were placed by a man named John Both (1926-2007). In summary, it is written that John made the world a better place by being kind. He was a rancher and the caretaker of the Sand Hills. At 81 years of age he rode a saddle horse every roundup for the past 57 years. John believed in preserving this beautiful, fragile, landscape. He lived his life to the fullest, and built this archway of his boots showing a cowboy's appreciation and love for life. He is pictured here with one of his favourite horse's named Smokey.

There are four active locations of sand dunes in Saskatchewan. 

-Great Sand Hills near Sceptre(pictured above)

-Douglas Dunes at Douglas Provincial Park located at Elbow

-Athabasca Sand Dunes at the Provincial Park located near La Ronge and accessible by plane or boat. 

-Good Spirit Dunes located at Good Spirit Lake 

These amazing dunes were created when the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered nearly all of Canada. As the sheet melted it created huge lakes that covered a large portion of Saskatchewan and left behind large amounts of sand. Over the millennia, the sand has moved with the flow of water leaving behind deposits in the form of sand dunes.

The next time you are driving in and around the town of Leader, and have an hour or so to spare, check out the dunes. You'll find out they are quite breath-taking! It's a free site to visit, and a great family adventure for young and old.