Oktoberfest half-time

Yesterday, the Oktoberfest management presented the Oktoberfest “half-time scores” – and as always, we poured over them with interest. The great thing about these statistics is that they give us an impression of the Wiesn beyond what we can see and experience – far beyond!

After all, just the figure for beer consumed is beyond our grasp: what do the 3,500,000 litres of beer downed thus far really look like? How many barrels or tanks or swimming pools is that? Then there’s the simply amazing 3,500,00 visitors who’ve already stopped by. As far as we can make out, the tents are us full as ever, so it’s good to get some actual figures. Just in case you were wondering, our beer consumption – as well as that of chicken and pork knuckles – hasn’t dropped since last year…

One figure we were very pleased to hear is that, through to the Oktoberfest half-time, guests from all over the world have been just as keen on the Wiesn as ever, but that they’re getting “invisible” because they’re all wearing lederhosen and dirndls. As fans of traditional Bavarian costumes, we are really happy that even the tourist office’s boffins can’t always tell the difference between locals and out-of-towners, because that clearly speaks for an increase in the quality of Bavarian clothing worn by tourists.

And, as ever, we had a good laugh at the stats from the lost property office: through to Saturday evening, they took in 2,300 items, including 500 passports and ID cards, 290 wallets, 180 phones, and – wait for it – one garden gnome in FC Bayern colours…